740296 - Make syncing easy and less cumbersome

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 727206

(Firefox :: Sync, enhancement)

Description

[bogas04]

Firefox's syncing process involves a user id password and a unique security key for better security , however its cumbersome to sync this way. Especially when you lose the recovery key , you just have to open a new account. 

Instead , with "SignInToBrowser" coming to Firefox soon (maybe not) , we should just use  email id and pass for the process , just like google chrome which relied just on google id. Also at first run , Firefox should ask the user if he/she wants to sync data , just like Chrome dev 19  to make some good use of syncing feature. 

If its not secure this way , then we can send a "confirmation request" to the email id to make it easier...

Comment 1

[bogas04]

Attachment: A mockup explaining the enhancement suggestion

Comment 2

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

(In reply to bogas04 from comment #0)
> Firefox's syncing process involves a user id password and a unique security
> key for better security , however its cumbersome to sync this way.

You don't actually need any of these things to add a device.

> Especially when you lose the recovery key , you just have to open a new
> account.

Options > Sync > Manage Account > My Recovery Key

Comment 3

[bogas04]

(In reply to Dão Gottwald [:dao] from comment #2)
> (In reply to bogas04 from comment #0)
> > Firefox's syncing process involves a user id password and a unique security
> > key for better security , however its cumbersome to sync this way.
> 
> You don't actually need any of these things to add a device.
> 
> > Especially when you lose the recovery key , you just have to open a new
> > account.
> 
> Options > Sync > Manage Account > My Recovery Key

What if u reformat your pc , have a fresh (ONLY) download of firefox? What you are saying is valid when you are "Adding a device" but here my point is using sync as a cloud backup mechanism , for "single device" .

Comment 4

[Leman Bennett [Omega]]

From what I understand, this seems to be a two pronged suggestion:

1. Easier to Login. Which is most likely BrowserID..err..Persona integration since it only requires an email address after the first verification.

2. Recovery of the account when the Recovery Key is not available.

- You don't need a new account if you lose your Recovery Key, however the server will reset the account because it can't read the old data.

The way I understand how Sync works currently is that the browser encrypts the data and then sync it to the cloud via SSL. The only copy of the key is in that browser. When another device needs access, you need an already synced up browser so that it can pass the key along. That's probably wrong or missing some detail. But it is supposed to make sure that no one can access the data on the server if hacked or abused.

Comment 5

[bogas04]

^ exactly , my point was that its umm "Device oriented" and not "Data/account oriented" , how i want to use sync is to use one same firefox but on different operating systems or use it to retrieve old data after a fresh install without having to maintain backups, but the current implementation offers adding device ,that too with hassle of remembering a key or being close to main computer manually typing the key into ur mobile...

Comment 6

[Danial Horton]

do the smart thing and keep the key on a restore flash disk

Comment 7

[bogas04]

(In reply to Danial Horton from comment #6)
> do the smart thing and keep the key on a restore flash disk

If i am willing to keep a backup of a key , why don't i simply keep a backup of my bookmarks passwords etc and use it on multiple desktops , disabling sync at all? You would say no you can use sync between android device and PC , but then hey! Is Firefox Sync ONLY (Efficiently) developed for people who have android devices? 

By just making this process a bit easier , we can allow PC users to make a better use of Firefox Sync. The goal of this bug is to make it easy and hassle free , which it is not at the moment IMO.

Comment 8

[Gregory Szorc [:gps]]

We have plans to completely refactor how Sync works so the product is actually usable.