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Synced tabs from Android device gone after ~3 weeks — need definitive retention policy

Ebe

Hi,

I had Firefox tab syncing set up on my phone, and the synced tabs were showing up fine on my other devices for a while. About 3 weeks ago, that phone was lost (long story — it ended up in a river) and I haven't been able to sync from it since.

Now the synced tabs from that device are no longer showing up on my other browsers, and I need to recover some important information that was in those tabs.

A few specific questions:

What is the current official expiration policy for synced tabs data (as of 2026)? I've found conflicting info in old forum threads — anywhere from 1 week to a year depending on platform and Firefox version. Is there any way to see whether my account still has cached tab data for a device that's been disconnected/inactive for ~3 weeks, even if it's not displaying in the normal Synced Tabs view? If the tab data has expired, is there any other server-side record (even temporarily) that Mozilla could check on the account side that isn't visible to me as the end user?

Any help checking the account status directly, or clarifying the actual current retention window, would be a huge help. For my email address, please request below.

Thanks, Ebe

Hi, I had Firefox tab syncing set up on my phone, and the synced tabs were showing up fine on my other devices for a while. About 3 weeks ago, that phone was lost (long story — it ended up in a river) and I haven't been able to sync from it since. Now the synced tabs from that device are no longer showing up on my other browsers, and I need to recover some important information that was in those tabs. A few specific questions: What is the current official expiration policy for synced tabs data (as of 2026)? I've found conflicting info in old forum threads — anywhere from 1 week to a year depending on platform and Firefox version. Is there any way to see whether my account still has cached tab data for a device that's been disconnected/inactive for ~3 weeks, even if it's not displaying in the normal Synced Tabs view? If the tab data has expired, is there any other server-side record (even temporarily) that Mozilla could check on the account side that isn't visible to me as the end user? Any help checking the account status directly, or clarifying the actual current retention window, would be a huge help. For my email address, please request below. Thanks, Ebe

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