Firefox Sync does not upload bookmarks from Windows to iPhone
Firefox Sync is not syncing bookmarks from Windows to iPhone.
The issue persists even after creating a completely new Firefox Account, creating a new Firefox profile, reinstalling Firefox, and testing on a different network.
Environment Windows 11 Firefox 153.0 (64-bit) Firefox downloaded from mozilla.org (not Microsoft Store) Firefox for iPhone (latest version) VPN disabled Windows Defender only (no third-party antivirus) Problem
Bookmarks created on the iPhone never appear on the Windows PC.
Bookmarks created on the Windows PC also never appear on the iPhone.
The iPhone currently contains more than 1,000 bookmarks.
Tabs and account sign-in appear to work normally, but bookmark synchronization does not.
Troubleshooting already performed Created a new Firefox profile. Reinstalled Firefox. Created a completely new Firefox Account. Signed out and signed back in. Reset Sync. Verified that bookmark sync is enabled. Confirmed services.sync.engine.bookmarks = true. Tested with VPN disabled. Tested using a mobile hotspot instead of the home network. Verified DNS resolution using nslookup. Verified Mozilla servers are reachable from Chrome. Confirmed Firefox DNS settings are default: network.trr.mode = 0 network.dns.disableIPv6 = false Sync log observations
The Sync log reports that bookmark changes are detected:
Sync.Engine.Bookmarks.BookmarkSyncUtils pushChanges: Processed change records: {"updated":9}
However, the log never contains a request similar to:
POST ... /storage/bookmarks
Therefore, bookmark changes appear to be detected locally but are never uploaded to the Sync server.
In different sync attempts, I have also observed intermittent network-related errors such as:
NS_ERROR_NET_RESET NS_ERROR_CONNECTION_REFUSED NS_ERROR_UNKNOWN_HOST
For example:
Failed to fetch symmetric keys. Not syncing: login returned false.
and
The lookup of the hostname failed.
However, DNS resolution and connectivity appear normal outside Firefox:
nslookup successfully resolves Mozilla Sync hosts. ping succeeds. Opening https://profile.accounts.firefox.com/v1/profile from Chrome returns the expected HTTP 401 Unauthorized response ("Bearer token not provided"), indicating the server is reachable. Additional information
Because the iPhone contains more than 1,000 bookmarks, I would also like to know whether Firefox Sync has any known limitations or issues related to synchronizing large bookmark collections.
Expected behavior
Bookmarks created on either device should synchronize to the other device.
Actual behavior
Bookmark changes are detected locally but never uploaded, and no bookmark synchronization occurs in either direction.
I would appreciate any guidance on additional diagnostics or whether this could be a Firefox Sync bug.
ప్రత్యుత్తరాలన్నీ (2)
Thanks for sharing these details. You already tried many useful troubleshooting steps. The sync logs may help Mozilla identify the real issue. I hope the team finds a fix and responds soon.
There are certain limits that have caused trouble, these however are orders of magnitude larger collections.
One quick check:
Verified that bookmark sync is enabled.
Is the bookmark sync enabled on BOTH devices? By design flipping things to sync should be device–agnostic and have the same data types enabled across all devices, reality is FxiOS is a little ahead of the rest and allows selectively not syncing things that the rest of the sync devices deem as synced everywhere…
The network errors are concerning though, esp. in case you need to push a 1k collection and it's… stuck. Would you be willing to mention your general geographical location, in case any CDN availability/restrictions are in play here, being terminated at U.S.–based company anycast and POPs?
I assume you've used something as addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/about-sync/ on desktop to inspect the events; if you're not familiar with the iOS side here's how to get the logs for FxiOS: github.com/mozilla-mobile/firefox-ios/wiki/How-to-get-your-Firefox-logs
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