Browser syncing Without iCloud (Firefox sync or Orion sync) - via Kagi servers for paid users
I believe @Vlad's point is that the infrastructure for setting up and managing browser data syncing costs time and money. Brave can offer this because they sell ads to fund their development.
@Vlad it occurred to me that another WebKit browser has integrated syncing via Firefox Sync. Epiphany uses it and perhaps this is a suitable alternative to integrate with Orion?
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/epiphany/-/blob/master/lib/sync/README
Not sure if this is the correct spec page but: https://wiki.mozilla.org/CloudServices/Sync
I believe @Vlad's point is that the infrastructure for setting up and managing browser data syncing costs time and money. Brave can offer this because they sell ads to fund their development.
Correct.
it occurred to me that another WebKit browser has integrated syncing via Firefox Sync.
It can be potentially interesting.
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i didn't know about the Braves QR code scanning costed money. I guess this suggestion does not work then
All that infrastructure costs money, and in Brave's case advertisers are paying the bill on behalf of Brave users. The question was would you pay for this as an Orion user (as we do not have and will never have ads)
Hi! I use Firefox as my primary browser on my Android phone and my Mac laptop.
Switching to Orion on Mac is difficult, because I wouldn't have my history synced with my Android phone.
Would it be possible to sync my bookmarks/history between the two different browsers (Firefox on Android and Onion on Mac)?
Firefox calls this feature Firefox Sync.
I know "Firefox Integration" sounds like a strange feature request, but look at it this way:
- Firefox has a huge userbase, most of which is on Android/Windows.
- If Orion could sync its history with Firefox, then it would provide incentive to switch on Mac (while keeping Firefox on Windows/Android).
Using two different browsers is difficult. That's why right now I use Firefox as my main browser on Mac.
Right now syncing history/bookmarks is the biggest thing preventing me from switching to Onion. I plan on continuing to use Firefox on Android, and it's very difficult switching back and forth between Firefox and Onion.
Making an extension API could also possibly help with this and allow someone to implement it as a web extension.
Note that Firefox's code for syncing bookmarks & history is open source and well documented, so it shouldn't be too hard to implement: https://github.com/mozilla/gecko-dev/blob/71515d047cbdd02687a1b9b7265f2ffb51300bf1/services/sync/docs/engines.rst
Thanks,
Techcable
Not possible as Firefox would not be able to sync from Orion (Keychain)
wouldn't it be possible if orion just did not sync with iCLoud keychain, and synced directly with firefox? (this does mean that certain things wont be able to sync)
yes so i suggest marking as under review
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Since I originally wrote this post, I have found an alternative for bookmark sync. I now use raindrop.io to sync my bookmarks across all my browsers.
It has extensions for Orion, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. It also has mobile apps for iOS/Android, a web interface, and a desktop app.
This has mostly mitigated the issue with cross-browser bookmarks and has allowed me to use Orion as my primary browser on my MacBook! 
The built-in functionality to migrate bookmarks from Firefox -> raindrop missed some things, so I did have to write a custom script to migrate correctly. However, aside from that, things are working flawlessly now 
Hopefully, this can help someone trying to work across multiple browsers. Although I still think it would be very nice if this issue could be fixed (especially the history problem). It is encouraging that Firefox sync has an API
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Techcable Raindrop has an Orion extension? Would you be kind to add this solution to Orion documentation for users looking for cross browser sync. Perhaps to the FAQ section https://help.kagi.com/orion/faq/faq.html also mentioning Floccus https://orionfeedback.org/d/104-self-hosted-bookmarks/12
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Merging another discussion as Orion could potentially allow users to use Firefox sync.
Main problem with this is it is not trivial to do, so should we focus our resources on supporting something knowing that Firefox usage is very small (<4% browser users) with trends pointing to further drop in users.
What is the status of this issue considering users have plenty of alternatives like 1password, Bitwarden, and upcoming Proton pass extension support? Kagi sync would be nice, but there are major issues with security building your own password management system. Personally I believe the team’s efforts are better spent ensuring that existing password managers work properly with Orion.
It possible to do, but very technically demanding and then on top of it addresses only a fraction of our userbase who also user Firefox. For that reason waiting for this to have many more upvotes.
I know this is an old thread and iCloud sync is great but I would also love some kind of option to opt out from iCloud. Atleast for bookmarks. I used iCloud sync before and it worked well, but my use case would be similar to one mentioned above - my work recently decided to turn off iCloud, I can login to my personal Apple ID on my work machine, but iCloud is turned off and cannot be turned on.
What if Orion could store bookmarks somewhere locally? Then we might have an option to use syncthing or similar software to sync the bookmarks between different machines without depending on iCloud sync.