Cloud Sync
The same profile, on your other computer
A profile is a browser environment, and an environment you cannot move is a machine you cannot replace. Cloud Sync carries a profile's stored browser state between your own computers. Encryption happens before any of it leaves the machine it came from.
Your first computer
Closes the profile, captures its browser data
Encrypted snapshot
Encrypted on your machine with a workspace key that never leaves your devices
Your second computer
Opens the profile, restores the same browser state
One device at a time. While a synced profile is open, it holds a short lease on itself. Another device that tries to open it is told which device has it, rather than quietly forking the session into two versions that can never be reconciled.
Moving a browser environment by hand does not work
Copying a browser directory between machines loses the parts that matter and corrupts the parts that do not.
Copying files between machines
- Copying a live browser directory while the browser is still using it
- Cookies that were encrypted against the other machine's credential store
- No idea which copy is newer once two machines have both been used
- Session state that has to be rebuilt by signing in again everywhere
- Nothing stopping two people opening the same environment at once
With PowerOps
- Captured when the profile closes, so the state is consistent rather than mid-write
- Encrypted on your machine with a key the service never receives
- Restored automatically when the same profile opens elsewhere
- Three independent categories, switchable per workspace and per profile
- A lease, so two devices never edit one session into two versions
How a profile travels
Four steps, and the encryption happens before the first byte leaves.
- 1
Close, then capture
When the profile closes, PowerOps reads the categories you enabled out of the browser directory. That state is only coherent once the browser has exited.
- 2
Encrypt, then upload
The snapshot is encrypted on your machine with the workspace key. What travels is ciphertext; the service stores a revision it cannot read and never replaces one that already exists.
- 3
Open, and restore
Opening the profile on another of your devices takes the lease, fetches the latest revision, decrypts it locally and restores it before the browser starts. That is what Preparing… means.
What syncs
Three categories, each one a choice
Three switches, for the whole workspace or for one profile. Everything else in a browser directory stays on the machine it belongs to.
Cookies & sessions
The signed-in state of the platforms a profile manages. This is the category that makes a profile portable at all.
Local Storage
Site data the browser keeps in Local Storage and Session Storage. Preferences, drafts and client-side state all live here.
IndexedDB
Site data the browser keeps in IndexedDB, which modern web applications use for anything larger.
Per profile, the mode is one of three: follow the workspace settings, use its own, or never sync. Never means never, even when Cloud Sync is on for everyone else.
Encryption
The service stores what it cannot read
Session cookies are the most sensitive thing a browser holds. A service that could decrypt them would be a service worth attacking, so the key that encrypts a workspace's snapshots is generated on your device and shared only with your other devices. The server never generates it, never receives it and never stores it.
The consequence, stated rather than buried: if every device that ever held that key is lost, the data encrypted with it is gone. That is the correct trade for live session data, and it is the reason this page does not offer to reset it for you.
- Encrypted on your machine, before anything is uploaded
- The encryption key is created on a device and shared only between your devices
- Every device registers with its own key, and every request it makes is signed
- A stored revision is immutable. Nothing uploaded later can silently replace it
- Snapshots are scoped to the workspace they came from, structurally, not by a check
Live states
You can see the sync happening
Restoring and capturing take time, so PowerOps names the step it is on instead of showing a spinner.
- 1Preparing…
Restoring synced browser state
- 2Opening…
Launching Orbit Browser with this profile's identity
- 3Open
The browser is running
- 4Closing…
Shutting the browser down cleanly
- 5Syncing…
Capturing and encrypting what changed
- 6Synced
Safe to open anywhere else
A seventh state, Locked, appears when another of your devices is holding the profile open. It names that device.
What Cloud Sync is careful about
One device at a time
A lease is held while the profile is open, and another device is told which one has it.
Crash recovery
The lease expires on its own, so a device that went offline does not hold a profile hostage.
Capture on close
Browser state is read after the browser has exited, which is the only moment it is consistent.
Opt-in, twice
Off until enabled for the workspace, and each profile can still be excluded.
Local-first regardless
Sync is a convenience layer. Profiles and browsers keep working with no connection at all.
No profile discovery yet
Sync moves the state of a profile both devices already have. Discovery is later work, and is not claimed here.
Cloud Sync, answered
What exactly is synced?
Three categories, each an independent switch: cookies and sessions, Local Storage (including Session Storage), and IndexedDB. Nothing else in a profile's browser directory is uploaded. Caches, history and the profile's own database all stay on the machine.
Can PowerOps read my session cookies?
No. The key that encrypts a snapshot is created on your device and shared only with your other devices. What reaches the service is ciphertext it has no way to open. The trade-off is stated rather than hidden: if you lose every device that ever held the key, the data encrypted with it cannot be recovered by anyone, including us.
Can two devices use a synced profile at the same time?
No, deliberately. While a synced profile is open it holds a short lease. Another device that tries to open it sees Locked and the name of the device holding it. Two devices editing one browser session would produce two versions of the truth that could never be merged.
Does a new device automatically see my synced profiles?
Not yet. Sync carries the browser state of a profile that exists on both devices. Having a new device discover a profile it has never seen is a separate capability, and this page does not claim it before it is there.
What happens if the connection drops mid-sync?
The profile keeps working. It is a local browser on your machine. A capture that could not be uploaded is reported rather than dropped, and a stored revision is never overwritten once it exists, so a partial upload cannot replace data another device already trusts.
Is Cloud Sync required?
No. It is a paid feature and it is off until you turn it on, per workspace, and each profile can follow the workspace setting, use its own, or never sync at all. The free plan is PowerOps without it: a local application that talks to nothing.
Move a browser environment, not a folder
Cloud Sync is on the paid plans, and the trial opens it for 30 days without a card. Turn it on per workspace, choose what travels, and keep the key on your own devices.