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Extensions, Privacy and More

Sync

Your spaces, tabs, bookmarks and settings on every Mac you use, encrypted so only your devices can read them.

Sync keeps your spaces, tabs, bookmarks and settings the same on every Mac you use, and on Yab for iPhone. It is encrypted end to end: everything is sealed on your Mac before it leaves, and the sync server keeps only boxes it can’t open, under names it can’t read. There is no account to make, no email and no password.

Turn it on#

  1. Open Settings › Sync.
  2. Press Turn On Sync.
  3. Keep the Recovery Key it shows.

Your Macs on the same Apple ID join by themselves: turn Sync on in one, and the others follow.

Add a device#

For a Mac under another Apple ID, or an iPhone:

  1. On the Mac that syncs, choose Add a Device… in Settings › Sync.
  2. On a new Mac, open Settings › Sync, choose Already syncing on another device?, and type the code it shows into the first Mac; press Let In. On an iPhone, choose Join Your Mac and scan the code the Mac shows, or type it.
  3. For an iPhone, both screens show four digits. Let In This Device? on the Mac lets it in only once you say they match.

The Recovery Key#

The way back in if you ever lose every device. It is shown once, when you turn Sync on, with Copy and Download…, which saves Yab Recovery Key.pdf. Yab can’t show it again, so keep it in Passwords or print it, away from your Mac: anyone with it can read what you sync. On a new Mac, choose Already syncing on another device?, then Use Recovery Key….

What syncs#

Settings › Sync › What Syncs lists each kind, with how many this Mac has:

  • Spaces, and tabs, pins and folders.
  • Bookmarks.
  • Settings, and your search sites, commands, form answers and icons.
  • Chats with Claude and ChatGPT, routines and what agents remember.

Three more have switches of their own, on to start:

  • History of the last two weeks. Older history stays on each Mac.
  • Passwords, cards and addresses, two-factor keys too. Each secret is sealed on its own and opens only on your devices.
  • Extensions and plugins: extensions from the Chrome Web Store, and the plugins you keep. An extension loaded from a folder stays on its Mac.

Your devices#

Settings › Sync lists your devices, this Mac first, each saying Syncing now or when it last synced. A device’s ••• menu has Remove from Sync…: it stops getting changes and keeps what it has.

Turn it off#

Turn Off Sync…, at the foot of Settings › Sync, offers two ways out. Turn Off on This Mac leaves your other devices syncing. Delete Sync Data stops sync on every device and removes everything from the server. Either way, each device keeps what it has.