Summary
Firefox is great for privacy. But if you want the convenience of bookmark sync, you usually have to rely on online services. Given the value and potentially sensitive nature of your bookmarks and browsing history, self-hosting this functionality makes privacy and security sense.
Host Your Own Firefox (and Chrome, Safari and a Bunch of Other Browsers) Bookmark and History Sync
Firefox has a pretty good reputation for respecting its users, but privacy-conscious folks are always worried about how their data will be used, either now or in the future, or what will happen if a third-party service leaks it.
There is one way, however, to protect your data from everyone—just keep it to yourself! Firefox still puts you in charge of what services you elect to use, and if you don’t like how they do it, there are plenty of extensions you’re able to use instead.
One of these isFloccus, which provides bookmark and history sync for pretty much every web browser. It lets you host the sync files in a location of your choosing, so your precious browsing data never leaves your control. Here’s how I use it.
While it’s possible to self-host your own complete Firefox Sync server, it’s complex, and doesn’t work across browsers. However, if you’re up to the challenge and want more than just bookmark and history sync, you cancheck out the GitHub project here.
How To Use Floccus to Self-Host Sync
The Floccus extension is super easy to set up. Just head to thedownload page on the Floccus websiteand click the download button for your web browser.
Then, you need to decide how you’re going to host your sync data. The easiest option is to use Google Drive as all you need to do is open the Floccus configuration panel, create a new profile, and sign in with your Google account. you’re able to even set an encryption key to verify no one else can read your Floccus data, even if they get access to your Google Drive. You can also host your data inNextCloud,Git, Linkwarden, or WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning, a protocol for managing files stored on a web server).
I decided to use WebDAV, as it’s lightweight and easy to host. There’s a bit of extra configuration, but everything is stored on my own computers, no cloud involved.
Configuring a WebDAV Server for Floccus
WebDAV servers are relatively simple beasts, which is part of the reason I chose this as the sync method. If you’re hosting a WebDAV server on Windows, Linux, or macOS, you can useDockerto run a containerized WebDAV server. There is aWebDAV Docker imageon the Docker Hub that includes instructions for how to get it up and running. You could also run this Docker image on a cloud host like AWS or DigitalOcean.
ManyNAS boxesalso support running Docker containers, and they’re perfect for running sync services as they’re always online, and usually connected to your devices either on your local network or via a VPN likeTailScale.
My NAS operating system of choice is TrueNAS, which comes with a pre-prepared WebDAV server that installs with a few clicks. All you need to do is head to the Apps page from the main menu, click Discover Apps, then search for “WebDAV” and install it.
Then, you’ll be prompted for some setup options. Under WebDav Configuration, set the Authentication Type to “Basic authentication” and supply a username and password, then under Network Configuration set an HTTP port for Floccus to connect to.
To finish up your WebDav server, create a share to hold your sync data under the Data Storage section of the WebDav server configuration. The specific paths for this will depend on how you have your TrueNAS storage configured.
Connecting Floccus to Your WebDAV Server
The last step is to connect Floccus to your WebDav server. Create a new profile in Floccus in your web browser, select “CardDav” as the Sync method, then follow the prompts.
When asked for a server address, username, and password, provide the details of your TrueNAS server and use the port and credentials configured above.
Repeat this process on your other devices, and you’ll have your own 100% private bookmark and browser history sync up and running.
More Firefox and Web Privacy Tips
Firefox ishighly configurable, so if you’re worried about privacy, make sure you tweak it for optimalsecurityandperformance. You can also usemulti-account containersto keep different activities separate and reduce the ways websites can track you.
