Firefox Home for iPhone Syncs Desktop Tabs and Bookmarks

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If you’re a Firefox user and iPhone owner who’s longed for a way to synchronize the data between your computer’s web browser and your mobile device, Mozilla’s new Firefox Home project may be right up your alley.

The system consists of the Firefox Sync add-on running in your Firefox browser and the iPhone-specific Firefox Home app. When you use your computer’s browser, your history, bookmarks, and open tabs are synchronized to Mozilla’s servers so that when you open the Firefox Home app on your iPhone, you’ll be greeted with your open tabs and bookmarks.

The app can then launch websites in the iPhone’s Safari web browser or inside itself using a Safari frame. Your data is protected by a Firefox Sync user name and password you set up, plus an additional passphrase that must be entered on both the computer and in the iPhone app.

I took the system for a spin this morning and found it to work pretty well, although it appears that Mozilla’s servers may be slammed due to the level of interest in the project since my desktop Firefox browser crashed several times while attempting to synchronize data.

The idea shows promise, however, especially if you find yourself inside the Firefox/iPhone demographic. If you’re hoping against hope for a full Firefox browser on the iPhone, Mozilla’s FAQ section makes it clear that “Due to the constraints with the OS environment and distribution, we cannot provide users Firefox for the iPhone.” Firefox Home is perhaps the next best thing.

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