Google Drive Sync

Google Drive sync is optional and off by default. Aura Start remains usable as a local-only extension without connecting a Google account. No Google authorization or Drive requests run until you choose to connect.

What sync stores

Aura Start 2.1.1 shares groups, links, ordering, nesting, shared user preferences, Markdown notes, the saved custom background image, and the selected Countdown sound across installations connected to the same Google account. All updated installations read and update one shared aura-start-sync.json in normal Drive storage, marked with Aura Start app properties. The JSON contains the synchronized settings and encoded media bytes, rather than separate photo or sound files in Drive. It is visible in My Drive; current sync does not store new snapshots in appDataFolder. Existing accessible copies are consolidated into this shared file.

Save open tabs and delete-backup-on-disconnect preferences also sync. Actual browser permission grants, Restore Timeline, account/connection and sync-mode information, running timers, search/filter, and onboarding/demo state stay local. The shared file includes revision counters, deletion records, and a generated device identifier to merge edits safely. OAuth tokens are stored locally and are never embedded in the shared file.

Shared preferences include language, theme, layout, link-opening behavior, widget visibility and durations, audio volume, and background appearance. Choosing a different look on one connected installation therefore changes the other connected installations too. Disabling a widget does not remove its saved notes or selected media.

Notes

Markdown notes retain their text, whitespace, and newlines up to 12,000 characters. Edits and clearing sync even while the widget is hidden. Existing local notes move into shared settings only after the main document and a local recovery point are saved; an older snapshot without notes does not clear newer text. If a shared note already exists, the older local copy remains available in Restore Timeline.

Simultaneous edits to the same note resolve to one consistent value without combining text. Recovery points retain previous local notes before cloud replacement or a stale editor write. Changes to different preferences merge independently. Receiving the Save open tabs preference never grants the browser's optional tabs permission.

Custom background images

When sync is enabled, Aura Start includes your saved custom background image in its Drive snapshot, even if you currently use a built-in background. Replacing or removing that image also syncs to connected devices. Images are stored locally for display and are not sent to Google Drive while sync is off. This feature uses the existing Drive permissions.

Countdown sounds

Countdown is an optional widget with a built-in completion signal. You can select your own audio file, preview it, set its volume, or restore the built-in signal. Files up to 20 MiB are prepared on your device. Aura Start keeps the original file and a portable WAV signal from its first 60 seconds, so audio selected in one browser can play after syncing to another. A locally bundled decoder supports many formats, including WAV, MP3, Ogg, FLAC, AAC, AIFF, and WMA; damaged, protected, or unsupported audio is rejected without replacing your previous sound.

When Google Drive sync is enabled, the original audio file, its filename, and the portable playback copy are included in the snapshot even if Countdown is disabled. Replacing or removing the selected sound also syncs. Downloads verify and save the audio before applying its settings; an unavailable local sound prevents an incomplete upload from replacing your backup. Full Backup ZIP v2 includes only the currently selected original sound file and rebuilds playback locally on import; it does not include a playback WAV or other historical sounds. With sync off, audio stays local. No conversion service or new browser permission is needed.

Timer preferences sync; the active countdown stays in the local browser profile and is shared between its Aura Start tabs. For a timely signal, keep the widget enabled and an Aura Start page open, including in the background. A sleeping device or suspended page can delay playback. After reopening, the widget shows the remaining or completed state, and browser audio restrictions may require pressing Play signal. The timer does not sound while every Aura Start page is closed.

What Aura Start does not access

• No full Google Drive access.
• No reading or scanning unrelated Drive files.
• No Google account use for analytics, tracking, advertising, or profiling.

Connection behavior

Connect the same Google account on every device and update all connected installations to the latest 2.1.1 build. Connection and reconnection merge existing local data with accessible cloud snapshots; an empty installation receives the existing cloud data. Aura Start protects local content with a restore point before applying cloud changes. If no snapshot exists, connection creates one from your local data. Onboarding's Restore from Google Drive action instead shows a clear no-backup error without changing local data.

Automatic sync after connection

Actual shared edits trigger synchronization. While an Aura Start page is visible and online, quiet checks look for remote changes about every five seconds; multiple pages share the same background checks. Opening, closing, focusing, or making a page visible does not itself start a sync or its animation. A background alarm continues checking about once a minute while the browser runs, even with all Aura Start pages closed. Unchanged verified revisions need only small Drive file metadata: no data/media transfer, cloud write, animation, or change to the displayed last-sync time. New or unverified remote revisions are read when needed.

Offline edits remain local and retry after background startup or an online event when pending work exists. Failed quiet checks back off before retrying. Explicit connection, restore, and check actions can request sync. Search/filter, running timers, local recovery history, and unchanged settings do not trigger new content synchronization. Browser scheduling and network availability can delay updates; this is periodic synchronization, not instant push delivery.

Edits to different fields merge independently. Concurrent edits to the same field resolve consistently using logical revision counters and a device identifier as a tie-breaker. Deletion records keep older snapshots from restoring deleted items. Normal automatic sync does not require choosing between whole local and cloud copies. Importing a ZIP or JSON backup preserves the current installation's Google Drive connection.

An update is conditional on the cloud revision that Aura Start read. If another device changes the file first, Aura Start reads the new contents, merges the edits, and retries. Interrupted or repeatedly conflicting transfers keep local edits pending for another attempt; they are not reported as completed synchronization.

Two devices connecting for the first time simultaneously can briefly create more than one file because Google Drive permits identical filenames. Updated installations select the same surviving file, verify the combined data there, and conditionally remove the extra copies. A duplicate changed during cleanup is read and merged again before it can be removed.

Authorization

Firefox packages require Firefox 142 or newer. Before an interactive Drive connection, Firefox may also show its optional data-collection consent prompt. Aura Start declares no required data collection and requests the optional browsingActivity and technicalAndInteraction categories for saved links and synchronization metadata sent to Google. These declarations are separate from Google's OAuth scopes and from the optional tabs permission. They do not grant access to browser history or enable analytics.

Google Chrome installations with an extension ID supported by the native OAuth configuration use chrome.identity.getAuthToken with drive.file for the shared file and drive.appdata for legacy hidden backups. Firefox builds and Chromium builds without that native flow, including unpacked Chrome builds, use Aura Start's configured Google Device OAuth fallback. Device OAuth uses the narrower per-file drive.file scope for ordinary sync and creates or updates only Aura Start's shared aura-start-sync.json and its own older copies during migration, identified by Aura Start app properties. Users do not enter OAuth client IDs in Aura Start settings.

Device OAuth uses its existing drive.file access for backup deletion. Aura Start does not request drive.appdata through Device OAuth: This configuration requests only drive.file and cannot read hidden legacy backups. Older hidden backups are included only when suitable access is already available through another supported authorization flow. Full Drive access is never requested.

Aura Start automatically renews expired short-lived access tokens and retries a failed Drive request once. The selected sign-in flow and Device OAuth refresh credentials persist in extension-local storage across restarts. Bounded retries recover from temporary network failures, rate limits and server errors without opening a sign-in window or discarding pending edits. A confirmed unusable grant, such as invalid_grant, still requires Reconnect Google Drive in Settings; local data, sync metadata and the Drive file reference are preserved. Delayed authorization responses cannot undo a manual disconnect.

Google can require fresh consent or expire a grant. External OAuth projects in Testing issue seven-day refresh tokens for Drive scopes; see Google's refresh-token limits. The actual project's publishing status has not been verified here. Extension retries cannot change these Google Cloud rules.

Upgrading to 2.1.1

Update every connected device to the latest 2.1.1 build before using shared sync. Earlier builds do not participate in the single-file protocol and can create per-device copies again. Aura Start reads accessible older backups, including Chrome's hidden appDataFolder, and creates a new shared file ID during migration. It verifies the combined data and selected media in that file before conditionally removing covered older copies. A changed copy is merged again; unreadable or invalid copies are not discarded. Chrome upgrading from 2.0.5 may require one explicit reconnection to approve the new drive.file scope; unattended background checks do not open a consent window. Release OAuth clients must belong to the same Google Cloud project to access the same Aura Start files.

Current synchronization uses normal Drive in every supported browser; older hidden backups can join migration only when access is available. To recover an old Chrome hidden backup for use in Firefox or a Device OAuth Chromium build, first connect an updated native Chrome installation with access to that backup and let it migrate to the shared file. Alternatively, import an available local backup.

A custom background saved in 2.0.5 is migrated automatically before the first 2.1.1 sync, including a saved image that is not currently selected. Aura Start keeps the original image until migration is durably saved. Older cloud snapshots without image data are not treated as a request to remove it, so you do not need to upload the image again. If migration cannot finish, the local image is preserved and synchronization can retry.

Settings when Aura Start updates

New settings receive their defaults without resetting your existing choices, including options inside background and widget settings. If an older Drive snapshot has no value for a new setting, that absence does not erase a choice already saved by a newer installation. Older local data, JSON backups, and Restore Points use the same settings migration.

Repeating migration is safe and does not create another user edit. Compatible future fields that this version does not display are retained when their names and values pass validation. This does not make incompatible future formats supported, so keep connected installations updated. Browser permissions and your current Drive connection remain local; custom background migration continues as described above.

Disconnect and delete backup

The Delete Drive backup when disconnecting setting is on by default. Turn it off before disconnecting if you want to keep the cloud copy. With deletion on, the confirmed action pauses sync, then permanently removes matching Aura Start snapshots from normal Drive, including old 2.0.5 files, renamed app-marked files and copies in Trash. Synced links, settings, notes, background images and selected audio are removed with those snapshots. Hidden legacy appDataFolder backups are included when access is already available. Aura Start verifies removal in the accessible storage before clearing this installation's credentials and disconnecting. Local data and unrelated Drive files remain.

Ordinary disconnect stops sync and clears the saved session in this browser only; other installations remain connected and the cloud file is kept. It does not call Google's project-wide revocation endpoint. A disconnected installation stays disconnected until you explicitly connect it again. To revoke Aura Start's access everywhere, use Google Account connections.

If Device OAuth cannot check hidden backups, Settings keeps an explicit notice, including after reload, reconnection or later cleanup of another account. Verified normal-Drive deletion is not reported as verified hidden-backup cleanup. In the Google account used for that unverified cleanup, open Google Drive settings → Manage apps → Aura Start → Options → Delete hidden app data, if available. The notice records a previous operation; it does not mean hidden data still exists, and Aura Start cannot verify manual cleanup.

If authorization, file deletion or verification fails, sync stays paused and the account and backup references remain available for retry. The action reports failure without claiming the backup was deleted. Native Chrome/Web cleanup requires access to both storage spaces; insufficient access requires an explicit reconnection.

Updated installations pause when a previously synced cloud copy disappears and require explicit reconnection before creating another copy. Disconnect other devices first if the cloud should stay empty: older versions, uploads already underway, or a later explicit reconnect can upload retained local data again.

Use local backups too

Google Drive sync is convenient, but Full Backup ZIP is still the clearest portable backup format. It includes local Restore Timeline and media that are not all retained in the shared Drive file. Sync propagates intentional deletions as well as additions; it does not provide an independent archive. See Export / Backup to keep a local file copy.

Sync uses the storage permission for local data and credentials, alarms for scheduled checks, Google API host access for authorized requests, and identity in Chromium builds for native Google sign-in. The optional tabs permission belongs to Save open tabs, not to sync. Built-in and custom media need no extra permission. See the Privacy Policy for the complete browser-specific list.