Browser sync
A browser signed in to a shared account publishes your history to every other signed-in device.
In plain words
A browser signed in to a shared account shows your history on their devices too. Check whose account is signed in.
How it works
Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox can sync history, bookmarks, open tabs, and saved passwords across devices through the signed-in account. If that account is shared — or its password known — everything you browse on one device can be read on another, live, including the open-tabs list.
Where to look — checking changes nothing
- Chrome: the avatar in the top corner — whose account is signed in? Settings → Sync: what's syncing?
- Safari: sync follows the phone's Apple ID (see the shared Apple ID guide).
- Look at 'Tabs from other devices' in the history menu: if you can see their devices, they can see yours.
- Saved passwords in a synced browser are readable from any signed-in device.
Before changing anything: what it would reveal
Signing out of sync or removing a device shows up in the account's device list, and your activity disappearing from 'tabs from other devices' can be noticed by someone who checks. Using a different browser (not signed in to anything) for sensitive browsing changes nothing visible about the synced one — though it leaves its own local history on the device.
EscapePath cannot scan this or any device, and no website can reliably detect spyware. These guides explain how surveillance mechanisms work so you can assess your own risk — they cannot tell you whether this device is being watched, and we will never claim they can.
Checked against Chrome 138 / Safari 19 / Edge / Firefox as of June 2026; last reviewed 2026-06-15. Settings screens change — trust what your device shows over any guide.