What's the difference between com.android.chrome and com.google.android.gms.chromesync?

Question

I'm trying to understand what is the difference & the purpose of two lines in /data/system/sync/accounts.xml which relate to Chrome app.

<authority id="101" user="0" enabled="true" account="[email protected]" type="com.google" authority="com.android.chrome" syncable="true" />

<authority id="202" user="0" enabled="true" account="[email protected]" type="com.google" authority="com.google.android.gms.chromesync" syncable="true">

When I turn off sync in device, Chrome app will (only) switch the boolean flag sync_switch inside /data/data/com.android.chrome/shared_prefs/com.android.chrome_preferences.xml which also has the lines:

• <string name="sync_acct_type">com.google</string> which means I logged in to a Google account

• <string name="sync_acct_name">[email protected]</string> represents my email to sync with

Questions:

1. Why do I have two lines related to Chrome; com.google.android.gms.chromesync & com.android.chrome?
2. Assuming com.android.chrome is the Chrome app, what is chromesync?
3. What will happen for multiple users?
4. I have two accounts (my work & my personal) but in Chrome I'm logged to my personal, will it sync both?

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Related references

• https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/lkcr/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/sync/ui/SyncCustomizationFragment.java#189

• https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/lkcr/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/sync/ui/SyncCustomizationFragment.java#325

• https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/lkcr/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/sync/ui/SyncCustomizationFragment.java#351

Answer 1

com.android.chrome is Google Chrome's package name.

com.google.android.gms.chromesync is part of Google Play Services used to sync Chrome's bookmarks, history and password. It's part of Chrome Sync that was made available for use via Google Play Service a few years back as stated in this article:

If you've ever used Google Chrome on Android –let's be honest, you probably have– then you've probably signed into your account and activated Chrome Sync to have things like bookmarks, history, and passwords in constant harmony across all of your devices. While this works really well, the setup process gets a little redundant for users that install all three variants of Chrome (Stable, Beta, and Dev). However, it looks like Chrome Sync is going to move, or at least become available directly through Google Play Services. Several activities and providers have been added, along with some of the necessary strings to implement the same functionality in the GMS package.

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What will happen for multiple users? I have two accounts (my work & my personal) but in Chrome I'm logged to my personal, will it sync both?

If you are logged to Chrome with only your personal account, then only your personal account should be synced.