ICloud – Syncing iCloud bookmarks with Opera GX

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I work on a MacBook on the go, an iPhone when on the train and a Mac Mini Server for other stuff – it is actually stuffed in my parent's place. But… I also game on a Windows maschine. Now, since I am very tied to the Apple eco-system, I obviously use iCloud for managing most of my stuff. HandOff and singing into my MacBook with my Apple Watch are super convenient and great! Especially sharing tabs and bookmarks across Safari. But unfortunately, I don't seem to get this on Windows – at least not with Opera GX.

See, I don't really like Google Chrome and I use Firefox for other stuff…ahem. So Opera GX is my main browser; it has the great resource limiter which is super great, a lot of customization and somehow it even has Razer Chroma…? But what it does not have is support from iCloud. And that sucks.

So Opera GX allows you to install Google Chrome extensions – and since there is an iCloud extension, I installed it in the hope that I would be able to sync my bookmarks this way. But no, the "iCloud for Windows" does not recognize this attempt at all, unfortunately. But since Opera GX is essentially abstracting itself to run Chrome extensions and – to my knowledge, mind you – runs the Chromium web-engine, I should be able to trick iCloud into believing that my Opera GX was actually Chrome, right?

I haven't succeeded in this, unfortunately. But since Chromium enforces a specific application infrastructure – all the way from command line arguments to internal page routing for settings and alike – I would think that once iCloud thought that my Opera GX was actually Google Chrome, it should sync my bookmarks just fine. Really, I only want my bookmarks – tabs do not matter that much to me, but it would be nice to have! But I don't think Apple would even allow this feature for non-Safari browsers anyway.

So how can I make iCloud for Windows think that Opera GX is Chrome, so it syncs my bookmarks? Thanks!

Best Answer

If you create the NativeMessagingHosts registry entry it syncs fine without Chrome being detected.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\com.apple.bookmarks]
@="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Common Files\\Apple\\Internet Services\\AppleChromeDAV_host_manifest.json"

In the UWP version of iCloud both Firefox and Chrome keys are already exposed by the AppX though you can't see them in the registry. So any browser should just work if you install the iCloud extension.

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