How to Install and Sync Fraidycat Across Devices

Fraidycat installs as either a desktop app or a browser extension for Firefox or Chrome, and it syncs your follows between computers through your browser login rather than a separate Fraidycat account. That means the sync path is simplest if you use the same browser and stay logged in on each machine. If you prefer the desktop app, or you use different browsers on different computers, the browser-login sync described on the site won't cover you the same way.

What Fraidycat Is, in One Paragraph

Fraidycat is a follow-from-afar tool. Instead of a news feed or a massive inbox of new posts, it shows a list of recently active individuals you follow — on Twitter, a blog, YouTube, or even a public TiddlyWiki. Each follow gets a two-line summary, so no single source can take over the page. You can expand a line to see recent titles or excerpts, or click the follow's name to read that person on their own network.

Install Fraidycat

Fraidycat is available in two forms, and you pick one per device:

• Browser extension — for Firefox or Chrome. This is the form that participates in the browser-login sync described below.
• Desktop app — a standalone application, useful if you'd rather not run it inside a browser.

The site does not list specific download URLs, store listings, or version numbers, so get the installer or extension from Fraidycat's own site or your browser's extension store rather than from a third party.

Open the Main Page

Once installed, hit Fraidycat's button and the main page comes up. There is no news feed. What you see is a list of recently active individuals, each represented by a short summary line.

Set Up Sync Between Computers

Sync depends on your browser login, not on a Fraidycat account:

1. Install Fraidycat as a browser extension in Firefox or Chrome on your first computer.
2. Make sure you are logged in to that browser with your browser account (the same account you'd use for bookmarks or history sync).
3. Add the people you want to follow.
4. On your second computer, install the same extension in the same browser and log in to the same browser account.
5. Fraidycat will sync your follows between your different computers.

There is no separate Fraidycat sign-up step described — the browser login is what carries your follows across.

What Sync Does and Doesn't Cover

If your setup falls outside the first row, treat each device as its own separate Fraidycat and expect to configure follows independently.

Arrange Follows So the List Stays Useful

Two settings shape what you see on the main page:

• Tags — follows are arranged by tag, and tags are plain text (emoji work well). The tabbed bar on the main page lets you select a tag to view.
• Importance — each follow has an importance level: real-time, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly. This controls how frequently Fraidycat checks that individual.

Importance also affects placement: follows that aren't set to real-time move off the main page, where you can view them periodically on your own. So if a follow seems to have disappeared from the main view, check its importance level first — that's the likely cause, not a sync failure.

Common Snags

• Follows missing on the second computer. Confirm you're using the same browser and the same browser login on both machines. A different browser or a logged-out session breaks the sync path.
• A follow vanished from the main page. It's probably not set to real-time. Look for it under its tag or in the periodic view.
• Too much on the main page. Lower the importance of noisy follows so they drop off the main view and get checked less often.
• Using the desktop app and expecting cross-device sync. The sync behavior described relies on the browser extension and browser login.