# How Umbreta works

> A profile is a separate browser that lives in the cloud, opens in one place at a time and is saved when it closes. What this means for a team.

After this page you know where a profile is stored, where it opens and why two people can't open it at the same time.

## The profile

A profile is a separate browser with its own fingerprint, proxy, cookies, tabs and note. Sites see each profile as a separate computer. The browser core is Chromium with our patches, updated every month.

## Where a profile lives

Profiles are stored in your organization's cloud, not on a computer. So the same profile opens:

- **on this computer**, in the app for macOS or Windows;
- **on another computer** with the app;
- **in the cloud**, in the cloud browser in a tab of an ordinary browser, with nothing to install.

## One place at a time

A profile is open in one place only. While it is open, a lock holds it: another computer can't launch it, and the app offers **Ask to close**. That computer saves the profile and closes the window, and the profile opens for you with the same cookies. If the computer is silent for over two minutes, the profile frees itself and opens from the last save.

## Saving

When a profile window closes, the app uploads the profile to the cloud and wipes the temporary folder. Open profiles also save by themselves; set how often in **Settings** → **Launch and resources** → **Autosave open profiles**. Until the save goes through, the profile is held by this computer.

Without a connection to the cloud, new profiles don't launch, and the ones already open keep working: their saves wait for the connection.

## The team

Profiles belong to the organization. A person's role in the organization decides which profiles they see, and their role on a profile decides what they do with it. More in [Roles and access](https://umbreta.com/en/docs/concepts/roles/).