But if these things are unrelated, I guess we'll just have to chalk that up to Google's famously shitty product management and design skills.
You could always be logged in and not sync. You just had previously chosen to be logged in and synced.
By disabling syncing, you turned off a feature that you previously had to have opted in to.
I remember because it bothered me to have to wipe my passwords from some random pc I was using just because I wanted my bookmarks.
> This will sign you out of your Google accounts.
And sure enough, it signs you out of gmail and the browser. So it's sign in to the browser, or no gmail for you.
I know what I saw. I was logged in, then I wasn't after I turned off Sync. They may not be related technically, but in the UI they are part and parcel.
Thanks for correcting me!