Google Blocks Third-Party Browsers Chromium Sync

Google wants to abolish the previously possible Chrome sync function in third-party browsers. According to Google, third-party providers use the interface even though it was only created for Chrome itself – and that will end in mid-March.

Now Google wants to ban the use of the private Google API and thus kill the sync function in other software. This is reported by the online magazine Bleeping Computer and explains what effects this will have. This affects various Chromium-based projects that had illegally integrated the API. On March 15, 2021, access to private Chrome APIs will be restricted, so that the sync function will no longer be available from third-party providers.

“During a recent audit, we found that some Chromium-based third-party browsers were able to integrate Google functions such as Chrome Sync and Click to Call, which is only intended for use by Google,” explains Jochen Eisinger, Engineering Director of Google Chrome. “That meant a small fraction of users could log into their Google account and save their personal Chrome sync data, such as bookmarks, not only with Google Chrome but with some third-party Chromium-based browsers as well.”

Edge and Opera use Chromium

Chrome Sync can sync bookmarks, passwords, history, open tabs, settings, preferences, and in some cases even billing information stored in Google Pay. Eisinger did not mention the names of the projects concerned, which now have to do without it. The browsers based on Google Chromium include Microsoft Edge. But other well-known and widespread web browsers such as Opera and Vivaldi also use parts of Chromium.