Google announced in a developer blog that starting March 15, 2021, the company will limit the use of Google APIs in third-party browsers based on the Chromium engine. Among the blocked features of the internal Google API will be: linking to your Google account, the Click to Call mechanism, as well as the service synchronizing user settings and data. Google did not explain which specific browsers based on the Chromium engine will lose access to the company’s private APIs.
In a recent audit Google found that third-party developers successfully use these features in their browser versions to integrate with Google services. In doing so, they are effectively abusing the Chrome Sync service and storing data, bookmarks, and browsing history on Google’s servers without permission. As of mid-March, these Google API services will only be available in the Chrome browser.
If users of Chromium-based browsers have previously logged into their Google Account from them and stored their personal data there, they will be able to continue to manage it on the My Google Activity page or download it using Google Takeout (Google Archivator).
In early 2019, it announced new APIs in Chromium. A month later, Google abandoned planned changes to the Chromium browser API, which made most ad blockers and some other extensions non-functional.
