v144 · miscellaneous

Deprecate and Remove: Shared Storage API

The Shared Storage API is a privacy-preserving web API to enable storage that is not partitioned by first-party site.

concepts

  1. Shared Storage Note

    Another Privacy Sandbox removal — Shared Storage is gone. Sites should rely on standard per-origin storage from here on.

  2. Worklet Probe

    Try to add a Shared Storage worklet module; in Chrome 144 it rejects. Paired with the recommended cross-tab replacement (IndexedDB + BroadcastChannel).

  3. Cross-tab Coordination

    The replacement, hands-on. Open this page in two tabs and watch BroadcastChannel + IndexedDB carry the cross-tab counter and message bus in real time.

  4. BroadcastChannel Pattern

    Live BroadcastChannel + localStorage message bus — send messages across tabs, watch the tab counter track how many instances are open, and inspect the shared state. The Shared Storage replacement in action.

why it shipped

Chrome has announced that the current approach to third-party cookies will be maintained. Given this, we expect adoption to decrease over time (currently at ~11% of page loads) as the main use cases for Shared Storage will remain possible in Chrome using third-party cookies. Further, other browser engines have not signaled interest in launching the API. See also the initial public proposal below.

references