chrome.privacy

Description
Use the chrome.privacy API to control usage of the features in Chrome that can affect a user's privacy. This API relies on the ChromeSetting prototype of the type API for getting and setting Chrome's configuration.
Permissions
privacy
This permission triggers a warning.

The Chrome Privacy Whitepaper gives background detail regarding the features which this API can control.

Manifest

You must declare the "privacy" permission in your extension's manifest to use the API. For example:

{
  "name": "My extension",
  ...
  "permissions": [
    "privacy"
  ],
  ...
}

Usage

Reading the current value of a Chrome setting is straightforward. You'll first need to find the property you're interested in, then you'll call get() on that object in order to retrieve its current value and your extension's level of control. For example, to determine if Chrome's Autofill feature is enabled, you'd write:

chrome.privacy.services.autofillEnabled.get({}, function(details) {
  if (details.value) {
    console.log('Autofill is on!');
  } else {
    console.log('Autofill is off!');
  }
});

Changing the value of a setting is a little bit more complex, simply because you first must verify that your extension can control the setting. The user won't see any change to their settings if your extension toggles a setting that is either locked to a specific value by enterprise policies (levelOfControl will be set to "not_controllable"), or if another extension is controlling the value (levelOfControl will be set to "controlled_by_other_extensions"). The set() call will succeed, but the setting will be immediately overridden. As this might be confusing, it is advisable to warn the user when the settings they've chosen aren't practically applied.

Full details about extensions' ability to control ChromeSettings can be found under chrome.types.ChromeSetting.

This means that you ought to use the get() method to determine your level of access, and then only call set() if your extension can grab control over the setting (in fact if your extension can't control the setting it's probably a good idea to visually disable the functionality to reduce user confusion):

chrome.privacy.services.autofillEnabled.get({}, function(details) {
  if (details.levelOfControl === 'controllable_by_this_extension') {
    chrome.privacy.services.autofillEnabled.set({ value: true }, function() {
      if (chrome.runtime.lastError === undefined) {
        console.log("Hooray, it worked!");
      } else {
        console.log("Sadness!", chrome.runtime.lastError);
      }
    });
  }
});

If you're interested in changes to a setting's value, add a listener to its onChange event. Among other uses, this will allow you to warn the user if a more recently installed extension grabs control of a setting, or if enterprise policy overrides your control. To listen for changes to Autofill's status, for example, the following code would suffice:

chrome.privacy.services.autofillEnabled.onChange.addListener(
  function (details) {
    // The new value is stored in `details.value`, the new level of control
    // in `details.levelOfControl`, and `details.incognitoSpecific` will be
    // `true` if the value is specific to Incognito mode.
  }
);

Examples

For example code, see the Privacy API samples.

Summary

Types
IPHandlingPolicy
Properties
network
services
websites

Types

IPHandlingPolicy

Chrome 48+

The IP handling policy of WebRTC.

Type

"default"

"default_public_and_private_interfaces"

"default_public_interface_only"

, or

"disable_non_proxied_udp"

Properties

network

Settings that influence Chrome's handling of network connections in general.

Type

object

Properties

networkPredictionEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If enabled, Chrome attempts to speed up your web browsing experience by pre-resolving DNS entries and preemptively opening TCP and SSL connections to servers. This preference only affects actions taken by Chrome's internal prediction service. It does not affect webpage-initiated prefectches or preconnects. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to true.
webRTCIPHandlingPolicy
types.ChromeSetting<IPHandlingPolicy>
Chrome 48+
Allow users to specify the media performance/privacy tradeoffs which impacts how WebRTC traffic will be routed and how much local address information is exposed. This preference's value is of type IPHandlingPolicy, defaulting to default.

services

Settings that enable or disable features that require third-party network services provided by Google and your default search provider.

Type

object

Properties

alternateErrorPagesEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If enabled, Chrome uses a web service to help resolve navigation errors. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to true.
autofillAddressEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
Chrome 70+
If enabled, Chrome offers to automatically fill in addresses and other form data. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to true.
autofillCreditCardEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
Chrome 70+
If enabled, Chrome offers to automatically fill in credit card forms. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to true.
autofillEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
Deprecated since Chrome 70
Please use privacy.services.autofillAddressEnabled and privacy.services.autofillCreditCardEnabled. This remains for backward compatibility in this release and will be removed in the future.
If enabled, Chrome offers to automatically fill in forms. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to true.
passwordSavingEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If enabled, the password manager will ask if you want to save passwords. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to true.
safeBrowsingEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If enabled, Chrome does its best to protect you from phishing and malware. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to true.
safeBrowsingExtendedReportingEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If enabled, Chrome will send additional information to Google when SafeBrowsing blocks a page, such as the content of the blocked page. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to false.
searchSuggestEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If enabled, Chrome sends the text you type into the Omnibox to your default search engine, which provides predictions of websites and searches that are likely completions of what you've typed so far. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to true.
spellingServiceEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If enabled, Chrome uses a web service to help correct spelling errors. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to false.
translationServiceEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If enabled, Chrome offers to translate pages that aren't in a language you read. This preference's value is a boolean, defaulting to true.

websites

Settings that determine what information Chrome makes available to websites.

Type

object

Properties

adMeasurementEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
Chrome 111+
If disabled, the Attribution Reporting API and Private Aggregation API are deactivated. The value of this preference is of type boolean, and the default value is true. Extensions may only disable these APIs by setting the value to false. If you try setting these APIs to true, it will throw an error.
doNotTrackEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
Chrome 65+
If enabled, Chrome sends 'Do Not Track' (DNT: 1) header with your requests. The value of this preference is of type boolean, and the default value is false.
fledgeEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
Chrome 111+
If disabled, the Fledge API is deactivated. The value of this preference is of type boolean, and the default value is true. Extensions may only disable this API by setting the value to false. If you try setting this API to true, it will throw an error.
hyperlinkAuditingEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If enabled, Chrome sends auditing pings when requested by a website (<a ping>). The value of this preference is of type boolean, and the default value is true.
privacySandboxEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
Chrome 90+ Deprecated since Chrome 111
We’re deprecating the API chrome.privacy.websites.privacySandboxEnabled, though it will remain active for backward compatibility until release M113. Instead, please use chrome.privacy.websites.topicsEnabled, chrome.privacy.websites.fledgeEnabled and chrome.privacy.websites.adMeasurementEnabled. During the migration period: 1. Enabling privacySandboxEnabled will CLEAR the new APIs listed above because extensions aren’t allowed to enable them; 2. Disabling privacySandboxEnabled will also disable the new APIs; 3. Clearing privacySandboxEnabled will also clear the new APIs.
If enabled, the experimental Privacy Sandbox features are active. The value of this preference is of type boolean, and the default value is true.
protectedContentEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
Available on Windows and ChromeOS only: If enabled, Chrome provides a unique ID to plugins in order to run protected content. The value of this preference is of type boolean, and the default value is true.
referrersEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If enabled, Chrome sends referer headers with your requests. Yes, the name of this preference doesn't match the misspelled header. No, we're not going to change it. The value of this preference is of type boolean, and the default value is true.
thirdPartyCookiesAllowed
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
If disabled, Chrome blocks third-party sites from setting cookies. The value of this preference is of type boolean, and the default value is true.
topicsEnabled
types.ChromeSetting<boolean>
Chrome 111+
If disabled, the Topics API is deactivated. The value of this preference is of type boolean, and the default value is true. Extensions may only disable this API by setting the value to false. If you try setting this API to true, it will throw an error.

chrome.privacy

# Manifest

# Usage

# Examples

Summary

Types

IPHandlingPolicy

Type

Properties

network

Type

Properties

services

Type

Properties

websites

Type

Properties

Manifest

Usage

Examples