After several years of comings and goings, Google has decided to close the Privacy Sandbox. and distance itself from that brand. The company confirms that it is disabling a substantial portion of the technologies linked to the project due to its low adoption and changes the course in its privacy strategy for the web and Android.
Born in 2019 to replace the third-party cookies For privacy-oriented alternatives, the plan has accumulated delays, limited testing (such as the experiment with 1% of users), and regulatory pressure. In the spring, Google had already opted to do not delete cookies in Chrome, and now the turnaround is complete with the withdrawal of the Privacy Sandbox umbrella itself.
What exactly is disabled in the Privacy Sandbox?
The company has announced the official withdrawal of ten technologies associated with the Privacy Sandbox due to their limited real-world use. A phased phase-out process will be implemented in Chrome and Android, with developers notified as the phase-out progresses.
- Attribution Reporting API (Chrome and Android)
- IP Protection
- On-Device Personalization
- Private Aggregation (including Shared Storage)
- Protected Audience (Chrome and Android)
- Protected App Signals
- Related Website Sets (including requestStorageAccessFor and Related Website Partition)
- SelectURL
- SDK Runtime
- Topics (Chrome and Android)
This list covers both proposals designed for ad targeting and measurement and platform tools; its removal implies a end of stage for the approach that Google has been promoting in recent years in Chrome and Android.
What's left of the Privacy Sandbox
Not everything is being disabled. Google will maintain more widely adopted technologies that strengthen cookie and identity management: CRISPS (cookie isolation per site), FedCM (more private logins) and Private State Tokens to combat fraud. In addition, the company will promote a interoperable attribution standard through web standardization processes, instead of the retired Attribution Reporting API.
Why the project is deflating
According to Google itself, low levels of adoption have been decisive. Advertisers and publishers stressed the need for solutions scale measurement and clear value compared to cookies, something that these APIs failed to consolidate. Added to this are years of postponements and the prior decision to keep third-party cookies at the user's discretion.
In parallel, the surveillance of regulators - with the CMA British and the Justice Department of the US among the prominent players—raised doubts about the competitive impact of some proposals. The fear was that such a sweeping change, controlled by the dominant browser, could harm the little ones of the advertising ecosystem.
What changes for users and for the industry
For ordinary people, the essential thing is that the third-party cookies continue present in Chrome. The browser will continue to offer controls for everyone to manage their settings, without a sudden shutdown that disrupts browsing or ad experience overnight.
For advertisers and media, the impact involves reviewing strategies segmentation, measurement and attribution Without the retired APIs, reinforcing the use of proprietary data, context solutions, and standardization initiatives. The focus shifts to tools that show proven value and can operate with greater interoperability on the open web.
Context on Android and in the browser
The change also affects Android: proposals such as SDK Runtime, Topics and Protected Audience on mobile are no longer part of the roadmap, increasing interest in a privacy-focused browser away from Google. Google says it will continue to improve privacy in Chrome, Android, and the web, but disassociates itself from the Privacy Sandbox brand as a single container.
The company emphasizes that the learnings from the process They will serve to fuel future platform functions and work in standards forums. Collaboration with the industry, they promise, will continue to sustain a web healthy and sustainable without losing sight of the needs for measurement and advertising effectiveness.
The closure of the Privacy Sandbox doesn't end the debate, but it does mark a specific milestone: Google is retiring ten APIs, maintaining CHIPS, FedCM, and Private State Tokens, preserving third-party cookies in Chrome, and betting on pushing open standards with greater real traction in the ecosystem.
