Recently google discovered that users of Chromium based web browser have been able to to access old data from chrome, including bookmarks, extensions, history and settings because the Chromium based web browser can access features and API that “only intended from Google Chrome browser”.
Google says that the Chromium based web browser isn’t supposed to have access to the features and they will limit the access to the private Chrome API starting on March 15, 2021. All version of Chromium will be affected, even for the older build.
After google announced the cut off, some distro are considering to remove Chromium build from their repository. For example:
- Arch http://web.archive.org/web/20210119202706/https://lists.archlinux.org/pipermail/arch-dev-public/2021-January/030263.html
- Debian https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=972134
- Fedora https://twitter.com/fedora/status/1351631726791983105?s=19
If you are a Chromium user it’s important to know that your data will not be deleted but only available locally as stated on the Chormium blog.
For users who accessed Google features (like Chrome sync) through a third-party Chromium based browser, their data will continue to be available in their Google Account, and data that they have stored locally will continue to be available locally.