Posted by Gina Biernacki, Product Manager

Today, the Google Identity team is announcing a beta program for developers to test our integration with the Chrome browser’s new FedCM (Federated Credential Management) API.

Audience

This update is for all Google Identity Services (GIS) web developers who rely on the Chrome browser and use:

One Tap, or

Auto Sign-In

Why FedCM

GIS currently uses third-party cookies to enable users to easily sign up and sign in to websites, making sign-in more secure for users by reducing reliance on passwords. However, as part of the Privacy Sandbox initiative, Chrome is phasing out support for third-party cookies in 2024 to protect user privacy online.

The W3C FedID community group developed the FedCM API as a new privacy-preserving alternative to third-party cookies for federated identity providers. This new FedCM solution enables Google to continue providing a secure, streamlined experience for signing up and signing in to websites via GIS.

The benefits of FedCM include:

Improved privacy. As part of its design, FedCM prevents identity providers from viewing users' activity across the web without their permission, keeping privacy central in user interactions.

High-quality user experience. FedCM enables GIS to rely on a new browser-native UI, resulting in a faster, more consistent sign-in experience for users across websites and across identity providers. This new browser-provided user experience takes inspiration from prior versions of the GIS library, making the transition easier for users and developers.

Additional browser support. We expect other browsers to support FedCM, such as Firefox and other Chromium-based browsers like Edge, Opera, and Samsung browsers. We are excited to support a consistent, low-friction sign-in experience across the web.

What is changing for GIS developers

We expect to migrate developers using GIS’s One Tap and Auto Sign-In features to FedCM over the next year as a result of the Chrome browser’s plans to deprecate third-party cookies. For most developers, this migration will occur seamlessly through backwards-compatible updates to the GIS JavaScript library; the GIS JavaScript library will call the FedCM APIs behind the scenes, without any developer changes required. However, some websites may require minor changes, such as updates to custom layouts or positioning of sign-in prompts. To learn if your website may require changes, please review the migration guide article, and we encourage you to participate in the FedCM beta program.

More on the FedCM User Experience

With FedCM, GIS will continue to offer a seamless user experience, even when third-party cookies are no longer available. The new FedCM APIs have minimal changes to existing user flows and websites. The updated One Tap and Auto Sign-In user prompts are shown below:

Timeline

GIS will migrate traffic to FedCM gradually beginning in November 2023, with minimal changes required for most developers. If you are using GIS One Tap or Auto Sign-in on your website, please be aware of the following timelines:

August 2023: Developers have the ability to participate in a GIS FedCM beta release. We also encourage all new apps to participate in the FedCM beta from the start.

Early 2024: We will begin a gradual transition of developers to FedCM, reaching 100% in mid-2024, to support the Chrome browser’s announced plans to block third-party cookies by default starting in the second half of 2024.

Early 2024: Chrome intends to begin scaled testing of third-party cookie blocking in advance of their aforementioned plans.

Once the Chrome browser blocks third-party cookies by default, the use of FedCM will be required for GIS One Tap to function.

Join our Beta program to prepare

We encourage all our developers to participate and test the FedCM APIs in our beta program available today, so you can prepare for these upcoming changes. To get started and learn more about the program, visit our developer site and check out the google-signin tag on Stack Overflow for technical assistance. We invite developers to share their feedback on the FedCM beta program with us at [email protected].