Google Chrome: Cookie deprecation explained

On April 22, 2025, Google confirmed it is maintaining its current approach to third-party cookie choice in Chrome, keeping cookies available by default and managed through existing Privacy and Security Settings rather than a new consent prompt.

This reverses Chrome's original 2019 Privacy Sandbox plan to phase third-party cookies out entirely. For the full cookie deprecation timeline - including the 2024 test rollout and the October 2025 API retirements.

The Privacy Sandbox initiative, announced in 2019, aimed to develop privacy-preserving alternatives to third-party cookies as part of Google's third party cookie deprecation timeline, with the eventual goal of phasing cookies out following a formal 2022 engagement with the UK's CMA and ICO. The Google cookie deprecation timeline below covers what happened from that announcement onward.

Only one phase of the planned Chrome 3rd party cookies timeline was ever actually shipped – everything after it was reversed or dropped.

• January 4, 2024: Chrome restricted third-party cookies for 1% of Stable channel users – this was the only phase actually rolled out.
• April 22, 2025: Google confirmed it would not proceed with a full phaseout or a new standalone consent prompt, maintaining the existing cookie controls in Chrome's Privacy and Security Settings instead.
• October 17, 2025: Google retired several Privacy Sandbox APIs due to low industry adoption, while continuing to support CHIPS, FedCM, and Private State Tokens.

Taken together, these three dates make up the full Google Chrome third-party update history to date.

• Safari, Firefox, and Brave already block third-party cookies by default, so Chrome's decision doesn't change the cross-browser tracking landscape.
• Chrome's Incognito mode already blocks third-party cookies by default, and Google is continuing to build out tracking protections there.
• The CMA's Privacy Sandbox testing had raised questions about the reliability of some proposed replacement technologies, cited as a factor in the API retirements.

Beyond Chrome's own 3rd party cookie deprecation timeline, Chrome's decision doesn't remove cookie consent obligations – those come from EU law, not Google. The European Commission's Digital Omnibus proposal, published in November 2025, integrates cookie and tracking consent rules directly into the GDPR through a new Article 88a, with a companion Article 88b governing consent and refusal signals. Article 88a would bar re-requesting consent for the same purpose for at least six months after a user refuses, and Article 88b would require recognizing browser-level consent signals as legally binding. As of mid-2026 the package is still in the legislative process, with final text expected by late 2026 or early 2027. Current obligations under the ePrivacy Directive and GDPR remain in force until then.

Stay informed about these changes and prepare to adapt to the new privacy-focused web landscape that Chrome is championing:

1. 1.
   Third-party cookies: detailed guide & news, insights for 2026
2. 2.
   The impact of third-party cookie deprecation on affiliate marketing
3. 3.
   How to increase first-party cookie lifetime set by a third-party IP (Safari 16.4 and ITP update)
4. 4.
   What is cookieless tracking
5. 5.
   Cookieless GA4 tracking using server GTM

For more detailed information, visit official news and stay tuned for updates on this significant shift in web privacy and functionality.