Is this a request to deprecate for some number of milestones then remove
(if so, what is the proposed plan?), or just a straight removal? Could
you clarify? Thanks.
On 11/24/25 10:40 p.m., Chromestatus wrote:
*Contact emails*
[email protected]
*Explainer*
/No information provided/
*Specification*
https://wicg.github.io/background-fetch
*Summary*
Deprecates the Background Fetch API, which allows web applications to
download large files in the background, even if the user navigates
away from the page or closes the browser. Despite being available in
Chrome since version 74, the Background Fetch API has not seen wide
adoption by the developer community, with usage remaining consistently
low, at less than 0.00002% of page loads as of November 2025. Given
the low adoption rate and the significant engineering effort required
to maintain the API and address ongoing security issues, it is being
deprecated. Developers are encouraged to explore alternative solutions
for managing large file downloads.
*Blink component*
Blink>ServiceWorker
<https://issues.chromium.org/issues?q=customfield1222907:%22Blink%3EServiceWorker%22>
*Web Feature ID*
background-fetch <https://webstatus.dev/features/background-fetch>
*Motivation*
The Background Fetch API has been available in Chrome since version
74. However, it has not seen wide adoption. Usage metrics show that
the feature is used in less than 0.00002% of page loads as of November
2025. Given the low usage, the ongoing engineering effort to maintain
the Background Fetch API and address security issues is no longer
justifiable. For developers who need to provide users with the ability
to download large files, there are several alternatives: - For simple
file downloads, developers can provide a standard download link. - For
more advanced use cases, such as providing offline access to large
files, developers can use the Fetch API within a Service Worker to
download and cache the necessary resources. This approach provides
developers with greater control over the user experience.
*Initial public proposal*
/No information provided/
*TAG review*
/No information provided/
*TAG review status*
Not applicable
*Risks*
*Interoperability and Compatibility*
The interoperability risk of removing the Background Fetch API is low.
The API has not been implemented by Firefox or Safari, and there have
been no signals from either to indicate that they intend to do so. As
a result, removing this API from Chrome will not cause
interoperability issues, as it is not a feature that is part of the
interoperable web platform. The compatibility risk is also minimal.
Usage of the Background Fetch API has remained consistently low, at
less than 0.00002% of page loads as of November 2025. Because of this
extremely low usage, the number of websites that will be affected by
this removal is very small.
/Gecko/: No
signal (https://github.com/mozilla/standards-positions/issues/30)
/WebKit/: No
signal (https://github.com/WebKit/standards-positions/issues/149)
/Web developers/: No signals
/Other signals/: TAG: https://github.com/w3ctag/design-reviews/issues/279
*Ergonomics*
The Background Fetch API is tightly coupled with the Service Worker
API. It is accessed through the backgroundFetch property of a
ServiceWorkerRegistration object. Developers using this API would also
likely use the Fetch API to create the Request objects for the
download and the Cache API to store the downloaded responses. The API
is designed to be asynchronous and to operate in the background. The
main fetch() method returns a Promise, and the download process is
managed by the browser, off the main thread. This design avoids
blocking the main thread and is intended to improve performance and
battery life for large downloads compared to keeping a service worker
alive for a long-running fetch. Therefore, the API's usage does not
inherently pose a performance risk that would make it difficult for
Chrome to maintain good performance. The deprecation is due to low
adoption and high maintenance cost, not because of ergonomic or
performance issues in its design.
*Activation*
This change is a deprecation and removal of an existing API. The
primary risk is the impact on developers who are currently using the
Background Fetch API. However, the "activation" risk for this removal
is minimal. The API has seen extremely low adoption since its
introduction in Chrome 74, with usage below 0.00002% of page loads.
This indicates that very few developers will be required to take action.
*Security*
The removal of the Background Fetch API reduces the overall attack
surface of the browser and mitigates existing security issues
associated with maintaining the feature.
*WebView application risks*
Does this intent deprecate or change behavior of existing APIs, such
that it has potentially high risk for Android WebView-based applications?
/No information provided/
*Debuggability*
/No information provided/
*Will this feature be supported on all six Blink platforms (Windows,
Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and Android WebView)?*
No
*Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests
<https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/docs/testing/web_platform_tests.md>?*
No
*Flag name on about://flags*
/No information provided/
*Finch feature name*
BackgroundFetch
*Rollout plan*
Will ship enabled for all users
*Requires code in //chrome?*
False
*Tracking bug*
https://crbug.com/460293588
*Estimated milestones*
Shipping on desktop 146
Shipping on Android 146
Shipping on WebView 146
*Anticipated spec changes*
Open questions about a feature may be a source of future web compat or
interop issues. Please list open issues (e.g. links to known github
issues in the project for the feature specification) whose resolution
may introduce web compat/interop risk (e.g., changing to naming or
structure of the API in a non-backward-compatible way).
/No information provided/
*Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status*
https://chromestatus.com/feature/5074579353632768?gate=6606728540061696
This intent message was generated by Chrome Platform Status
<https://chromestatus.com>.
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