*Contact emails* [email protected] *Summary* Set a new set of possible values for the Device Memory API: - Android: 2, 4, 8 - Others: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 Replacing the old values of 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 which have grown outdated.
This will reduce the fingerprinting risks at the lower end since device capabilities have improved since these were set. It will also allow better usage and segmenting of high-end devices as requested by developers (https://github.com/w3c/device-memory/issues/50). *Blink component* Blink>JavaScript>API <https://issues.chromium.org/issues?q=customfield1222907:%22Blink%3EJavaScript%3EAPI%22> *Web Feature ID* device-memory <https://webstatus.dev/features/device-memory> *Search tags* DeviceMemory <https://chromestatus.com/features#tags:DeviceMemory>, memory <https://chromestatus.com/features#tags:memory>, Sec-CH-DeviceMemory <https://chromestatus.com/features#tags:Sec-CH-DeviceMemory> *Risks* *Interoperability and Compatibility* While this does not introduce a new API and the values were somewhat* non-standardised the current values have been around for some time for Chromium-based browsers (the only implementor at this time). * Note: the ambiguity has been cleared up in the spec to make it super clear the values are implementation-defined and so subject to change. As such , I foresee two risks here: - Some web apps have gated some features on < 2GB RAM and these devices will now start to report as the minimum 2GB RAM and so enable features the devices may not be capable of using. - Some webpages may have incorrectly coded to presume no value >8 will ever be reported. The compatibility risk here however seems small, and the privacy risk of remaining as is is not small. However the feature has been gated behind a feature flag so, should the worst happen, we can revert to the original values. *Gecko*: No signal ( https://groups.google.com/g/mozilla.dev.platform/c/cfydu35XdnY/m/3IqYn0oJAQAJ) Firefox didn't go as far as giving a negative signal AFAIK but have raised concerns. They have not blocked updating these limits. *WebKit*: Negative (https://github.com/w3c/device-memory/issues/24) Webkit are negative to the original API but have not blocked updating these limits. *Web developers*: Positive (https://github.com/w3c/device-memory/issues/50 ) Proposal *Other signals*: This was discussed in the WebPerf WG group on 2026-01-15 and we were in agreement to change this. *Ergonomics* Very low-end devices may no longer be excluded from features web developers have previously restricted to >= 2GB RAM. *Activation* None, other than those noted in Interoperability and compatibility risks. *Security* Internal stats were reviewed to confirm the lower bounds are rarely used and so present a privacy risk. This was also confirmed with discussions with external RUM providers. Additionally the new upper bounds were decided upon based on similar data review (internal only, since these values are not currently exposed—which is what we are trying to fix). Finally, the upper bounds are not planned to be increased (yet) on Android since >8GB RAM is still rare for mobile devices. *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? Kill switch (kUpdatedDeviceMemoryLimitsFor2026) included. *Debuggability* The feature is available from standard APIs, but it is not currently possible to emulate the values (since that will only change the reported value and not the amount of RAM used so is of limited use). *Will this feature be supported on all six Blink platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and Android WebView)?* Yes Note different values on Android and other platforms *Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests <https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/docs/testing/web_platform_tests.md>?* Yes https://wpt.fyi/results/device-memory?label=experimental&label=master&aligned These tests will be updated as part of this change ( https://chromium-review.git.corp.google.com/c/chromium/src/+/7410045). *Flag name on about://flags* *No information provided* *Finch feature name* kUpdatedDeviceMemoryLimitsFor2026 *Non-finch justification* I am not planning on rolling this out via finch giving the low risk, but will include a feature flag (`kUpdatedDeviceMemoryLimitsFor2026`) to allow it to be turned off if the worst should happen. *Requires code in //chrome?* False *Tracking bug* https://issues.chromium.org/issues/454354290 *Measurement* This is already track with an existing use counters: - JS API - https://chromestatus.com/metrics/feature/timeline/popularity/2121 - Client Hints: https://chromestatus.com/metrics/feature/timeline/popularity/4046 - Client Hints (deprecated name): https://chromestatus.com/metrics/feature/timeline/popularity/2017 *Availability expectation* Feature is available only in Chromium browsers for the foreseeable future. *Adoption expectation* RUM Providers using this feature can validate increased usefulness of the new values. *Adoption plan* Present at RUM CG on the change and ask for feedback after implementation. *Non-OSS dependencies* Does the feature depend on any code or APIs outside the Chromium open source repository and its open-source dependencies to function? No *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). Spec issues resolved: https://github.com/w3c/device-memory/pull/53 *Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status* https://chromestatus.com/feature/6330376953921536 This intent message was generated by Chrome Platform Status <https://chromestatus.com/>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "blink-dev" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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