Google to kill Chrome Sync on older Chrome browser versions

Google announced that the Chrome Sync feature will be discontinued in early 2025 for Chrome versions older than four years.

When enabled, Chrome Sync keeps users' bookmarks, passwords, history, open tabs, settings, preferences, and, sometimes, Google Pay payment information. It also automatically signs users into Gmail, YouTube, Search, and other Google services.

The move was announced on the company's community website over the weekend via a locked post that doesn't accept replies.

"Starting in early 2025, Chrome Sync (using and saving data in your Google Account) will stop working on versions of Chrome that are more than four years old," the company said.

"If you are on a version of Chrome that is older than four years old, you may begin to see the error message 'Update Chrome to start sync' or 'Update Chrome to keep using the Chrome data in your Google Account'."

Chrome users who still want to use Chrome Sync to keep their data synced to all devices logged into their Google account are advised to update their browser to the latest release.

"If you are unable to update your Browser to a version that is less than four years old, you will not be able to use the Chrome Sync feature on that device any longer," Google added.

According to StatCounter data, Google Chrome has 68.34% of the worldwide browser market share and 66.83% on the desktop.

Chrome desktop market share worldwide (StatCounter)

This is likely part of the company's efforts to force users still using deprecated and vulnerable Chrome versions to update their web browsers to the latest security patches.

For instance, just over three years ago, in November 2021, the company also announced that it would kill Chrome Sync support on Chrome 48 and earlier after Chrome 96 reached the stable channel.

In March 2021, Google also blocked third-party Chromium-based browsers from using private Google APIs to integrate features like Chrome Sync and Click to Call that were intended for use only in Chrome.

More recently, in October 2024, the Google Chrome Web Store warned that the uBlock Origin ad blocker and other Chrome extensions may soon be blocked as part of the company's deprecation of the Manifest V2 extension specification.

This happened several months after Google warned users directly in the browser that uBlock Origin may soon be disabled and that they should find alternatives.