Chrome (desktop)

At a glance

• Browser class: chromium (the user agent has a Chrome/<number> token).
• Excluded components: none.
• Chromium-only components that are ok here: device_memory, heap_limit, ua_client_hints, ua_versions, keyboard_layout.
• Skipped on purpose: audio_latency.
• Lab sample: Mac Chrome kept one id across 4 runs at signalsVersion 1.

What works

Nearly everything. The graphics group reads a 2D canvas scene twice, a WebGL triangle twice, 21 WebGL parameters with shader precisions and extensions, and the unmasked renderer and vendor through WEBGL_debug_renderer_info. Where Chrome has WebGPU enabled, webgpu hashes the adapter’s info, features and seven limits; whether navigator.gpu exists depends on the Chrome version, the operating system and the GPU, so treat it as variable.

The Chromium-only components work here:

• device_memory from navigator.deviceMemory (coarse buckets such as 8; from Chromium 146 with the tag ;c146, for example 16;c146);
• heap_limit from performance.memory.jsHeapSizeLimit;
• ua_client_hints: brands without versions (GREASE removed), mobile, platform, and from one getHighEntropyValues() call the architecture, bitness, wow64, model and form factors;
• ua_versions: full brand versions and the platform version, kept out of both ids because they change with every update;
• keyboard_layout from navigator.keyboard.getLayoutMap(), outside the ids.

Fonts, font preferences, audio, Math, codecs, locale, the five display preference queries, storage presence and permission states are all read as on any current browser.

What is unavailable or blocked

• audio_latency is unavailable with ruleId skipped. Desktop Chrome prints an autoplay warning when a page creates an AudioContext without a user gesture, and WhiskerJS writes nothing to the console.
• apple_pay and private_click report the plain value none: these are Safari features.
• ua_client_hints and ua_versions end with he=blocked instead of the detailed hints when a Permissions Policy refuses them, for example in an embedded frame. That marker is stable, so it does not make the id jump.
• keyboard_layout is blocked in cross-origin iframes, where Chrome refuses the call.
• webgpu is unavailable with no_api where navigator.gpu is missing, or no_context when no adapter is returned (seen in a headless container run).

What WhiskerJS excludes and why

Nothing. The exclusion table has an empty row for the chromium class, because stock Chrome does not randomise the signals WhiskerJS reads. If an extension adds noise to canvas or WebGL readback, the double render catches it and the component becomes noisy with ruleId render_mismatch, and canvas_readback reports altered. The known-answer probes also catch noise that is the same on both reads (noisy / seeded_noise, for canvas, webgl_image and audio).

Integrity flags to expect

From the integrity checks and their documented false positives:

• automation_webdriver: Selenium, Playwright and Puppeteer set navigator.webdriver by default, and so do your own end-to-end tests.
• headless_user_agent: the user agent contains HeadlessChrome.
• headless_markers: an outer window of 0x0, or a desktop Chrome user agent without window.chrome. Some embedded Chromium views raise it too.
• software_renderer: the WebGL renderer names SwiftShader or similar. Real users with hardware acceleration switched off, or on remote desktops, raise it as well.
• native_tampering, prototype_lie and navigator_own_property: expect them from privacy and anti-fingerprinting extensions.
• permissions_inconsistent: notifications denied while the permissions query says prompt, a known headless Chrome trait.
• ua_ch_mismatch: the user agent disagrees with Client Hints (Chromium version, platform, mobile), or a brand contains Headless. User-agent switchers raise it too.
• exposed_binding: Playwright exposed a function to the page.
• vm_renderer: the WebGL renderer names a virtual machine adapter (VMware, VirtualBox, Parallels, QEMU and KVM, Hyper-V). Real users on virtual desktops raise it too.

For illustration only: a headless Chromium run in a test container (not the lab sample) was classed other at signalsVersion 5 (it is chromium since signalsVersion 9), had a SwiftShader WebGL renderer and raised automation_webdriver, headless_user_agent, permissions_inconsistent and software_renderer. Any single flag is weak evidence; your server weighs them.

Early lab observations

An early, small sample at signalsVersion 1, not a benchmark: on a Mac, Chrome kept one id across 4 runs, and that id differed from the ids of the other three device and browser pairs in the sample. device_memory was ok. The sample used the first collector (30 components), not the current 47, and involved no other library.

Testing it yourself

Open the live demo in Chrome, run it a few times, and come back after a browser update to see which structuredId group moves. The lab mode copies one tab-separated line per run, so you can collect runs from several machines and compare them. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Support table for Chrome (desktop)

Expected status of every component in this browser at signalsVersion 9, from the support matrix (updated 2026-10-26). Basis "code" means expected from the library code and documentation, not yet measured; "lab" means seen in the early lab sample.

Component	Status	Basis	Note
apple_pay	none	code	No ApplePaySession: reports the plain value none.
audio	ok	code	noisy / seeded_noise if the audio known-answer probe sees noise.
audio_latency	unavailable	code	Skipped (unavailable / skipped): creating an AudioContext here would print a console warning.
browser_class	ok	code	Class chromium.
canvas	ok	code	noisy / render_mismatch or seeded_noise if an extension or setting adds noise to readback.
canvas_readback	ok	code	exact, or altered when an extension adds noise.
color_depth	ok	code
color_gamut	ok	code
content_blockers	ok	code	none, or the bait names a content blocker hid.
cpu_architecture	ok	code
device_memory	ok	lab	Seen ok on Mac Chrome in the lab sample. From Chromium 146 the value carries the tag ;c146 (new buckets).
dynamic_range	ok	code
font_preferences	ok	code
fonts	ok	code
fonts_canvas	ok	code
forced_colors	ok	code
hardware_concurrency	ok	code	Read 16 times; noisy / read_varies if the reads disagree. Some browsers cap or round the value.
heap_limit	ok	code
intl_locale	ok	code
keyboard_layout	ok	code	navigator.keyboard.getLayoutMap() is a Chromium desktop API; blocked in cross-origin iframes.
languages	ok	code
math	ok	code
media_codecs	ok	code
noise_profile	ok	code	canvas=exact,webgl=exact,audio=exact on a stock browser; webgl=na without WebGL.
pdf_viewer	ok	code
permissions	ok	code
pixel_ratio	ok	code
platform	ok	code
plugins	ok	code
prefers_contrast	ok	code
private_click	none	code	No attributionSourceId on anchors: reports the plain value none.
reduced_motion	ok	code
screen_frame	ok	code
screen_resolution	ok	code
speech_voices	ok	code	Digest of the voice list, or none; some browsers fill the list late.
storage	ok	code
time_zone	ok	code
touch_support	ok	code
ua_client_hints	ok	code	he=blocked when a Permissions Policy refuses the detailed hints.
ua_versions	ok	code
vendor	ok	code
vendor_flavors	ok	code
webgl_image	ok	code	noisy / render_mismatch or seeded_noise if an extension or setting adds noise to readback.
webgl_params	ok	code	Where WebGL 1 is available; unavailable / no_context without it.
webgl_renderer	ok	code
webgl_vendor	ok	code
webgpu	varies	code	Depends on browser version, operating system and GPU; needs a secure context. unavailable / no_api without navigator.gpu, no_context without an adapter.

Questions and answers

Related pages