A year ago, Google promised to abandon third-party cookies follow users, opting instead for cohorts, or FLoCs, which have not been very well received. As a result, Google abandoned the FLoC in favor of the Topics API as part of the Privacy Sandbox.
Privacy Sandbox is moving forward – for now, at least – and while it’s still very green, Google wants developers to be able to start testing its APIs. To do this, it released a new Android Developer Preview which is basically Android 13 with Topics APIs.
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It’s time to try the cookie alternative
Google has been working hard for some time on a viable alternative to cookies that satisfies both parties: that allows advertisers target ads without tracking users. At least not the way the ad has worked so far. Google first tried it with cohorts, or affinity groups, which didn’t go over well. From its ashes was born another idea: Privacy Sandbox.
Privacy Sandbox is a “multi-year” initiative that will evolve and adapt based on feedback from advertisers, users and regulators. Part of this initiative is the topics APIthrough which advertisers can receive a list of topics that are detected as being of interest to the user, anonymously and with local processing, on mobile.
FLoC came to nothing, and maybe that’s why Google wants to play it safe on its next attempt, making sure everything is working properly before investing more resources. So that advertisers and developers and/or privacy experts can start analyzing their usage, Google has launched Android Developer’s First Look at Privacy Sandbox.
In practice, it is a version of Android 13 Beta with the Topics API. Indistinguishable from the outside – except in the build number – but with the necessary APIs so developers can start experimenting with building and getting these themes.
This developer preview is indistinguishable from Android 13
Those wishing to try out Privacy Sandbox will need a Google Pixel 4 or higher, or the Android Studio emulator. To install it, you need to download the system image and flash it manually.
This first developer preview includes the preliminary Topics API, although topic generation is done offline on a limited list of apps. Other related APIs such as Attribution Reporting and FLEDGE are coming later as these Android Developer Previews with Privacy Sandbox will take place later this year, with a more user-focused beta later.
More information | Android Developers
