Availability of Safe Browsing2026-08-08, 2mins
Preface
Google Safe Browsing is a (controversial) mechanism used by web browsers to block known bad content in near real-time. However availability can be limited due to missing or bad API keys. Documented below is status as of August 2026.
Testing
Status of Safe Browsing can be checked in Chromium via chrome://safe-browsing and in Firefox via about:url-classifier. It can then be verified using the test pages located here.
Control
To start, here are the official packages (tested under fresh Fedora 44).
- Only after testing Edge did I remember it uses SmartScreen instead.
- I tested Safari 26.6 working too, but that is out of scope here.
| Name | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Brave | 1.93.134-1 | Working |
| Chrome | 151.0.7922.108-1 | Working |
| Edge | 151.0.4129.72-1 | Unavailable* |
| Firefox | 153.0.3 | Working |
| Tor Browser | 15.0.19 | Unavailable |
Distro Builds
And here are the distro compiled packages (tested under fresh installs).
- Ubuntu's Firefox is actually a snap directly from Mozilla.
- Fedora's Chromium was giving a rate-limit error, I ruled out my connection so this is likely a limit on their API key instead.
- Aside: openSUSE's site & mirroring is littered with broken hash/signature links.
| Name | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Arch Linux's Chromium | 151.0.7922.108-1 | Working |
| Arch Linux's Firefox | 153.0.3-2 | Working |
| Debian's Chromium | 151.0.7922.71-1~deb13u1 | Unavailable: HTTP 400 |
| Debian's Firefox | 140.13.0esr-1~deb13u1 | Working |
| Fedora's Chromium | 151.0.7922.71-1.fc44 | Unavailable: HTTP 429 |
| Fedora's Firefox | 153.0.1-1.fc44 | Unavailable: HTTP 400 |
| openSUSE's Chromium | 151.0.7922.75-bp160.1.1 | Working |
| openSUSE's Firefox | 140.13.0-160000.1.1 | Working |
| Ubuntu's Chromium | 150.0.7871.128 (3499) | Working |
| Ubuntu's Firefox | 153.0.3-1 (8736) | Working |
Android Builds
Lastly as a bonus, here are some Android tests under GrapheneOS (2026080501) without Play Services.
- Chromium-based browsers on Android require Google Play Services to be available for the "Standard protection" mode to function, however the "Enhanced protection" mode appears to always function in non-incognito tabs even without Play Services or an API key.
- Firefox-based browsers on Android do not require Play Services to function, but still require an API key.
- IronFox is supposed to work and I verified it enabled in the extra settings (and even tried toggling it), but
about:supportreported no API key andabout:url-classifierlacked both Google providers.
| Name | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Brave | 1.93.134 (429313404) | Unavailable |
| Firefox | 153.0.3 (2016176514) | Working |
| Fennec F-Droid | 153.0.0 (1530020) | Unavailable |
| IronFox | 153.0.3 (2016176746) | Unavailable |
| Tor Browser | 15.0.19 (2016173762) | Unavailable |
| Vanadium | 151.0.7922.108.0 (792210833) | Unavailable |
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