Intent to Prototype: Implement requestPermission() for DeviceOrientationEvent and DeviceMotionEvent
Raphael Kubo da Costa
Contact emails
raphael.ku...@intel.com, eng...@chromium.org, rei...@chromium.orgExplainer
NoneSpecification
https://w3c.github.io/deviceorientationSummary
Allows developers to ask for permission to start using the Device Orientation and Device Motion APIs. Access to these APIs is currently granted by default, and these new functions are part of the plan to start prompting for access in the future.
Blink component
Blink>Sensor>DeviceOrientationMotivation
The Device Orientation spec is more than a decade old, at a time when integration with the Permissions spec was not common (or possible). As such, developers can use the window.ondevice{motion,orientation} events without having to ask for permission before reading sensor data. A few years ago, the WebKit team added the requestPermission() functions to DeviceOrientationEvent and DeviceMotionEvent when implementing the spec, so that websites would have to ask for permission before being able to use the API. This is the case on Safari for iOS at the moment. We want to do the same thing and avoid allowing websites access to sensor data by default. Doing this in Chromium is more complicated because the API is already implemented, and requiring developers to add requestPermission() to their websites out of the blue can risk breaking the web. In this first step, the idea is to just add the API and make it report "granted" or "denied" without prompting for access (i.e. it just reports the current Motion Sensor permission settings) while also adding user counters to understand how many pages are already using the requestPermission() calls and how many pages are just using window.ondevice{motion,orientation} without it. We will then evaluate how to switch to prompting by default in the future, as discussed in the tracking bug.
Initial public proposal
Search tags
device orientation, device motionTAG review
TAG review status
Not applicableRisks
Interoperability and Compatibility
Gecko: Under consideration (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1536382)
WebKit: Shipped/Shipping (https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=195329)
Web developers: No signals
Other signals: Lots of comments in the Chromium tracking bug over the years
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?
Debuggability
-
Is this feature fully tested by web-platform-tests?
Yes (as part of the CL I am working on)Flag name
Requires code in //chrome?
FalseTracking bug
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=947112Estimated milestones
No milestones specified
Link to entry on the Chrome Platform Status
https://chromestatus.com/feature/5051845089689600
Joe Medley
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Raphael Kubo da Costa
- Require requestPermission() before window.ondevice{motion,orientation} start dispatching events
- Change the UI side to prompt for sensor access when necessary
- Do the same as part of Sensor.start() (meaning Accelerometer.start() etc)
How to get there without breaking websites that do not use requestPermission() is something we are still working out and that will not happen in the short term.