MacOS – Why do alternate web browsers want access to “Chrome Safe Storage” in the Keychain

macosSecurityweb-browser

When launching some alternate Mac web browsers such as Vivaldi, I get a message asking me:

Vivaldi wants to use your confidential information stored in “Chrome Safe Storage” in your keychain.

Do you want to allow access to this item?

[Always Allow] [Deny] [Allow]

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  • What information is stored there?
  • What are the benefits of "Allow"?
  • What are the penalties for "Deny"?

Best Answer

There's probably a couple of things going on here:

  • Vivaldi - In terms of Vivaldi this is something that's been happening for at least a couple of years, although it's not always triggered. You may want to read What is the Chrome Safe Storage discussion at Vivaldi's forums.

  • More generally - There seems to be an issue recently where a number of apps are requesting access to Chrome Safe Storage. It's not just happening with browsers, but other apps too. I first noticed this in mid-July on an iMac running a 3rd party video downloader/converter. I'm not sure what changed, but some of these app developers have had to issue updates to remove this behaviour.

In terms of the info that's stored there - it's basically a secure location to store credentials such as passwords for sites you visit.

The advantages and disadvantages will differ depending on the app:

  • in the case of browsers it will mean things like having to manually log in to sites you want to visit. Obviously the benefit is not having to do this.
  • in the case of other apps (such as the video downloader/converter I mention above), the user whose iMac had this issue could only convert videos, but not download them. (Note: In their case an update fixed this).

Further reading

The following may be of interest:

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