Google reversed its third-party cookie deprecation on April 22, 2025. After five years of delays and flip-flopping, Chrome will continue allowing third-party cookies unless users manually disable them in settings. The headlines called it a “win” for advertisers. Here’s the part they’re missing: Safari and Firefox already block third-party cookies by default, and that’s not changing.

If 36% of your visitors use Safari or Firefox, Google’s reversal doesn’t help them. Your tracking strategy shouldn’t depend on what Chrome decides to do.

What Google Actually Announced

On April 22, 2025, Anthony Chavez, VP of Privacy Sandbox at Google, confirmed that Chrome would maintain its current approach to third-party cookies (Google Privacy Sandbox Blog, 2025). No deprecation. No user choice prompt. Just the status quo.

This was Google’s sixth change of direction since 2020. They delayed cookie deprecation five times before abandoning it entirely. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) raised concerns about Google’s Privacy Sandbox alternatives. Advertisers pushed back hard. Google blinked.

You may be interested in: Third-Party Cookie Update 2026: Google’s Reversal, What Actually Died, and Why It Still Matters for WordPress

Why This Changes Less Than You Think

Third-party cookies surviving in Chrome sounds like relief. It isn’t.

Safari and Firefox already block third-party cookies by default (Browser documentation, 2025). That’s roughly 36% of web traffic where third-party tracking doesn’t work—and hasn’t worked for years. Google’s reversal changes nothing for these visitors.

Even within Chrome’s 64% market share, the trend is clear. JENTIS put it bluntly: “Despite this decision, the trend remains clear: third-party cookies are increasingly losing effectiveness as users are more frequently blocking, deleting, or rejecting them” (JENTIS, 2025).

Consider what would have happened if Google had implemented their user choice prompt. Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) showed only 13-27% of users opted in when asked (Industry analysis, 2024). The same pattern would have decimated third-party cookie tracking in Chrome anyway.

The Five-Year Delay Pattern

Google’s timeline tells the real story:

• 2020: Google announces third-party cookie phase-out by 2022
• 2021: Delayed to late 2023
• 2022: Delayed to second half of 2024
• 2023: Delayed to early 2025
• 2024: User choice model proposed
• April 2025: Entire deprecation cancelled

Building a tracking strategy on Google’s third-party cookie roadmap meant rebuilding that strategy six times in five years. Businesses that shifted to first-party data early avoided this whiplash entirely.

What Actually Matters for WordPress Analytics

For WordPress and WooCommerce store owners, the practical reality hasn’t changed:

First-party data collection works regardless of what Chrome does. Your WooCommerce order data, customer emails, and on-site behavior belong to you. No browser can block you from collecting data on your own server from your own visitors.

Safari’s 7-day cookie limit still applies. Even first-party JavaScript-set cookies expire after 7 days in Safari. URLs with tracking parameters like fbclid or gclid reduce this to 24 hours. Server-set first-party cookies bypass these restrictions.

Ad blockers still block GA4. With 31.5% of users running ad blockers globally (Statista, 2024), your client-side analytics miss a third of your traffic regardless of cookie policy.

You may be interested in: First-Party Cookie Countdown 2026: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly for WordPress Store Owners

The Strategy That Works Either Way

Smart businesses already moved to first-party data strategies before Google’s reversal. They didn’t do it because of cookie deprecation timelines. They did it because first-party data is simply more reliable.

Server-side tracking captures data on your infrastructure before it reaches browsers where it can be blocked. Your WooCommerce orders include everything you need for conversion tracking—customer email, order value, products purchased—regardless of what cookies their browser accepts.

This is why the first-party approach wins: it doesn’t depend on browser vendors, privacy regulations, or Google changing its mind every 18 months.

What First-Party Actually Means

First-party data collection means events flow through your server, on your domain, before going anywhere else. For WordPress sites, this means capturing WooCommerce hooks and WordPress actions server-side, then routing them to GA4, Facebook CAPI, and other destinations from your infrastructure.

Transmute Engine™ is a first-party Node.js server that runs on your subdomain (like data.yourstore.com). The inPIPE WordPress plugin captures events and sends them via API to your Transmute Engine server, which then formats and routes them simultaneously to GA4, Facebook CAPI, BigQuery, and more—all from your own domain, bypassing blockers entirely.

Key Takeaways

• Google’s reversal only affects Chrome. Safari and Firefox (36% of traffic) still block third-party cookies by default.
• The trend hasn’t reversed. Users increasingly block, delete, or reject cookies regardless of browser defaults.
• First-party data remains the answer. Server-side tracking and direct data collection work regardless of any browser vendor’s decisions.
• Don’t build on shifting sand. Google changed direction six times in five years. First-party infrastructure doesn’t require rebuilding with each announcement.
• Your WooCommerce data is yours. Order data, customer information, and on-site behavior collection don’t depend on third-party cookies.

Ready to build tracking that doesn’t depend on browser vendor decisions? See how Transmute Engine works.