How to Block Motion Sensor Access Globally in Chrome

The Gyroscope Exploit

If you use Google Chrome on a laptop or a 2-in-1 tablet device (like a Microsoft Surface), your device likely contains internal motion sensors: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a magnetometer. Google Chrome supports a Motion Sensor API that allows websites to tap directly into these hardware chips. While designed for browser-based virtual reality or tilt-controlled web games, it is a significant privacy vulnerability. Malicious websites can exploit this data to accurately track your physical movements, determine if you are walking or sitting, or fingerprint your specific device based on microscopic sensor calibration flaws. You must paralyze this API.

How to Block Motion Sensor Access Globally

You can permanently sever the browser’s ability to read your physical hardware tilt via Chrome’s Site Settings.

1. Open the Google Chrome desktop browser.
2. Click the three vertical dots (⋮) in the top right corner and select Settings.
3. In the left-hand sidebar, click on Privacy and security.
4. In the main window, click on Site settings.
5. Scroll down to the “Permissions” heading and click to expand Additional permissions.
6. Click on Motion sensors.
7. Under the “Default behavior” heading, select the radio button for “Don’t allow sites to use motion sensors.”

Absolute Physical Privacy

The change takes effect instantly. Google Chrome will completely sever its internal connection to your operating system’s gyroscope and accelerometer driver stack. The browser is now permanently blind to the physical orientation of your device. If a website attempts to execute a script to read your tilt data, the API call will instantly auto-reject in the background, returning a null value. This guarantees that unverified web code can never monitor your physical movements or weaponize your hardware sensors against you.