WebHID (Human Interface Device)

Category: Device
Type: New or changed feature
Status: Enabled by default (Chrome 89)
Intent stage: Shipped

Summary

Enables web applications to interact with human interface devices (HIDs) other than the standard supported devices (mice, keyboards, touchscreens, and gamepads). However, there are many other HID devices that are currently inaccessible to the web. This API allows web applications to request access to these devices, send and receive HID reports, and retrieve information about the report descriptor. This feature was previously launched on desktop platforms (Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS). Support on Android is planned for Chrome 157. This feature can be controlled by enterprise policies: [DefaultWebHidGuardSetting](https://chromeenterprise.google/policies/#DefaultWebHidGuardSetting), [WebHidAllowAllDevicesForUrls](https://chromeenterprise.google/policies/#WebHidAllowAllDevicesForUrls), [WebHidAllowDevicesForUrls](https://chromeenterprise.google/policies/#WebHidAllowDevicesForUrls), [WebHidAllowDevicesWithHidUsagesForUrls](https://chromeenterprise.google/policies/#WebHidAllowDevicesWithHidUsagesForUrls), [WebHidAskForUrls](https://chromeenterprise.google/policies/#WebHidAskForUrls), [WebHidBlockedForUrls](https://chromeenterprise.google/policies/#WebHidBlockedForUrls).

Standards & signals

Specification: https://wicg.github.io/webhid/index.html
Firefox: Negative
Safari: Negative — WebHID is mentioned under Anti Fingerprinting as an example of "features we have decided to not yet implement due to fingerprinting, security, and other concerns, and where we do not yet see a path to resolving those concerns"
Web developers: Strongly positive — USB headset vendors want to use WebHID to improve integration of call control features in web-based softphone applications (answer/reject/end call, microphone mute, redial, etc): https://developer.jabra.com/site/global/sdks/web/documentation/index.gsp Hobbyists are using WebHID to control niche devices like Razer Kraken Kitty: https://twitter.com/sarahemm/status/1314006489510666241
Tracking bug: https://crbug.com/890096

Docs: https://web.dev/hid/ https://web.dev/hid-examples/

Explainers: https://github.com/WICG/webhid/blob/master/EXPLAINER.md

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