Extensions may be added to Chrome for Android — marked with a single large asterisk

There are many web browsers available for Android, but the one most people use is Chrome for Android. The Android-optimized version of Google’s Chrome browser comes preinstalled on most Android devices and is fast, easy to use, and packed with features. However, one big feature that Chrome for Android has been missing in recent years is support for browser extensions. It looks like Google is finally working on an Android version of Chrome that supports browser extensions, but there’s a catch: it likely won’t be available on mobile devices.

If you want to get technical, it’s already possible to use Chrome extensions on Android, but you’ll need to download a third-party Chromium-based browser to do so. This is because Google decided long ago not to add extension support to the mobile version of Chrome, which could limit the number of people who install Chrome extensions to block ads on their Android smartphones. This is because it is highly sensitive. Whether this decision was a success is debatable given the popularity of ad-blocking apps for Android, but in any case, it cut off the ability to install other useful browser extensions. Ta.

However, since browser extension support is not something most people expect from a mobile web browser, there wasn’t much pressure on Google to reverse this decision. However, since browser extensions are a staple of desktop web browsers, Google has no choice but to support extensions on its desktop operating systems such as Chrome OS.

Back in June, Google announced that Chrome OS would move closer to Android by using much of Android’s technology stack. At the time, Google said Chrome OS would begin using technologies such as the “Android Linux kernel and Android framework.” Since this announcement, Google has been working on a new branch of the Android common kernel targeting Chrome OS devices (android15-6.6-desktop), as well as a common bootloader for Android, Chrome OS, and even Fuchsia. have already been confirmed. ).

We recently learned that Google is also working on a new version of Chrome for Android aimed at “desktop” devices like Chromebooks. This suggests that Google wants to unify Chrome builds between Android and Chrome OS, with the main difference being in which form factors a particular version is available. This new version of Chrome for Android (now called Desktop Android) also receives support for browser extensions to provide parity with existing versions of Chrome for Chrome OS.

Google has already submitted multiple patches to Chromium Gerrit related to the “Desktop Android” project. Many of the patches aim to add extension support to this new version of Chrome for Android. In a bug written to track this effort, Google engineers working on the Chromium project confirmed that one of the new features in desktop Android is support for extensions. However, the engineers also said that “work related to mobile platforms is clearly out of scope,” suggesting that extension support is not yet planned for the regular version of Chrome for Android.

However, mobile users are not without hope. After all, desktop Android Chrome builds are compatible with regular Android devices. You can already download and install it on your Android device, but there’s no point in doing so at the moment as extension support isn’t working yet.

We don’t know if Google plans to enable browser extension support in the regular version of Chrome for Android any time soon, but we’re excited by the fact that they’re laying the groundwork to make it possible right now. I’m doing it. The timing is also interesting given that Google recently started phasing out older extensions as it transitions to Manifest V3. Many have criticized Manifest V3 as an anti-ad blocking move. We’ll be watching closely to see if this Android desktop project leaves the experimental stage, and if so, whether the extension’s changes make it to the regular version of Chrome for Android.