Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR Google is developing a new version of Chrome for Android that supports extensions, and recent builds show significant progress.
It’s now possible to install Chrome extensions directly from the Chrome Web Store, and they will persist even after restarting the browser.
The feature is still experimental and intended for future Android-powered PCs, but anyone can sideload the APK to try it now.
While Google Chrome is by far the most popular browser on Android, its lack of extension support has always held it back from being the most powerful. Without the ability to install the many useful Chrome extensions from the Chrome Web Store, the mobile browser’s functionality is limited. Fortunately, Google is quietly working to change this by developing a new version of Chrome for Android that supports extensions, and it has improved significantly since we first took it for a spin back in April.
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For context, we reported last year that Google is developing special “desktop” builds of Chrome for Android specifically to house this new Chrome extension support. These builds are designed to give future Android-powered PCs a browser experience on par with Chrome on other desktop operating systems. While Google doesn’t currently make Android for PCs, it is an active area of development as part of the company’s long-term goal to unify its ChromeOS and Android operating systems.
Thanks to Chrome’s open-source nature, we can track Google’s progress on this feature. In April, we gave you a first look at extension support in these “desktop” builds, but the experience was rudimentary at the time. For starters, installing Chrome extensions was a hassle, requiring us to manually download .crx files and drag-and-drop them into the extensions page. Furthermore, Chrome would delete all installed extensions every time we restarted the browser. These two issues made the feature unusable for daily browsing, but fortunately, Google has since fixed them in newer builds.
Last week, Android Authority reader Kawshik Ahmed tipped us off that it’s now possible to install Chrome extensions directly from the Chrome Web Store. In our testing, we not only confirmed this but also found that the browser no longer deletes extensions between launches.
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