Developer

Google has announced its timeline for ending support of Chrome apps, meaning another headstone will be needed for the company’s graveyard.

The number of products Google has killed off has become something of a joke within the tech industry, but few people will miss Chrome apps like some of the others (shoutouts to Google Wave and Google+)

Chrome apps were intended to function like regular apps in that they open in their own window. However, most people today are using standard web apps or Progressive Web Apps.

Google clearly isn’t seeing the engagement with Chrome apps that it expected at launch – there’s even less need for them on Chrome OS itself now the platform natively supports Android apps.

ChromeOS will still be one of the last platforms to lose support for Chrome apps. Windows, macOS, and Linux will all lose access to Chrome apps first.

Here’s Google’s timeline for ending Chrome apps support:

March 2020: Chrome Web Store will stop accepting new Chrome Apps. Developers will be able to update existing Chrome Apps through June 2022.
June 2020: End support for Chrome Apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Customers who have Chrome Enterprise and Chrome Education Upgrade will have access to a policy to extend support through December 2020.
December 2020: End support for Chrome Apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
June 2021: End support for NaCl, PNaCl, and PPAPI APIs.
June 2021: End support for Chrome Apps on Chrome OS. Customers who have Chrome Enterprise and Chrome Education Upgrade will have access to a policy to extend support through June 2022.
June 2022: End support for Chrome Apps on Chrome OS for all customers.

Anthony Laforge, Technical Director, Chrome Platform Team, wrote in a blog post: “On behalf of the Chrome team, we thank the community of developers for building great experiences using Chrome Apps and look forward to seeing similar experiences that leverage open Web standards (e.g., PWAs) across all modern browsers.”

So, to summarise, Chrome apps will no longer be available on Windows, Mac, and Linux by December this year. For Chrome OS, they’ll be kept alive until 2022.

About the Author

Ryan Daws

Senior Editor

Ryan Daws is a senior editor at TechForge Media with over a decade of experience in weaving narratives and dissecting complex topics. His articles and interviews with industry leaders have earned him recognition as a key tech influencer from numerous organisations. Under his leadership, publications have been praised by analyst firms for their excellence and performance. Connect with him on X, Mastodon, Bluesky , Threads, and/or LinkedIn.