Chrome users have started to realize that their old extensions no longer work. The reason for this is that Google started the process of disabling old Manifest V2 extensions as of June. The company expects developers to update their extensions to Manifest V3.
Google Chrome starts disabling Manifest V2 extensions, redirects users to new Manifest V3
Google started disabling Manifest V2 extensions in the Chrome browser in June. This change, which first came into effect in the Beta, Dev and Canary channels, will be reflected in the stable versions in the coming months. With this transition, which is planned to be completed by the end of 2024, users will see that their old extensions do not work.
Google will display a warning message in the browser to inform users of this change. This message states that the extension is no longer supported and has been disabled. Users will then have to wait for new Manifest V3 versions from extension developers or look for compatible alternatives.
With Manifest V3 adoption growing rapidly, Google notes that 85% of actively maintained extensions in the Chrome Web Store already run on Manifest V3. Popular content filtering extensions such as AdGuard, uBlock Origin and Adblock Plus have also released Manifest V3 versions.
Google claims that Manifest V3 offers benefits such as Offscreen Documents, the new User Scripts API and improved content filtering support. However, many users and developers are concerned about how ad blockers in particular will be affected by this change. Google’s recent crackdown on ad blockers on YouTube adds to these concerns. Users with ad blockers enabled can no longer watch YouTube videos.
Mozilla Firefox took a remarkable step in this process. Firefox announced that it has no plans to disable Manifest V2 extensions and the webRequest API. It also announced that it will offer Manifest V3 support. This move will make it easier for developers to publish extensions on both Firefox and Chrome platforms.
We will see the impact of this transition on the user experience more clearly in the coming months. What do you think? Please don’t forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
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