Chrome has long been the darling of the Internet ever since it launched way back in September 2008. It once was the bastion of users looking for a fast and light browser that did very little other than browse the web, but over the years it has turned into a pretty massive beast. Extensions were added somewhere along the lines, adding new features and turning the web browser into a place to go for apps, games and more. This has blossomed into making an entire operating system based on Chrome and a market that’s ripe with plenty of talent and possibilities. Users of the mobile version of Chrome for Android have been receiving plenty of updates to the browser, including a brand new Chrome Developer Edition version that receives new updates quicker than the regular version.
Users who have multiple extensions on the desktop version of Chrome may be wondering exactly when they could add the same or similar extensions to the mobile one, and unfortunately for those users the Chrome dev team has announced that there are no plans in the works for such a thing. This comes from a Reddit AMA, or Ask Me Anything where the development team behind the Android version of Google Chrome answered questions that Reddit users put forth. The dev team cited that they couldn’t implement extensions on mobile Chrome and still make the overall experience a good one for users. Whether or not this means performance, compatibility or just outright confusion isn’t clear, but what is clear is that they are reportedly not working on extensions for mobile Chrome at this time.
It’s entirely possible that this could still happen in the future, after all the team did say they’ve worked on it in the past and couldn’t get it working to their satisfaction. As mobile processing power continues to explode at exponential rates and overall user experience is tweaked we may still yet see such a thing happen on mobile Chrome. For now though users who enjoy using the popular extensions available on desktop Chrome will either have to look elsewhere for a different browsing experience, say Opera Mobile for instance, or just wait and see what the Chrome team cooks up next. Either way it’s best to be on Chrome Dev if you’re looking to test bleeding edge features out first!