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Google to Phase Out Chrome Apps for Windows, Mac, Linux

Google says less than one percent of users on Windows, Mac, and Linux actively use Chrome apps.

Tom Brant
 & Tom Brant Managing Editor

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Google plans to end support for Chrome apps on Windows, Mac, and Linux, after finding that less than one percent of people running those operating systems actively use the apps.

Starting in late 2016, new Chrome apps will only be available to users on Chrome OS, Google announced. In 2017, the Chrome Web Store will no longer show Chrome apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux, though it will continue to offer extensions and themes for the Chrome web browser. By early 2018, users on these platforms will no longer be able to load Chrome apps.

"As we continue our efforts to simplify Chrome, we believe it's time to begin the evolution away from the Chrome apps platform," Google vice president Rahul Roy-Chowdhury wrote in a blog post. He explained that Google will continue to offer support for all types of Chrome apps on Chrome OS, including extensions and themes, for the "foreseeable future."

The decision to phase out Chrome apps for the majority of users will not affect web apps or browser extensions, which most third-party developers now offer. They include everything from Google's own Cast, which allows you to beam Internet content to a Chromecast, to casual games and ad blockers.

Google is encouraging developers who haven't yet created web apps to do so ahead of next year's transition.

"Developers who can't fully move their apps to the web can help us prioritize new APIs to fill the gaps left by Chrome apps," Roy-Chowdhury wrote. "In the short term, they can also consider using a Chrome extension or platforms such as Electron or NW.js."

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Tom Brant

Tom Brant

Managing Editor

I’m a managing editor at PCMag.com focused on PC hardware. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of Wi-Fi routers, printers, laptops, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I've covered most major consumer tech events, including CES, Computex, Google I/O, and IFA. I've also appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rainforests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

The Technology I Use

While most people buy a phone or laptop and stick with it for years, I’m lucky enough to use devices based on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows daily as part of my job. As a result, I cycle through lots of tech in addition to my IT-issue work laptop. (Yes, that's a ThinkPad.) Personally, I’ve also owned a lot of tech products both cutting-edge and cringeworthy, from the Nintendo GameCube and the original MacBook to the Palm m105 and the CueCat.

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