Thanks to web browser extensions, such as Google Chrome, we can improve the browsing experience with functions that, by default, are not available in these programs. We can, for example, improve security and privacy, change the appearance of some websites, and even improve their functions or facilitate access to certain services, such as mail or social networks. For all these reasons, extensions have become an important part of our daily lives. Although, very soon, this will change for the worse.
Getting an extension to work in the browser, and also to do it without problems and respecting the rules of Google or Mozilla, is a complicated task that takes a lot of work. Therefore, when there are changes to the terms of the extension store, or worse to the browser API, it is only bad news for developers.
If we look back, a few years ago, Mozilla decided to change the format of the extensions to Web Extension, literally forcing 100% of developers to update and create their extensions again, reducing their functionality. Now, something similar is happening again with Google, and that is that the person in charge of Chrome has already prepared his new, and controversial, Manifest v3which is causing a lot of headaches for developers.
Manifest v3: this is how extensions will change forever
If all goes according to plan, Google plans to make Manifest v3 mandatory for extensions. from January 2023. This means that developers who have not updated their extensions according to the new regulations will see them removed from the store. Furthermore, those extensions that have not been updated between now and January 2023 will no longer be able to be updated, and their developers will have to upload them again and start from scratch.
Normally, abandoned extensions are not updated. That’s what we all count on. But what is not so normal is that Google has promised new APIs to developers and is not fulfilling what was promised. Without these APIs, many features that could be offered through the current Manifest v2 are impossible to implement in the new v3, so thousands of extensions will not be able to continue working.
Some of the extensions that are going to be most affected in this regard are, for example, Proxy and web content blocking extensions.
There are barely 3 months left, and thousands of extensions, many of them even very popular, are impossible to update and guarantee users that they continue to function normally. Some even have a version with Manifest v3 already prepared, but to adapt to this regulation they have eliminated so many functions that they have even become useless.
We remember, the deadline in which Google will force extensions to use Manifest v3, and all extensions adapted for V2 will stop working is in January 2023. Of course, Chrome will have an administrative policy for companies that will allow these extensions continue to work for another 6 months, until June 2023. But after that, even companies will no longer be able to work with Manifest v2.
Firefox, and other browsers (such as Opera) have announced that they will not follow Google’s footsteps with V3. They can be interesting alternatives to migrate in case we miss some extensions.
