Google Is Changing How Chrome Extensions Work and May Disable Some of Your Favorites
One of the reasons why Google Chrome is such a popular browser is that it is supported by many useful third-party extensions and plugins that add additional functionality and capabilities on top of the basic browser itself. Google is now making significant changes to how extensions work, and this may affect some of the key extensions you have installed.
It’s all about the rules that extensions must follow to work in Chrome: Google is now abandoning the old Manifest V2 specification and moving everything to the new Manifest V3 specification. According to Google , V3 brings with it improvements to the “security, privacy, performance and reliability of the extension ecosystem as a whole” – while at the same time giving Google more control over what add-ons can and can’t do.
It’s a common move by tech companies, not just Google, to promise users more protection while adding restrictions on what they can do (the Electronic Frontier Foundation doesn’t believe this move will improve user security). In particular, the move to Manifest V3 could hit ad blockers hard, as it places more restrictions on how extensions interact with website content.
Manifest V2 has a feature called WebRequest that allows ad blockers to detect ads and prevent them from appearing. This is being replaced by a new feature called DeclarativeNetRequest, which works on a similar principle but is more restrictive in how ad blockers work: Google says this means a malicious extension is less likely to cause damage, but it also means some extensions may I work the same way.
For example, the number of “rules” extensions can apply to sites is now limited to 30,000, although ad blockers typically need ten times that many to cover all the different types of ad requests. Moreover, code hosted remotely outside of the extension (that is, running from the cloud) can no longer be executed, making it more difficult for ad blockers to maintain block lists and update them on the fly.
In the absence of remotely hosted code, everything must be included in the main extension package, which is of course subject to review by Google before it appears in the Chrome Web Store. There are some concerns that this means certain features will be blocked or that ad filtering lists may be limited. Changes to these listings are currently made several times a day, but Google’s approval is now required each time.
What happens next
The transition to Manifest V3 has already begun, which means you may have seen warnings on the Chrome extensions page. In the browser tab, click the three dots (top right), then select Extensions > Manage Extensions . Those still in the V2 Manifest will be listed as those that “may soon be no longer supported.”
Google says these extensions will be disabled in the “coming months” if they are not updated. You can either check with the developers of your extensions to see if a version of Manifest V3 is in development, or use the “Find an Alternative” links next to each of the add-ons listed to find something else in the Chrome Web Store that does a similar option. Job.
When it comes to ad blockers, the picture is rather mixed. AdBlock now has a version of Manifest V3 available to use , albeit with some limitations that we’ve already talked about: Users are limited to fewer filter lists (you can only have 50 active at a time). , and these lists will be updated less frequently.
Another popular ad blocker, uBlock Origin , will not continue in its current form. Although there is now a replacement for uBlock Origin Lite in the Chrome Web Store, its developers state that some of the original extension’s filtering capabilities cannot be carried over to . How this affects users will depend on the websites they visit and the type of ad blocking they need.
This step has been in preparation for several years, but all the consequences are not yet clear. It’s a good idea to do a full audit of your installed Chrome extensions and see how it might affect you: most extensions that are still in active development should have plans to migrate to Manifest V3, or at least an explanation for why they might do it. ‘T.
Of course, there are plenty of alternative browsers these days, so you may want to consider switching to something else if you can take your favorite plugins and add-ons with you. It’s worth noting that Firefox, for example, will continue to support Manifest V2 extensions for the foreseeable future .