Manifest V2 Chrome Extensions Live to See Another Day as Google Delays Deprecation

Back in 2021, Google announced a wide range of deprecation plans for various features on its Chrome browse. Among the announced deprecations was that of Manifest V2, but in spite of the fact that this is the case Google recently stated that it will be delaying the deprecation of this browser extension. This came after members of the developer community spoke out about issues pertaining to migration that might make the deprecation of MV2 more inconvenient than might have been the case otherwise.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this chrome extension is essential for developers that want to test their products out before putting them up for users to download. The witch to MV3 may be a bit too hasty because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up forcing developers to suddenly switch things up to get accustomed to the new normal.

That makes Google’s announcement of the delay not all that surprising with all things having been considered and taken into account. Google is now saying that they will provide an updated timeline by March of 2023, although it is more or less certain that the January 2024 for final deprecation will be pushed back by a few months if not an entire year.

That will give developers more time to finish their pending projects than might have been the case otherwise. Since this is a developer focused browser extension, it is important for Google to keep their needs in mind. A lack of access to DOM capabilities coupled with a much more rigid limit for service worker lifetime extensions were going to do more harm than good.

These are just some of the problems that the deprecation of MV2 would have caused. It is heartening to see Google keeping the needs of Chrome and Android developers in mind, and it will be interesting to see what tweaks they end up making to ensure that it does not hinder productivity in any way.


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