New Update Depreciation of Manifest V2 Chrome extensions delayed

Ink · Dec 12, 2022

9to5Google: Google delays start of Manifest V2 Chrome extension deprecation

Google was originally set to phase out Chrome support for old Manifest v2 extensions in 2023, but that’s now being postponed.

On Friday, the company said that the “Manifest V2 deprecation timelines are under review and the experiments scheduled for early 2023 are being postponed.”

The original plan called for Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary builds to start experiments that turned off Manifest V2 extension support. Additionally, Manifest V3 would be required to get the “Featured” badge in the Chrome Web Store.

Chrome Extensions Manifest V2 support timeline - Chrome for Developers

Details of the Manifest V2 phase-out and end of life.

developer.chrome.com

Greetings extension devs,

As we head towards Manifest V3 migration, we are intently monitoring comments from the developer community to help inform our timelines. We’ve heard your feedback on common challenges posed by the migration, specifically the service worker’s inability to use DOM capabilities and the current hard limit on extension service worker lifetimes. We’re mitigating the former with the Offscreen Documents API (added in Chrome 109) and are actively pursuing a solution to the latter.

We’re committed to providing developers solutions to migration challenges with new functionality, bug fixes, and adequate time for adoption. For this reason, we’re postponing any January experiments to turn off Manifest V2 in pre-release channels of Chrome and changes to the featured badge in the Chrome Webstore, and we'll be evaluating all downstream milestones as well. Expect to hear more about the updated phase-out plan and schedule by March of 2023. Our guiding principle will be to give developers sufficient time to update and test their extensions after the launch of these new capabilities before turning off Manifest V2.

Thank you for all the feedback and passionate discussion thus far, and we wish you a happy start to 2023.

Simeon - @dotproto
Chrome Extensions DevRel

Pausing Manifest V2 phase-out changes

groups.google.com

ForgottenSeer 97327 · Dec 12, 2022

Firefox had already told that they would allow a dual state (meaning continu MV2 support longer) and Edge already postponed it to 2024.

Also most MV3 sdblockers are not permission less and they still inject javascript en change CSS (stylesheets) of websites, so the security goal is not achieved of MV3.

Due to Chromium browsers killing service workers, those service workers need to br restarted (causing overhead), so I doubt the performance gosl will be schieved.

Possibly Chrome will implement some of the MV3 change request suggested by extension developers and limit the capabilities of Extensions further, because none of the main goals are achieved.

The last goal (at least what most MV3 dislikers say) to protect advertising income also failed, because adblocking is now also offered by DNS and VPN services and by competing browsers.

Ironically the use of Adnlockers was declining since 2019, but the fuzz and attention caused by MV3 critics seems to have broken this downward trend

Sometimes the advertising bullies (market leaders) are not succeeding in enforcing their will upon others.

piquiteco · Dec 12, 2022

Max90 said:
Firefox had already told that they would allow a dual state (meaning continu MV2 support longer) and Edge already postponed it to 2024.

Also most MV3 sdblockers are not permission less and they still inject javascript en change CSS (stylesheets) of websites, so the security goal is not achieved of MV3.

Due to Chromium browsers killing service workers, those service workers need to br restarted (causing overhead), so I doubt the performance gosl will be schieved.

Possibly Chrome will implement some of the MV3 change request suggested by extension developers and limit the capabilities of Extensions further, because none of the main goals are achieved.

The last goal (at least what most MV3 dislikers say) to protect advertising income also failed, because adblocking is now also offered by DNS and VPN services and by competing browsers.

Ironically the use of Adnlockers was declining since 2019, but the fuzz and attention caused by MV3 critics seems to have broken the downward trend.

Sometimes the advertising bullies (market leaders) are not succeeding in enforcing their will upon others.

Exactly, the same that happened with FLOC, much fuss and ended up being overshadowed by so many companies pointing out privacy flaws in it.

oldschool · Dec 12, 2022

Max90 said:
Also most MV3 sdblockers are not permission less and they still inject javascript en change CSS (stylesheets) of websites, so the security goal is not achieved of MV3.

Due to Chromium browsers killing service workers, those service workers need to br restarted (causing overhead), so I doubt the performance gosl will be schieved.

These are the primary issues with it, but of course all your other points are valid too. Point #2 is killing developers trying to migrate extensions.

Zero Knowledge · Dec 12, 2022

It was never about security, no matter how much Google tried to spin it.

If they really wanted to clean up the extension ecosystem you would think the first step would be to hire more people to manually vet the extensions before they are accepted on the extension app store like Apple do. If Apple can do a reasonable job protecting users from rouge apps/extensions in their ecosystem, why can't Google?

The same thing goes for Google Android Play Store and malware, if they really wanted to, they could stop it this very minute, but my guess is they just run the app/extension through an automated script or program and if it passes give it the tick of approval with no oversight or double checking. They need to employ more people to manually check each and every extensions/apps otherwise the same thing will happen i.e., malicious extensions/apps in Google products.

Gandalf_The_Grey · Apr 4, 2023

Hey everyone,

As promised, we wanted to share an update on how things are going. Over the last few months, we’ve made progress on a number of improvements based on developer community feedback, such as allowing extension events to extend a service worker’s lifetime, increasing in-memory session storage from 1 MB to 10 MB after cross-browser discussions, and adding more reasons for offscreen documents. We're continuing to improve the platform by making service workers easier to use (including more flexible lifetimes with messaging and other APIs), introducing more service worker APIs in general, and working with other browser vendors to find ways we can align our extension platforms.

We plan to continue reviewing feedback, making changes and improving documentation to ensure the transition from Manifest V2 to Manifest V3 is smooth and successful. We're still working on the timeline of the MV2 phase-out plan, so keep an eye out for it in the coming months. We will provide sufficient migration time for developers - at least 6 months of heads-up - before beginning any experiments to turn off MV2 in the browser next year.

We remain committed to the rollout of MV3 to improve security, privacy, and performance for our users around the world. We also want to ensure that we phase out MV2 in a timely manner, and we’re continuing to listen to feedback from the developer community to help inform our improvements and timelines.

Thanks for your patience while we continue to work on moving the extensions ecosystem forward in a way that supports the needs of users and developers.

Chrome Extensions Team

Pausing Manifest V2 phase-out changes

groups.google.com

Gandalf_The_Grey · Apr 6, 2023

Google is postponing the end of Manifest V2 extensions in Chrome again

It appears that Manifest V2 support will be removed sometime in 2024 now at the earliest, but it is still possible that the change will be delayed again.

The official Manifest V2 sunset page on the Chrome Developer website was updated already to reflect the decision.

Google states that it remains "committed to the rollout of MV3 to improve security, privacy, and performance" for users of Chrome. The company wants to phase out support for Manifest V2 in a timely manner, but that did not work out too well up until now.