This developing Chrome version could be our gateway to extension support on Android

There’s no shortage of versions of the Chrome browser for every operating system. There exists a stable build recommended for use, a beta build for the exciting new changes, a dev build for more backend testing, and a Canary build updated nightly. Yet, we haven’t achieved feature parity between the desktop version and the best web browser on Android. Most users miss key features like browser extensions, but we finally have our eyes on the prize — a functional version of what’s internally known as Desktop Android.

As the name and reportage surrounding the initial discovery late last year would suggest, Chrome’s Desktop Android version revolves around offering the browser’s familiar advantages on large-screen devices that boot Android. This includes Chromebooks and other computers, but with ChromeOS now dead, a replacement is in order, and apex Android geek, Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority, just managed to get this new version running while development continues.

Rahman reports the new version isn’t on the Play Store yet, for obvious reasons, but is available to developers and other interested power users through Google’s download server. For now, it comes at the cost of missing sync with your Google account. Until recently, Desktop Android was plain old Chrome for Desktop compiled from the Chromium codebase, so it works on Android, with the UI and elements of Chrome for desktop. However, a recently implemented change added extension support to the mix.

Extensions on Chrome on Android, but not the mobile app

It’s all about your patience

In the limited testing, Chrome for Desktop Android managed to successfully run some popular extensions on a tablet, including Keepa, Dark Reader, and uBlock Origin. These were auto-enabled when the browser was installed on the device. However, at this time, there’s no Extensions button in the toolbar or extension page support. Moreover, you can’t add extensions from the Chrome Web Store just yet.

While developers and eager testers are welcome to install this desktop-like browser experience on their large-screen Android devices, extension support is rudimentary at best. We hope this will blossom into a simple way to use our favorite browser extensions on Android, but Rahman cautions the approach may never ditch its “workaround” status. That’s because Google still has no plans to bring us extensions on the standard Chrome for Android you see installed on most popular Android phones.

Thanks: Moshe