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So what are developers of existing paid Chrome packaged apps suppose to do for existing users? "Starting in late 2016, newly-published Chrome apps will only be

So what are developers of existing paid Chrome packaged apps suppose to do for existing users? "Starting in late 2016, newly-published Chrome apps will only be available to users on Chrome OS." As someone who has been building a Chrome app this sudden change with a lack of notice has made me very nervous.

kzahel 10y ago
The post said existing apps will continue to stay in the store for the next few years at least. So you have at least a few years to adapt.
- niftich 10y ago
  Two years, to be specific. But if you want to maintain a presence on ChromeOS, you can keep updating your app indefinitely, but it'll only run on ChromeOS starting sometime in 2018. Or you can redevelop everything for the Google Play Store (ie. the Android store) if your ChromeOS customers are on new-enough ChromeOS devices to get access to the Android store, leaving old ChromeOS devices stuck on the old Chrome App version. Or you can redevelop everything as an entirely HTML5 single-page-app with all the lovely ever-evolving, impossible-to-keep-up-with features or lack thereof [1] of the web platform. Or you can redevelop everything and go full-native on every single OS. Or you can put all your JS into Electron and hope people don't mind a 60+ MB download. The choice of awful choices is yours. [1] http://caniuse.com/ http://caniuse.com/
danprime 10y ago
According to the link, in short, it says to notify your users (assuming you've been keeping track of them via a mailing list) and then posting an uninstall button. As far as I can tell, there will be no way to programmatically transition users and their IAP outside of your chromeapp. Meaning, we will have to figure out a way to get users to register their purchases to a database.
- seanwilson 10y ago
  > According to the link, in short, it says to notify your users (assuming you've been keeping track of them via a mailing list) and then posting an uninstall button. > As far as I can tell, there will be no way to programmatically transition users and their IAP outside of your chromeapp. Meaning, we will have to figure out a way to get users to register their purchases to a database. It will be very disappointing if Google doesn't help make this migration easy.
  - danprime 10y ago
    I don't think that will be very likely as you'd be surprise how little information you're given about users who make any purchases. Currently, it's up to you to create hooks upon successful payment to ask for information (which is extremely weird to the users because they're under the impression that they paid you directly and already possess that information). Every In-App-Purchase (or app purchase) is not linked between platforms. It sort of makes sense that any IAP you buy in iOS will not (automatically) make it over to Android, but it makes less sense between Android and Chrome (considering it's the same Google user).
skybrian 10y ago
Why do you say "lack of notice?" This is the notice. Maybe it's surprising news, but nothing is actually changing today.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- seanwilson 10y ago
  Four months notice to be told there's no point releasing a Chrome packaged app you might have been working on (which may not work as an extension) isn't very much notice.
  - notatoad 10y ago
    Four months is plenty of time to repackage a chrome app into electron or something.
    - seanwilson 10y ago
      The lure of Chrome apps and extensions is they're easy and safe for users to install which is not true of alternatives.

kzahel 10y ago

The post said existing apps will continue to stay in the store for the next few years at least. So you have at least a few years to adapt.

niftich 10y ago
Two years, to be specific. But if you want to maintain a presence on ChromeOS, you can keep updating your app indefinitely, but it'll only run on ChromeOS starting sometime in 2018. Or you can redevelop everything for the Google Play Store (ie. the Android store) if your ChromeOS customers are on new-enough ChromeOS devices to get access to the Android store, leaving old ChromeOS devices stuck on the old Chrome App version. Or you can redevelop everything as an entirely HTML5 single-page-app with all the lovely ever-evolving, impossible-to-keep-up-with features or lack thereof [1] of the web platform. Or you can redevelop everything and go full-native on every single OS. Or you can put all your JS into Electron and hope people don't mind a 60+ MB download. The choice of awful choices is yours. [1] http://caniuse.com/ http://caniuse.com/

danprime 10y ago

According to the link, in short, it says to notify your users (assuming you've been keeping track of them via a mailing list) and then posting an uninstall button. As far as I can tell, there will be no way to programmatically transition users and their IAP outside of your chromeapp. Meaning, we will have to figure out a way to get users to register their purchases to a database.

seanwilson 10y ago
> According to the link, in short, it says to notify your users (assuming you've been keeping track of them via a mailing list) and then posting an uninstall button. > As far as I can tell, there will be no way to programmatically transition users and their IAP outside of your chromeapp. Meaning, we will have to figure out a way to get users to register their purchases to a database. It will be very disappointing if Google doesn't help make this migration easy.
- danprime 10y ago
  I don't think that will be very likely as you'd be surprise how little information you're given about users who make any purchases. Currently, it's up to you to create hooks upon successful payment to ask for information (which is extremely weird to the users because they're under the impression that they paid you directly and already possess that information). Every In-App-Purchase (or app purchase) is not linked between platforms. It sort of makes sense that any IAP you buy in iOS will not (automatically) make it over to Android, but it makes less sense between Android and Chrome (considering it's the same Google user).

skybrian 10y ago

Why do you say "lack of notice?" This is the notice. Maybe it's surprising news, but nothing is actually changing today.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
seanwilson 10y ago
Four months notice to be told there's no point releasing a Chrome packaged app you might have been working on (which may not work as an extension) isn't very much notice.
- notatoad 10y ago
  Four months is plenty of time to repackage a chrome app into electron or something.
  - seanwilson 10y ago
    The lure of Chrome apps and extensions is they're easy and safe for users to install which is not true of alternatives.