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Different extension developer here. The Chrome Extension store ecosystem has become a nightmare for developers over the past year. Some items: - Extension revi

Different extension developer here. The Chrome Extension store ecosystem has become a nightmare for developers over the past year. Some items: - Extension review times have gone from 1 hour to a variable amount of time ranging from 1 minute to 3 weeks or longer (try to plan a release or spot fix an issue when you have no idea how long it will take for a deploy to reach users) - User reviews of extensions have been disabled (how are you supposed to build an audience or build up trust without reviews?) - Manifest v3 was announced (this was actually longer than a year ago) which will completely break many types of extensions. Over a year later, it is still on the horizon but the beta releases of it are buggy so it is hard to even try to adapt to it at this point. - Persistent extension related bugs in Chrome are not being fixed and new regressions are being introduced breaking previously working extensions (which you then need to rush out a fix for but good luck with that when the reviewers may take weeks to approve the update) - Chrome is exploring hiding extensions by default so they no longer will show up automatically by the omnibar when you install them (say hello to a huge amount of confused users who don't know where your extension went) I understand the Chrome team is trying to address a user trust and fraud issue with extensions and we are grateful for that. However, the Google extension team appears to be massively understaffed and are having huge issues managing and evolving the ecosystem.

xg15 6y ago
> Chrome is exploring hiding extensions by default so they no longer will show up automatically by the omnibar when you install them (say hello to a huge amount of confused users who don't know where your extension went) Haven't heard about this change (more info at [1] for anyone interested) - wow! I really wonder if those are the first steps of the roadmap to get rid of extensions altogether. [1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/07/chrome_hiding_extensions/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/07/chrome_hiding_exten...
- t0mas88 6y ago
  Chrome on Android already doesn't have extensions. That made me switch to Firefox on Android and within a week my laptop was also on Firefox because it's nice to have tab syncing etc between devices. If enough users do this I think Google will review their policy on extensions and specifically adblockers. Can't browse without one anymore after having used it for a while.
  - iagovar 6y ago
    Brave is also nice in Android, although I miss the FF extensions.
    - tornato7 6y ago
      Ad blockers are almost necessary for the mobile web now unless you want to spend half your time dodging ads
_fat_santa 6y ago
Fellow extension developer here as well. I've been trying to get an update approved since February or March. Submitted an update in late February and decided to update my screnshots. Remove the screenshots and add new ones only for Google to tell me "you can't add screenshots while you app is in review", fine, add them later after the review. 3-4 weeks go by and I check the approval status. Status has been rejected because....no screenshots provided. I've since updated the screenshots and resubmitted for review. Currently still waiting on approval. I've been planning on doing a Product Hunt Launch but that's been put on hold until I can get an updated version in the chrome web store (the current version is very old and buggy). I've even looked into distribution outside the store but turns out chrome will no longer let you do that.
- stallmanite 6y ago
  The screenshot thing sounds downright Kafkaesque. Infuriating!
ThrustVectoring 6y ago
> Extension review times have gone from 1 hour to a variable amount of time ranging from 1 minute to 3 weeks or longer (try to plan a release or spot fix an issue when you have no idea how long it will take for a deploy to reach users) This is potentially a huge security issue, because the natural way to "fix" the problem is to download and run arbitrary code as an end-run around the review process.
- kevingadd 6y ago
  They have some automated review mechanisms to try and stop you from downloading and running arbitrary code, but it's definitely possible to do it. In my case I settled for having a remote configuration file that I could use to disable features in an emergency (and had to use it a couple times), as a compromise since I didn't want to pull down arbitrary code but was tired of getting burned by it taking a week to push a bug fix.
rogem002 6y ago
I removed my Chrome Extension from the store in February. It was averaging about £30 per a month in sales and the cost of keeping up-to-date with the changes in Chrome/the extension store seemed hardly worth it. The thing which really pushed me over the edge was their new developer dashboard, it was a step in the right direction but what missing some key features which were present in the old dashboard. Googles solution? Make us use both dashboards for almost a year.

xg15 6y ago

> Chrome is exploring hiding extensions by default so they no longer will show up automatically by the omnibar when you install them (say hello to a huge amount of confused users who don't know where your extension went) Haven't heard about this change (more info at [1] for anyone interested) - wow! I really wonder if those are the first steps of the roadmap to get rid of extensions altogether. [1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/07/chrome_hiding_extensions/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/07/chrome_hiding_exten...

t0mas88 6y ago
Chrome on Android already doesn't have extensions. That made me switch to Firefox on Android and within a week my laptop was also on Firefox because it's nice to have tab syncing etc between devices. If enough users do this I think Google will review their policy on extensions and specifically adblockers. Can't browse without one anymore after having used it for a while.
- iagovar 6y ago
  Brave is also nice in Android, although I miss the FF extensions.
  - tornato7 6y ago
    Ad blockers are almost necessary for the mobile web now unless you want to spend half your time dodging ads

_fat_santa 6y ago

Fellow extension developer here as well. I've been trying to get an update approved since February or March. Submitted an update in late February and decided to update my screnshots. Remove the screenshots and add new ones only for Google to tell me "you can't add screenshots while you app is in review", fine, add them later after the review. 3-4 weeks go by and I check the approval status. Status has been rejected because....no screenshots provided. I've since updated the screenshots and resubmitted for review. Currently still waiting on approval. I've been planning on doing a Product Hunt Launch but that's been put on hold until I can get an updated version in the chrome web store (the current version is very old and buggy). I've even looked into distribution outside the store but turns out chrome will no longer let you do that.

stallmanite 6y ago
The screenshot thing sounds downright Kafkaesque. Infuriating!

ThrustVectoring 6y ago

> Extension review times have gone from 1 hour to a variable amount of time ranging from 1 minute to 3 weeks or longer (try to plan a release or spot fix an issue when you have no idea how long it will take for a deploy to reach users) This is potentially a huge security issue, because the natural way to "fix" the problem is to download and run arbitrary code as an end-run around the review process.

kevingadd 6y ago
They have some automated review mechanisms to try and stop you from downloading and running arbitrary code, but it's definitely possible to do it. In my case I settled for having a remote configuration file that I could use to disable features in an emergency (and had to use it a couple times), as a compromise since I didn't want to pull down arbitrary code but was tired of getting burned by it taking a week to push a bug fix.

rogem002 6y ago

I removed my Chrome Extension from the store in February. It was averaging about £30 per a month in sales and the cost of keeping up-to-date with the changes in Chrome/the extension store seemed hardly worth it. The thing which really pushed me over the edge was their new developer dashboard, it was a step in the right direction but what missing some key features which were present in the old dashboard. Googles solution? Make us use both dashboards for almost a year.