Chrome Apps No Longer Supported

[fogoplayer]

As Google is slowly removing support for Chrome Apps in favor of PWAs and Chrome Extensions, are there plans to convert Caret-T to one or the other? Windows, Linux, and Mac support is already gone, and ChromeOS support will follow eventually.

[Sevin777]

I'm going to move Caret-T to something that guarantees it still works on windows becuase that is where I use it. I likely won't do it until right before Google disables the current functionality on Windows.

Google has not set a hard date yet:

From: chromewebstore-dev-support@google.com Date: Tue, Dec 5, 2017 at 8:22 PM Subject: Changes to the Chrome Apps Deprecation Schedule

Hi Chrome App Owners,

You're receiving this email because you have at least one Chrome app published in the Chrome Web Store.

Chrome Apps are currently scheduled to stop working on Windows, Mac & Linux in Q1 2018, as Chrome continues to focus on moving the open web forward.

The Chrome team is now working to enable Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) to be installed on the desktop. Once this functionality ships (roughly targeting mid-2018), users will be able to install web apps to the desktop and launch them via icons and shortcuts; similar to the way that Chrome Apps can be installed today.

In order to enable a more seamless transition from Chrome Apps to the web, Chrome will not fully remove support for Chrome Apps on Windows, Mac or Linux until after Desktop PWA installability becomes available in 2018. Timelines are still rough, but this will be a number of months later than the originally planned deprecation timeline of "early 2018".

We also recognize that Desktop PWAs will not replace all Chrome App capabilities. We have been investigating ways to simplify the transition for developers that depend on exclusive Chrome App APIs, and will continue to focus on this - in particular the Sockets, HID and Serial APIs.

To be clear, the overall trajectory of the Chrome Apps platform is not changing. Support will still be fully removed on Windows, Mac & Linux in the relatively near term, therefore we don't see Chrome Apps as a viable long-term solution for new or existing projects.

Additionally, Chrome Apps will still be de-listed from the Web Store before the end of 2017 as originally planned. At this time, all Chrome App listings will be hidden from Web Store search and browse functions on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Support for inline installation will also be removed.*

At a later date, we'll provide another more specific update on new timelines for the full removal of Chrome Apps support on Windows, Mac & Linux.

Best, The Chrome Apps & Web Store Team

*Chrome Apps will still be indexed in search engines, and it will still be possible to install apps via the deeplink to the store page. The primary change is that Chrome Apps will no longer be organically discoverable by browsing or searching in the Chrome Web Store.

[fogoplayer]

That's a lot of comfort. Glad to know there's a plan.

[coderofsalvation]

A Plan for what? Afaik Google has never announced to kill chrome apps for chromebooks. This 'ChromeOS will follow eventually' is just speculation? (if not, please give me link to a credible statement from google themselves).

I don't see Chrome apps disappearing very soon, unless PWA & direct file-access suddenly becomes a good idea (I dont think so security-wise). I can imagine Google not wanting to maintain chrome-app api's for other (underused) platforms than chromeos itself.