Google Testing a Version of Chrome for Android With Extensions Support

Google is developing a version of Chrome for Android that supports browser extensions, a feature long absent from mobile versions, AndroidAuthority reports. The report adds: Specifically, the company is experimenting with "desktop" builds of Chrome for Android. These "desktop" builds are currently intended for Chromebooks as they transition to use more parts of Android, but there's hope the work will benefit mobile devices, too.

Ad blocking

[bbcisdabomb]

What's the point of having extensions on mobile if I can't use uBlock or the like? They're really just going to take out support for the really useful stuff and shove it out to phones?

Re:

[bartoku]

I would recommend Firefox for Android for using uBlock, and only using Chrome to access Google web apps.
I enjoy customizing Gmail and other Google Web Apps through extensions on Chrome desktop, so this will be great on mobile for Chrome.

Re:

[Himmy32]

The article explicitly calls out that this announcement isn't for mobile (ChromeOS shares the code base) and they also calls out that the suspected reason of no extensions for mobile is adblocking. From the article:

• Google finally appears to be working on a version of Chrome for Android that supports browser extensions, but there’s a catch: it likely won’t be available for mobile devices.

• That’s because Google decided way back to not add extension support to mobile versions of Chrome, likely to limit the number of people installing Chrome extensions to block ads on their Android phones.

too late to win users back

[FudRucker]

Chrome on android has been a neglected piece of crapware for so long that it sits unused and disabled, under the hood the browser engine webview seems to be okay so i am always on the lookout for alternative lightweight frontends that use it like Berry browser is a good one, Tiny browser is the best of the bare-bones browsers, but lately i been using Vivaldi and more recently Firefox, okay back to Chrome on android = I think it needs a complete rewrite, and get rid of the sponcered links! google makes enoug