Google is preparing a major cleanup of Chrome extensions. Older ones will disappear from the store for good

For years, Google has been pushing developers and users towards a newer add-on format, and now it’s preparing to make a definitive statement. It will delete older Chrome extensions from its app store that run on the now deprecated Manifest V2 standard. The major cleanup is scheduled for August 31, 2026.

What exactly will happen on August 31?

The date only recently made it into Google’s official schedule and is the final piece of the puzzle the company started years ago. The upcoming cleanup was reported by 9to5Google and means only one thing: on that day, all remaining extensions that still rely on Manifest V2 will disappear from the Chrome Web Store. After this date, you simply won’t find or be able to install them in the store.

If you have such an add-on installed from before, it won’t disappear from your browser after the cleanup, but it will stop receiving any updates. And once you uninstall it or install Chrome on a new device, there will be no way back through the store. Older extensions will effectively be frozen in time.

Why is Google discontinuing the old format?

Manifest is a set of rules that determines everything an extension is allowed to do in the browser. The older V2 version gave add-ons a free hand – they could, for example, continuously filter network traffic and flexibly react to what was happening on the page. The newer Manifest V3 significantly curtails this freedom and forces extensions to rely on a predefined, limited list of rules.

Google is preparing a major cleanup of Chrome extensions. Older ones will disappear from the store for good Adam Kurfürst News Adam Kurfürst News

Google justifies the change with higher security and better performance. However, some developers and users interpret it differently: the ability to monitor and filter all traffic is precisely at the core of how ad blockers work. We wrote about these extensions gradually ceasing to function in Chrome at the end of June.

Do you use a Chrome extension that you will miss after the August cleanup?

Sources: Chrome for Developers, 9to5Google, PiunikaWeb