Chrome has dominated the browser market for over a decade, but many alternatives offer more features. For instance, Brave includes Tor, Firefox emphasizes security, and Opera is highly customizable. Additionally, Chrome for Android currently lacks extension support, though this may soon change as Google develops a version of Chrome that allows extensions on Android.
Previously, Chrome’s Desktop Android builds were available for download but lacked extension functionality. According to Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman, recent code changes now enable the installation and use of extensions on these desktop builds.
After installing the Chrome Desktop builds, Mishaal reported that extensions like Dark Reader, Keepa, and uBlock Origin worked effectively, though some extensions were unusable. Currently, there is no option to install extensions via the Chrome Web Store; installation requires dragging and dropping CRX files. Users have successfully installed and used extensions, with Dark Reader functioning but Bitwarden not working.
These Chrome builds are designed for Android Desktop, not for phones, as Google plans to merge ChromeOS with Android in the future. Therefore, these builds will likely cater to Android Desktop.
If you want to experiment with Chrome builds that support extensions, you can download them from Google’s server or use the latest version. While extension support may not come to Chrome on Android phones, browsers like Edge and Firefox already support extensions and are set to expand this feature.
What do you think about the possibility of Chrome extensions on Android? Should Google consider bringing them to Android phones? Let us know in the comments below.
