Google Inc. End of support timeline for specialized web applications in the Chrome browser. As of March 2020, the Chrome Web Store will no longer accept new Chrome Apps (updating existing applications will remain possible until June 2022). Support for Chrome Apps will cease in June 2020 for the Chrome browser versions on Windows, Linux, and macOS, but an option to revert to Chrome Apps for Chrome Enterprise and Chrome Education users will be available until December.
In June 2021, support for the NaCl (Native Client), PNaCl (Portable Native Client, WebAssembly) and PPAPI (Pepper API for plugin development, which replaced NPAPI) will also end, along with the use of Chrome Apps on Chrome OS (for Chrome Enterprise and Chrome Education users, the option to revert support for Chrome Apps will be available until June 2022). This decision only affects Chrome Apps and does not impact browser extensions (Chrome Extensions), which will continue to be supported. Notably, Google initially announced its intention to discontinue Chrome Apps back in 2016 and intended to end support by 2018, but then postponed that plan.
The reason for discontinuing support for specialized Chrome Apps is attributed to a shift towards universal web applications and the technology (PWA). When Chrome Apps first emerged, many advanced features such as offline working capabilities, notifications, and hardware interactions were not defined in standard Web APIs, but now they are standardized and available for all web applications. Furthermore, the Chrome Apps technology has not gained significant traction on desktop systems — only about 1% of Chrome users on Linux, Windows, and macOS utilize these applications. For most Chrome Apps, there are already equivalent solutions implemented as regular web applications or browser extensions. Developers of Chrome Apps have been provided guidance on migrating to standard web technologies.
Source: opennet.ru
