Google Chrome is built on the Chromium browser project, which also powers otherpopular web browsers on Android, such as Opera, Brave, Samsung Internet, Edge, Kiwi Browser, and several others. The versatile underpinnings of this system give us convenient sync across operating systems, helped by a fluid and familiar flow for most features these browsers share. However, one of the biggest pain points has been lack of feature parity between the desktop and mobile versions of Chromium-based browsers. Interestingly, Microsoft seems ready to take a giant leap by adding support for extensions on Edge for Android.
By default, the Chromium codebase lacks support for browser extensions on mobile, and that’s why extensions available through the Chrome Web Store only serve us on desktops. The store offers along list of useful toolsranging from screen readers, reading list managers, proofreaders, shopping assistants, and now, AI tools. While Google is improving Chrome for Android by feature parity for other desktop-first elements liketab groups, support for extensions has been left untouched.
However, popular browser researcher and Chrome feature spotter@Leopeva64 on X(formerly Twitter) recently spotted Microsoft working on extension support in the latest Canary build of Edge for Android. The latest version features a new flag which enables an extension button in the app.
edge://flags/#edge-extensions-android
Another X user shares that there aretwo URLsyou can visit to install the handful of extensions available, including an ad blocker and a tool which forces dark mode on every website.
edge://extensions/
edge://extensions-internals/
Once enabled, the features to manage installed extensions, control their permissions, and remove them if required, are all comparable to Edge’s desktop UI. Screenshots from Leopeva64 reveal that you can tap the three-dot button beside any installed extension to turn it off temporarily, see more information about it, revoke/grant permissions, or remove it outright.
Vivaldi, a competing browser also based on Chromium, told us that it decided not to pursue extensions on Android. The company explains that since extensions aren’t supported by Chromium natively, adding the functionality comes at a significant cost to the company. In this case, Microsoft is likely pouring in considerable resources and efforts into development and testing before extensions are made available for all Edge users.
On the bright side, an eventual release seems likely because the UI elements for Edge extensions seem polished and fully operational once the corresponding flags are activated. Hopefully, this urges Google to give us access to extensions on Chrome for Android as well, or better still, build support directly in Chromium, so changes benefit every browser using the codebase.
