Technology
Google to remove final Manifest V2 extensions from Chrome Web Store on August 31
The scheduled cleanup marks the final administrative phase of Chrome's multi-year migration to Manifest V3.
The short version
- Google will remove all remaining Manifest V2 extension listings from the Chrome Web Store on August 31, 2026.
- The functional deprecation of Manifest V2 was previously completed in mid-2025 with Chrome versions 138 and 139, which removed user toggles and enterprise overrides.
- Manifest V3 enforces security and performance updates by banning remotely hosted executable code and substituting blocking webRequest APIs with declarativeNetRequest rules.
Key facts
- Google will remove remaining Manifest V2 extension listings from the Chrome Web Store on August 31, 2026, preventing new installs, updates, and reinstalls.[Hacker News]
- Chrome 138 disabled Manifest V2 for all users and removed the manual re-enable toggle on July 24, 2025, while Chrome 139 subsequently deleted the enterprise policy override.[Hacker News]
- Chrome versions 150 and 151 removed the remaining internal feature flags, developer flags, and command-line switches for legacy Manifest V2 extensions in mid-2026.[Hacker News]
- Manifest V3 replaces Manifest V2 by banning remotely hosted executable code and requiring extensions to rely on pre-declared rules via declarativeNetRequest rather than active network blocking via webRequest.[Hacker News]
What remains uncertain
- The removal details for Chrome 150 and 151 developer flags rely on Chromium source commits and third-party tracking rather than Google's official published deprecation timeline document, which ends at Chrome 139.[Hacker News]