The real reason why Google is ending support for Chrome apps on Windows, Mac

By 2018, applications for Chrome that are supported for Mac, PC and Linux will be killed.

All our favourite apps from Chrome are about to meet their end on PC, Mac and Linux by early 2018. But why would Google do this to its ever-trusting users? Well, because thanks to technology and the web, almost all the features of those apps can be found on other websites.

Google had first introduced these apps to compensate that weren’t initially made available on the web. It also enabled a lot of developers to write new apps for all three platforms – Windows, Linux and Mac. Now, there’s a deadline for developers to figure out a way to migrate their apps from Chrome browser and that deadline extends to a year and a half.

Although the apps feature will be missed, Google reported that only 1 percent of users actually use the apps that Chrome comes with. So they can’t really be blamed for taking this step. But there is also a rationale behind this move.

And the rationale is – as Google is phasing out its apps for PCs, Macs and Linux, Chrome OS enabled devices will be able to run Chrome apps – so developers need not fear that they won’t be able to develop anymore for the Chrome platform. Also, this means that Chromebooks will become more popular since they would also be able to run apps via Play Store (announced a few months ago).

This could also be another move to make the Chromebooks more popular and exclusive, connecting the device to the Chrome ecosystem. And now it seems like Google is slowly taking over personal computing – one app at a time.