Microsoft Edge will get an influx of extensions from Google Chrome

Last week Microsoft announced it would be transitioning its Edge web browser to the open source Chromium framework, upon which Google Chrome is based. The company’s logic was grounded in the hope of improving compatibility for users and assisting developers by reducing fragmentation.

Now Microsoft has confirmed it is moving towards achieving both of those goals by revealing Google Chrome extensions will also be compatible with Edge once the transition to Chromium has taken place.

In a series of posts on Reddit over the weekend, Microsoft said it intends to support the existing extensions, which include add-ons like password managers, ad blockers and virtual private networks.

“It’s our intention to support existing Chrome extensions,” Kyle Alden an Edge project manager, explained on Reddit (via Thurrott).

That’s great news for Edge users, who should benefit from a massive influx of new extensions to choose from. It’s also a fillip for those developers who’ll simply be able to port their app to Edge without having to do any significant rebuilding.

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Alden also added that there are still plans for Microsoft Edge to arrive on the Xbox One console, saying: “We are at the early stages of our journey, but it is our intention to bring the next version of Microsoft Edge to all Microsoft devices.”

Alden also confirmed that the existing Universal Windows Platform apps will still work during the switch to Chromium. This will ensure the devs can move to Chromium when it suits them.

He said: “Existing UWP apps (including PWAs in the Store) will continue to use EdgeHTML/Chakra without interruption. We don’t plan to shim under those with a different engine. We do expect to offer a new WebView that apps can choose to use based on the new rendering engine.”

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