Microsoft announced this week that its Microsoft Edge web browser will support Manifest V2 browser extensions at least until January 2024 using Enterprise policies.
Manifest V3 for browser extensions is hotly discussed among browser makers, extension developers, organizations and home users. For those unaware, the Manifest defines capabilities that browser extensions may use. Criticism surrounded the introduction of a new API for network request modifications for the most part.
Google, the dominant power behind Manifest V3, restricted usage significantly in first drafts. This would have impacted content blockers and privacy extensions, but also other extensions, and would have rendered some types of extensions unusable in the browser.
Google revised Manifest V3 several times since then. Consensus right now is that these browser extensions are less limited, but still limited when compared to the previously used API.
Microsoft started to test Manifest V3 support in Edge in 2020 and confirmed early on that it will implement it in the Edge browser. The company stopped accepting Manifest V2 extensions in July 2022, but has not removed support in Microsoft Edge. Manifest V2 and V3 extensions can be installed in the latest version of Microsoft Edge.
A new post on the official Microsoft Edge Dev blog confirms that Manifest V2 extensions can be used until January 2024 at the least. This is the same date that Google specified for Manifest V2 support in Google Chrome. Both end dates are reachable using Enterprise policies only. Microsoft may extend support for Manifest V2 extensions further according to the blog post, but a decision has not been made yet in that regard.
The official Migration Timeline for Microsoft Edge Manifest V2 support has yet to be updated with the new information. The migration process is in the first phase at the moment. Microsoft does not accept new Manifest V2 extensions anymore but this has no effect on support in Microsoft Edge.
Manifest V2 updates won't be allowed anymore in the next phase of the migration. Extension developers may release upgrades to Manifest V3, which are allowed, but no longer Manifest V2 updates for extensions. Edge users can't run Manifest V2 extensions anymore when this phase begins, unless Enterprise policies are configured that allow Manifest V2 extensions.
In the third and last phase, Manifest V2 extensions will no longer function in any version of Edge, regardless of Enterprise policies set.
As far as other browser makers are concerned; Manifest V3 support will be introduced in all major web browsers. Some, like Mozilla, maker of Firefox, plan to support Manifest V2 capabilities alongside Manifest V3, others, like Vivaldi, announced that their integrated content blockers will continue to function.
Now You: how does your favorite browser handle Manifest V2 and V3 support?
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