Skip to main content

Google shutting down Chrome app launcher because no one cares

Not a day goes by that I don’t completely neglect the existence of the Chrome app launcher. And yet, here we are, facing its extinction dead-on. After realizing that most people are reluctant to launch their Chrome Web apps outside of the Chrome Web browser, Google has decided to retire the Chrome app launcher program for Windows, Mac, and Linux, according to a blog post published earlier today. The Chrome OS version, however, will remain intact.

“The app launcher makes Chrome apps easy to open outside the browser,” writes Google Chrome Engineering Director Marc Pawliger, “but we’ve found that users on Windows, Mac, and Linux prefer to launch their apps from within Chrome.”

Recommended Videos

Instead of compartmentalizing Chrome’s feature set, Google is opting to make the Web browser itself easier to use by adding features like push notifications for Web pages, thereby nullifying the long-forgotten notification center. If you’re an avid user of the Chrome app launcher, fear not, as the software will be slowly eradicated over the next several months, which you’ll be reminded of in a “notice” from the Alphabet subsidiary.

In the next few weeks, you can expect to no longer see the launcher each time a Chrome app is installed, and in July, the launcher will be wiped entirely from the confines of the Internet.

Nevertheless, this by no means indicates that you’ll no longer be able to download Chrome apps. Instead, they’ll be conveniently packaged in your browser, accessible either by clicking the bookmark bar’s “apps shortcut” menu or by typing chrome://apps in the omnibox.

Considering the Chrome app launcher originally released for Windows in July 2013, its termination will undoubtedly serve as a disheartening celebration of its third anniversary. On a more optimistic note, the launcher is here to stay on Chrome OS, which quite honestly is the only place it made sense to begin with. Perhaps now we’ll see the day when Chrome doesn’t gnaw away at my laptop’s precious RAM and battery life.

Gabe Carey
A freelancer for Digital Trends, Gabe Carey has been covering the intersection of video games and technology since he was 16…
The Gemini app is now the only way to access Google’s AI on iOS
The Google Gemini AI logo.

Google announced Wednesday that it is removing its Gemini AI model from the Google app on iOS, meaning that Apple users will need to download the dedicated Gemini app in order to use it.

When Google first introduced its Gemini AI to the Apple product ecosystem, it did so through its existing Google App, which had been available on iPhones and iPads since 2008. It wasn't until last November that Google released its dedicated Gemini app. Over the past three months, iOS users had their choice of which app through which to access the chatbot, but that is no longer the case.

Read more
If you’re on Google’s One AI Premium plan, you now get NotebookLM Plus for free
NotebookLM providing summary of YouTube videos.

As reported by The Verge, Google is bringing the premium features from NotebookLM Plus to its One AI Premium monthly subscription plan. This includes more customization options and higher usage limits, along with extra security.

If you don't know much about NotebookLM, it's been around since 2023, and the Plus plan launched in December last year. It's described as an AI-powered research assistant and note-taking app, but it's not just trained on generic internet content like standard LLMs.

Read more
It looks like Microsoft has yet another anti-Google trick up its sleeve
Microsoft Edge appears on a computer screen with plants and a window in the background.

Microsoft drew attention at the beginning of this month for showing rather misleading Google-style search bar when users searched for the rival engine on Bing. Now, it appears the company is targeting the Chrome browser as well. Spotted by Windows Latest, some users may see a big banner pushing Edge when they search for Chrome while using Microsoft's browser.

The real dodgy part, however, is the fact that this banner just happens to partially hide the Chrome download link behind a "See more" button.

Read more