[Update: Removed] Google warns against installing Chrome extensions on Microsoft Edge

Ben Schoon | Mar 9 2020 - 7:05 am PT

Microsoft used to be mocked in the browser game, but recently the company switched its Edge browser over to Chromium. There are a lot of advantages to that, but Google is now warning Microsoft Edge users against installing Chrome extensions on the browser.

Windows Latest spotted a banner Google has recently added to the Chrome Web Store which detects when a user is installing extensions to Microsoft Edge. The extension simply explains that Google “recommends” using Chrome instead of Edge to use extensions “securely.”

It seems that the Chrome Web Store is identifying Microsoft Edge through its user agent string and, notably, it’s not showing this warning on any other Chromium browsers such as Opera.

This warning doesn’t affect the ability to install Chrome extensions on Microsoft Edge, rather just warning users against the practice. It seems this is just a scare tactic, as there are no known security implications to using Chrome extensions on Edge.

Update 3/9: As noted by the folk over at TechDows, Google has quietly removed this banner from the Chrome Web Store. It’s unclear exactly when this happened or what triggered Google to reverse its decision, but we can also verify that the banner is no longer showing.

This also isn’t the first time Google has treated Microsoft’s Edge differently. Since the browser’s debut, Google has blocked some of its web services from working properly. Stadia, for example, is completely blocked, and warnings have appeared on services such as Gmail, YouTube Music, and others.

Though, it’s not like Microsoft is free of this behavior. In the past, Microsoft has warned its Windows users to avoid Google Chrome too. Microsoft even wanted to force some of its users into using Bing on Chrome.

Rivalries are fun, aren’t they?