Google Is Killing off the Chrome App Launcher

In an effort to make Chrome as light and as less bloated as possible, Google has decided to completely remove the Chrome App Launcher from Linux, Apple and Microsoft operating systems, which means that you’re in for quite a shock if you’re used to launching Google apps from the App Launcher directly. Fortunately, the App Launcher will remain in place on Chrome OS, so there’s that at least. Apparently, the removal will take place steadily over the next few months, and the launcher will lose its ability to install new apps within the next few weeks. The feature will be killed off completely in July, which is three years after it was introduced for Microsoft Windows in the first place.

In order to make sure that this change won’t catch too many users by surprise, Google says that it will notify all of the launcher’s fans of this big change. Last summer, Chrome was stripped of its notification center in a similar effort to make the user’s experience better. We can all hope that the removal of the App Launcher will make Chrome lighter and less resource hungry, but I have to say that the decision doesn’t make too much sense to me as this component is actually optional.