PSA: Chrome Web Store updates: Faster reviews, new publication limits, badge updates, and more

[Oliver Dunk]

Hi all,

We've just published a blog post with some upcoming changes to the Chrome Web Store: https://developer.chrome.com/blog/cws-review-updates-2026

As always, please feel free to discuss and we'll do our best to answer any questions.

Thanks,
Oliver on behalf of Chrome Extensions DevRel

[Alesandro Ortiz]

Hi Oliver,

Glad to hear about the review time improvements and refreshed extension ratings. The stale ratings has been a pain point for many established extensions that had temporary spikes in negative reviews, for example due to unpopular user-facing changes that were later improved.

Regarding the Featured badge, I think historically this badge was the main criteria that determined whether an extension appears in the CWS search bar suggestions (not the search page, which shows everything). Since the badge is being discontinued, what are the current criteria for an extension appearing in the CWS search bar suggestions?

Regards,

Alesandro

[Taher Elsheikh]

Hi Oliver,

This is great, thanks for sharing this update. I've noticed that the review time isn't consistent either, for some reason. Sometimes reviews take 40 minutes, and other times (like right now, for me) it's been 2 days. Also, keep in mind that my app didn't change much, and the permissions were the same. Could there be a specific reason why the review time isn't consistent? This would help me set the right expectations with my users.

Thanks again for sharing this update, Oliver.

Taher

[Dhanur Sehgal]

These improvements are welcome. However, the biggest CWS process gap remains enforcement transparency and due process:

• Violation notices should identify the exact behavior, affected version, policy basis, heuristics, and the required fix.

• Account-wide suspensions should be proportionate; unrelated extensions should not be affected without separate findings.

• “Malware” warnings should be used only for verified malware - not unrelated policy violations. 

• Account suspensions and consequential actions should receive expedited, independent human review.

• Successful appeals should include meaningful restoration and correction of any inaccurate user-facing warnings.

Faster reviews are valuable, but fair and actionable policies along with efficient processes are even more important.

[Vadym Trebushnyi]

Greetings. It is certainly great that you are introducing new restrictions, but when will you start tackling the truly serious problems on a global scale?

Take, for example, the artificial inflation of extension users. Some developers are acquiring 10,000+ fake users and over 200 reviews in a remarkably short time, which automatically pushes their products into the recommendations. This completely breaks the traffic system for genuinely high-quality products.

I, for one, would love to see an internal paid promotion system for developers to help us somehow compete with the top extensions. I think many would agree with me.

Thanks.

пятница, 21 августа 2026 г. в 02:37:00 UTC+3, Dhanur Sehgal:

[Robert James Gabriel]

These are all fantastic updates! I'm glad of the feature badge being removed. Great updates all around.

[Peter Bloomfield]

Thanks for the update. Will private or unlisted extensions count towards the maximum number of extensions per publisher?

[Oliver Dunk]

Thanks for the update. Will private or unlisted extensions count towards the maximum number of extensions per publisher?

This change applies to all public items, including unlisted items. It does not apply to private items including published to trusted testers or domain.

This is great, thanks for sharing this update. I've noticed that the review time isn't consistent either, for some reason. Sometimes reviews take 40 minutes, and other times (like right now, for me) it's been 2 days. Also, keep in mind that my app didn't change much, and the permissions were the same. Could there be a specific reason why the review time isn't consistent? This would help me set the right expectations with my users.

Some variance is expected, and it isn't always easy to pin down a specific reason. Two days is still within the timeframe we would expect but hopefully with these broader changes you will see a trend towards faster reviews over time. 

Oliver Dunk | DevRel, Chrome Extensions | https://developer.chrome.com/ | London, GB