The transition to working from home during the pandemic dramatically changed our digital behavior. Browsers, such as Google Chrome, grew to become one of the most important tools in our daily lives. Now that the pandemic has entered a quieter phase, it is time to look at which extensions were most popular during the lockdowns.
After two years of the pandemic, the website Mozilla has published a blog post that takes a closer look at browser extensions that were widely used during the pandemic. This analysis looked at the difference between number of downloads before and during the pandemic. These five Google Chrome extensions took the crown.
Five Google Chrome extensions that dragged us through the pandemic
The following Google Chrome extensions were immensely popular during the pandemic, but are still a way out for many problems. If an extension doesn’t look familiar to you, then you should definitely check it out. The browser extensions can all be installed on Google Chrome, but some can also be found on browsers like Firefox and Microsoft Edge.
1. Zoom Scheduler
It probably comes as no surprise that Zoom was one of the most used apps during the pandemic. On Google Chrome, this app was immensely popular. The Zoom Schedular browser extension saw a 1522 percent increase in installations during the pandemic. One of the main reasons for this is the fact that Google Calendar can be integrated with Zoom. This allows users of Zoom Schedular to schedule a meeting directly from their Google Calendar.
2. Using Google Chrome in dark mode
During the pandemic, we sometimes looked at our screen for hours at a time. This is not too good for our vision. Therefore, many people used a dark background on Google Chrome. The dark background and light text make websites more visible and less harmful to your eyes. During the lockdowns, Dark Mode was used 351 percent more than before the pandemic.
3. Tree Style Tab
It has probably happened that you had dozens of tabs open during a day of working from home. With the Google Chrome extension Tree Style Tab you can easily keep the overview and find tabs. The tiered structure compares well with the vertical tabs in Microsoft Edge. Tree Style Tab was downloaded 126 percent more often during the lockdowns.
(Image: Google)
4. Cookie AutoDelete
Cybercrime was a hot topic in the pandemic. Antivirus software became popular and people started to better protect their online privacy. Therefore, the extension Cookie AutoDelete saw its share increase by 386 percent. Cookie AutoDelete eliminates unused cookies when you close a tab in Firefox or Google Chrome. At its peak in 2020, the extension even had 206 thousand installations per month.
Cookie AutoDelete (Image: Google)
5. YouTube NonStop
With closed cinemas and restaurants, we had to entertain ourselves at home. Streaming services and social media were our solution. One website that we all used a lot was YouTube. Although the website had an endless supply of interesting content, the “are you still watching” button caused a lot of irritation. YouTube NonStop helped you with this problem. The Google Chrome extension allows you to watch YouTube without interruptions. YouTube NonStop saw its number of users grow in staggering numbers during the pandemic.
(Image: Google)
