If you’re dependent on the Pushbullet Chrome extension app to keep you smartphone and your laptop or computer connected, they have a bit of bad news for you. After a few days, the extension might not be available anymore as Google has still not explained what are the “Use of Permission” rules that they have violated. There are a lot of apps and extensions that have fallen victim to the vague notices that Google sent even though the developers are willing to fix whatever needs fixing, if only they knew what those were.
Pushbullet lets you mirror notifications and send links, text, and files between various devices. The Chrome extension is their most-installed app for desktop and there are more than a million people supposedly using this (this author included). It is a highly useful app for those that are working between multiple devices. The developers received an email from Google that there was some violation in the permissions but in true Google fashion, it did not say exactly what that violation was.
Pushbullet tried to reduce their permissions to the bare minimum and pushed out an updated extension based on what they understood from Google’s email. But 24 hours later, their extension was still rejected and did not give any further guidance as to how they should fix it. They were initially given 14 days after the first notice but now, there are only 7 days left until the extension is removed from Chrome.
Android developers are oftentimes confused with the violation alerts from Google as they are never as clear as they should be. While Pushbullet’s developers can keep on working and pushing out updates, there’s also a risk that they might get a permanent ban because of Google’s automated system that gives a permaban if it detects too many updates. Some Chrome developers have taken note of the problem on Twitter so hopefully this can be fixed soon.
If not, just prepare yourself in the next few days if the Pushbullet extension does disappear from your Chrome browser. We would tell you to look for other similar apps but one of those called Join seems to be experiencing the same problem.
