New ‘App Mall’ may finally bring all Chromebook apps together in one place

For a very, very long time, we’ve talked at length about the need for there to be a single, unified place for Chromebook users to find apps. As the options for ChromeOS grew, the need only became greater and there’s been nothing done about this to date. With Chromebooks now able to leverage PWAs from both the web and the Google Play Store, Android apps via the same Play Store, and Linux apps via the Linux container, there’s a greater need for a singular app “store” than ever before.

Enter the App Mall

Found by 9to5 Google, a flag has shown up for the ChromeOS App Mall that – from the looks of the description – should be a singular location where users can find and discover (and hopefully download) new apps for their Chromebooks.

Little else is currently known about this new App Mall, so we’re firmly in the conjecture portion of this feature’s timeline for now. From the flag descriptor, however, the possibilities seem quite clear. If this new app allows for people to both find and install other apps, it could be a game-changer for Chromebook users new and existing.

It seems this new App Mall will really be a web app (not surprising for Chromebooks) that should end up at the discover.apps.chrome URL and will likely be similar to what we see in the existing “Apps and games” section of the Explore app in ChromeOS.

When this will arrive, what it will look like, where it will be found and what it will actually do are all things we simply don’t know at this point. Now that we’re aware it exists, we’ll be looking for any hints of it showing up and let you know when or if we find anything. At the end of the day, however, as long as this new App Mall provides a seamless way for Chromebook users to find and install apps from the web, the Play Store, or via the Linux container, it’s going to be a big win in my book.