Home > Gmail App FAQ > Errors > Unstable Browser Channel

Force a browser update

Go to the Browser menu > Help > About and update or you might have to reinstall the browser to force the latest update to use Gmail App and most importantly for your security.

If you have an old Windows/Mac you might have to update it to get the latest and safest browser version.

Why bugs appear

Bugs in extensions using an unstable channel or version are probably caused by the browser itself and not the extension. You can validate this by trying to replicate the issue on the stable channel.

Why only Gmail App

Gmail App is much more complex than other similar ones because we use the latest technologies, such as background mode, voice notification, indexedDB storage etc.

These features work on the stable channel only.

Previous extension versions

Previous extension versions will NOT be supported for security reasons and to develop extension with the latest browser features.

Why we cannot support unstable channels

Unstable channels are continuously under development by the browser teams and bugs are constantly introduced into these channels as a result.

If we started to support these channels we would be spending most time fixing bugs eternally for the 5% who actually use these channels. Instead, we have chosen to wisely concentrate our efforts on the majority who are using the stable channel and who expect stability and a bug free environment.

Browsers have many different release channels

  1. Chrome (The only stable channel and used by 95% of users)
  2. Beta (Has soon to be released features with potential bugs)
  3. Dev/Nightly (Has experimental features and definite bugs)
  4. Canary/Dev Edition (Similar to Dev but can run in parallel with another channel)
  5. Chromium (The open-source browser behind Chrome)
More info

Updating or changing channels

A common mistake is to accidentally download the beta version and then think that it will update to the stable version. This will not happen, each channel does receive their own updates but your channel will never update or change to another channel.

You would have to uninstall your channel and install the stable channel.

More info

Bugs

If you find issues on an unstable channel your options are:

  1. Try the stable version (where bugs will be supported by us)
  2. Ignore the issue and wait for it to eventually be resolved on that channel by the browser team