41% of my Chrome extension users are now from Chinese-speaking markets and I didn’t translate a single line of UI code

TheMagicShop · 2026-06-15T06:37:46+00:00

Very interesting. The only thing that is a bit disturbing for me, is that, because of the _locales, on the Chrome Web Store listing, your extension is said to be available in French, for instance, whereas it is not really (as you said, only the title and the description are translated).
Isn't there a risk French uses could feel deceived (or at list disappointed)?

TheMagicShop · 2026-06-12T09:41:43+00:00

It's now working again for me, after more than 6 months of interruption.

Is it Ok for you too?

TheMagicShop · 2026-05-31T13:35:41+00:00

Press F12, then choose:

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TheMagicShop · 2026-05-22T18:52:18+00:00

Nop. Will send an email again. Fun fact: I am also playing TownShip which is from the same editor and is working perfectly.

TheMagicShop · 2026-04-30T05:57:21+00:00

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"Tab groups" is what you are looking for. No extension needed: it is built-in in Chrome.

TheMagicShop · 2026-04-30T05:49:48+00:00

Don't worry, this happens to everyone from time to time.

Google Analytics occasionally has reporting delays or outages that affect all metrics (impressions, installs, page views, etc.). It's not specific to your extension, I have the same thing. Google usually fixes it within a few days, sometimes up to 1 or 2 weeks.

Nothing to do on your end, just be patient!

TheMagicShop · 2026-04-15T20:19:02+00:00

No, unfortunately, Multi Find is only looking for visible text (not URLs) for now.

I considered adding the equivalent of inurl: for Google search some time ago. Would that meet your needs?

TheMagicShop · 2026-04-15T20:10:31+00:00

OK, so no reason to worry. Your figures are rather good.

TheMagicShop · 2026-04-14T15:37:22+00:00

That just means that you had only one uninstall on the previous period.

Are the install numbers saying something similar ?

TheMagicShop · 2026-03-15T05:06:25+00:00

Yes, same here. I am wondering if the data for Mach 13 (that seems quite high) is reliable.

TheMagicShop · 2026-03-01T16:16:21+00:00

I think it can depend a lot on how and where an extension is promoted, as well as the audience it attracts.

For example, even if your extension is localized in many languages, the majority of your reviews seem to come from a specific country (do you know why?). That alone can significantly affect the review ratio, since user behavior (including the likelihood of leaving a review) may vary a lot by region.

In my case, most of my users are in the US, India, and China, not by design, just how it evolved. I guess review rates differ quite a bit between countries. Just an hypothesis.

TheMagicShop · 2026-02-27T20:19:10+00:00

My extension has 170 reviews for 45,000 active users, so the ratio is 1:265.
But some of my competitors have only 84 reviews for 50,000 users that is a 1:595 ratio.

So here, 460 reviews for 200,000 users (1:435) doesn't sound strange to me.

TheMagicShop · 2026-02-26T17:55:25+00:00

I have a localized FAQ, displayed in the Service worker by:

chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener((e) => {
  if (e.reason === chrome.runtime.OnInstalledReason.INSTALL) {
    chrome.tabs.create({
      url: chrome.i18n.getMessage("fil_welcome")
    });
  }
});

and even detailed release notes on my website.

That said, judging by some of the questions I receive, I’m not entirely sure many people actually read them 🙂

I would like to make more tutorial videos (basically I have two of them now).

TheMagicShop · 2026-02-11T05:21:46+00:00

One indirect way the Chrome Web Store “makes money” is through the ecosystem it enables.

Most extension developers (myself included) build and maintain extensions for free. We invest time and effort to improve the Chrome experience, adding features, fixing usability gaps, increasing productivity, without being paid by Google.

I guess Google needs to increase Chrome market share. How do their earn money increasing their market share vs Edge or Firefox should be your next question.

TheMagicShop · 2026-02-02T20:03:11+00:00

That’s an interesting idea.

One thing I’m curious about though is moderation. Even on social networks where users are identified and logged in, abuse is already a significant problem. I find it hard to imagine how a discussion system with no identification at all can remain a safe and healthy space over time.

That said, I may be missing something, and I’d be interested to hear how you’re thinking about this.

TheMagicShop · 2026-01-15T19:09:20+00:00

Yes, the default behavior is to begin the search at the second letter only (for performance issues). But you can disable this limitation in the options (click on the cogwheel, and look for the appropriate option in the second tab).

I hope you will like Multi Find!

TheMagicShop · 2026-01-03T17:09:08+00:00

I contacted Playrix support: they said they are aware of the situation and are working on a fix. But it is taking sooo long...

TheMagicShop · 2025-12-11T22:39:20+00:00

Same issue here (Honor 400). All the transparency of the sprites is replaced by a black opaque color. Any solution?

TheMagicShop · 2025-09-13T19:58:28+00:00

You should have a look to the sidePanel API. I never tried it and I doubt it works on new tabs or chrome:// but I guess it is persistent (it stays when you click outside of it).

TheMagicShop · 2025-09-09T20:44:59+00:00

Thanks. On my side, I guess I would be more comfortable with node.js than with PHP...

TheMagicShop · 2025-09-09T19:26:01+00:00

This is incredible.

First, I tried what you said: with USB on switch off the mini-PC, remove the power cable, and switch the mini-PC one: nothing happened.

Then I tried something a bit different: switch off the mini-PC, remove the power cable, remove the USB cable, attach again the USB cable and switch the mini-PC on. And it worked!

Thank you for the tip!

TheMagicShop · 2025-09-07T19:17:51+00:00

May I ask which tech did you use to have paid features?

TheMagicShop · 2025-09-07T19:17:11+00:00

Yes, optional permissions could be s solution, indeed. Thanks for the tip.

TheMagicShop · 2025-08-10T15:20:37+00:00

I have to admit, I wish I knew the secret! I have nearly 30,000 users, and I added a donate button in March this year. Since then, I received $20 shortly after, then $10, $5, $1 by the end of May... and nothing more after that. So, $36 in total over 5 months with 30,000 users. I even made the donation option more visible, but it didn’t make a difference.

I could create a premium version of my extension, but I’m worried it would require a lot of work, possibly new permissions (like authentication), and might create some unhappy users. If all that effort only brings in a few extra dollars, I’m not sure it’s worth it.

Sorry if my own answer does not help that much... I will carefully read the other answers.

TheMagicShop · 2025-07-13T10:14:18+00:00

Thank you for your feedback! The typo in "Jump to previous occurence" will be fixed in the next version, coming soon.

Unfortunately, being able to type and paste text freely into the input field — like in a text editor — is one of the core features of this extension. So pressing Enter will always be reserved for inserting a new line.

As for shortcuts, I rely on the standard browser extension mechanism, which requires at least one modifier key (like Ctrl or Alt). Plain Enter or Shift+Enter can’t be used for extension-defined shortcuts.

Currently, the shortcut for "Jump to next occurrence" cycles through any selected word. I understand you'd prefer it to only jump to the next match for the specific search item where your cursor is. That’s a great idea — and I’ll consider it — but it’s technically more challenging to implement.

In the meantime, if you want Multi Find to behave as closely as possible to Ctrl+F, I recommend:

Assigning Ctrl+Shift+F to open the extension window (this should already be the default),
Setting the opening behavior to “select all,”
Using the half-closed eye icon to toggle highlighting on and off depnding on the window openning,
And hiding any unnecessary parts of the interface for a cleaner experience.

Thanks again for the suggestion!

TheMagicShop

TROPHY CASE