Using the Postman Chrome App? Implications from the Recent Google Announcement
Update: Native Mac, Windows, and Linux apps are now all available, with full Postman functionality
Last week, Google announced plans to end support for Chrome Apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux users, over the next two years. Chrome apps helped Postman enormously – being cross-platform, the Chrome app was key in our ability to reach the millions of developers who use Postman today. Of course, there have been challenges for any Chrome app to incorporate OS functions across Windows, OS X and Linux, requiring ongoing support. At Postman, we carefully follow issues on the Chromium tracker, and see the challenges in making Chrome apps work properly across these multiple operating systems. It appears from this recent announcement that Google had decided these challenges are too great to address going forward.
We know much of the Postman community currently uses our Chrome app, and will be affected by this upcoming change. Fortunately, Postman already has native Windows and Mac apps available via free download, and a Linux native app is planned for release in late 2016.
The Postman native apps provide the same features as the Chrome app, based on a complete platform for building, testing, documenting and sharing APIs, making your workflow faster and easier. In addition, the native Windows and Mac apps provide developers with seamless request capturing and cookie handling functionality. Users of the Postman Chrome app had to download the Postman Interceptor Chrome Extension to manage cookies and capture requests in the desktop browser; our native apps provide this functionality within the app itself.
The native Mac & Windows apps are free, of course, like the Chrome app. The Mac app is available for OS X Yosemite or later, and the Windows app is available both in 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64), for Windows 7 & later. You can read more about how to install the correct version here.
Transitioning to the native app is quite simple for Chrome app users – all you need do is sign into your Postman account after you download and start the new native app, and all your history and collections will be automatically synced.
We’re encouraging Postman Chrome users to transition to the the Mac or Windows app when convenient, and to the Linux app when available, by heading to https://www.postman.com/downloads/ and downloading the correct app. Going forward, we will be watching to see how Chrome OS app development proceeds, to make sure we provide the right tools for our community.
Actually there is some bugs in windows/osx app, eg:
console.log command not working
in chrome app url like /:id{ft}?someparemeters parsed correctly (/102.json/someparameters), when in win/osx app it cause error
Please report or comment on issues at https://github.com/postmanlabs/postman-app-support/issues
Regarding, console – there’s a new console – press cmd+alt+c!
Will the OS native Postman apps support the Postman Interceptor? We use this now, as it’s the best way to capture
The native apps support the Interceptor.
You can use Electron (http://electron.atom.io/) to package current Chrome App to give a fast solution to Linux users in the meantime.
You can now download our Linux app here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
Love the app, glad I don’t have to stop using it because of this change! 🙂
Any plans to retain a web-based version of some kind? I conduct onsite workshops within enterprises where security policies prevent app installation for many of the attendees. In the past, if they had Chrome installed they were allowed to install Chrome Apps – providing a nice way to get around the restriction for a multi-day workshop scenario.
Postman is now available in your browser, read more about it here: https://blog.postman.com/announcing-postman-for-the-web-now-in-open-beta/
I am running completely on Chrome OS. Any plan to create a classic web application? Or maybe an Android app to support Chrome OS users?
Postman is now available on the web: https://blog.postman.com/announcing-postman-for-the-web-now-in-open-beta/
Delighted to hear that a Linux client is planned.
I was about to complain about not having any Linux support but then I got to the last paragraph and see you guys are on top of it already. Thanks!
Yes you can download the Linux app here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
Any plans of a Linux release before the Chrome App is killed?
Nevermind. I see it listed on the website now as coming soon.
Yes of course! You can now download our Linux app here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
Any chance of a electron Linux app?
Sure! You can download it here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
Well shoot. I use Postman primarily on Ubuntu. Guess I’ll be using it through WINE until someone makes a linux version
You can download our new Linux app here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
looking forward for the Linux native version
Well, it’s here! https://www.postman.com/downloads/
Linux please!!!
Sure! You can download it from here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
Electron app?
Yes you can download our Linux app here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
Can you set cookies on the native apps? At the moment I am using interceptor to set an xdebug cookie in postman, which helps when debugging PHP APIs.
Yes you can now set and manage cookies in the native apps.
omg.. linux comming soon.. thanks 🙂
Will the Windows app support proxy, as we use proxy to connect to our dev servers? The Chrome app used to work fine with a proxy switcher like switchysharp.
You can use the proxy with native apps.
i’m waiting for the linux version, wish you all the best. good luck.
Why not try it for yourself! You can download it here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
It has been my experience in the past 20 years, more often than not, when a developer says “Linux native is coming soon”, soon never arrives.
That, or it does, only for it to be a buggy half-hearted attempt. Then 6 months or so down the line, support is quietly dropped (like the Occulus Rift).
I understand the challenges of cross-platform support. But if you are already doing it with the Mac, you are most of the way there, if not all the way. Your framework likely supports it. What isn’t as supported is your understanding of the users, their issues, and the Linux platform itself.
I guess we’ll see where things go this time.
You can now download our Linux app here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
Is Google shutting down postman ?
No, Google will stop support for app extensions over the next year. You can download one of our native apps here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
Are there plans for a Linux release?
Yes you can download here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
Why not take something like Java to cross-platform or Qt, wxWidgets or even GTK?
Hell! I’d even write a “local TCP daemon” in any language and web front-end for the app!
Best regards!
Love your work!
So using it on Ubuntu is out of the question now or are there plans for a Linux release of the desktop app?
Sorry saw the “and to the Linux app when available” part of the post post-factum.
If you read the article above you wouldn’t be asking that question.
Linux?
You can download our Linux app here: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
How To Read Cookie Value In POSTMAN For Request Changing?
Thank you for including a Linux version 🙂
Hey Postman, Great app,
why don’t you just port the app to NW.js or Electron ?
Will be there something like Chrome Developer tools?
Any thoughts of creating an installable PWA? Is the native app built in electron?