Where to Download Old Versions of Google Chrome
If you need to use an older version of the Chrome browser, you can do that by finding the correct installation files. In this post, I will talk about where you can download and install old versions of Chrome.
Web browsers, such as Google Chrome, are maintained by large developer teams and they are updated frequently to newer versions with bug fixes, improvements and new feature additions. Sometimes they get updated as frequent as weekly or even daily if there are critical issues to be addressed.
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Using the latest, most up-to-date version of a web browser is always recommended, as it will be the safest version to use with most enhanced features and with support for recent web design standards advancements in HTML and CSS. While it is a good habit to have the latest version of a browser installed on your device at all times, usually by enabling auto updates, there are also times where you may need to go back to an older version or completely uninstall Chrome and install an old version.
For example, you may be using a certain website service, online software, application or a Chrome extension that requires you to use a certain version. Or, you may be limited to use an old Chrome version within your organization due to the use of an older operating system. Or perhaps, you are a web designer or web developer and you want to test and preview your designs on older browser versions. These are all valid cases and regardless of you reasoning, you should be careful when using an outdated web browser and if possible use it only on a computer allocated for testing purposes.
Though it is not recommended for the average Internet user to use an old version of any browser, since that you are on this page, I can safely assume that you know what you are doing and you are well aware of the potential security risks and that your computer may be affected by malware or viruses and your personal information may be breached by the use of an old browser version. Furthermore, Google does not keep a public archive of the official releases of old Chrome versions due to the security risks mentioned above, and the available installation files can only be found from third party websites, which suggests that you pay extra caution.
Having said that, let's see where we can find the older versions of Chrome.
Where to Download Google Chrome Old Versions
As mentioned above, Google does not offer older versions of Chrome, hence any following resources we will mention are unofficial third party sites and use of any information or installation files you find on them will be at your own risk. Note that, I am just providing the links that I was able to find during my research, whether to use them or not is totally up to you.
1. http://www.slimjet.com/chrome/google-chrome-old-version.php
This website provides up to a couple of previous versions of Chrome for Windows, Mac and Linux.
2. http://downloadofflineinstaller.com/index.php?a=search&q=chrome
You can find beta, developer and regular versions of old Chrome builds on this site.
3. http://orion.lcg.ufrj.br/RPMS/myrpms/google/
This page hosts some of the recent versions of stable Chrome builds.
4. http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable
This site provides a portable version of Chrome where you can find a couple of older versions.
5. http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/pm/google-chrome-stable
You can find previous versions of Chrome, back to version 18, for Ubuntu systems.
6. http://google-chrome.en.uptodown.com/windows/all
This site offers previous versions of Chrome for Mac and Ubuntu operating systems.
Remember that when you install an older version of Chrome, its auto update system will come into play and try to update the browser to the latest version. Obviously, this is not what you want considering you need to use the old version. To prevent the auto updates, you can check this post.
I should say that I am a bit disappointed that Google doesn't make older versions of their browser easily available, hence users are having to find them on third party sites but I also respect their decision to focus on one version, which is the latest, to keep it as secure and user-friendly as possible.