Should You Target Electron 35 Now That It Is Out of Support? — when and how should I migrate?

Desktop app teams need to decide whether Electron 35 is still a sensible target, or whether they should skip it and avoid older unsupported lines given Electron 35's breaking changes and expired support window.

Skip Electron 35 and move to a supported major if you're planning an upgrade now; keep 35 only on a frozen legacy branch when a brief, bounded stopover is the least risky path.

Blockers

Who this is for

Candidates

Skip Electron 35 and move directly to a currently supported Electron major

As of 2026-03-26, Electron supports only the latest three stable major releases. Electron 35.0.0 shipped on 2025-03-04 with Chromium 134 and Node.js 22.14.0, then reached end of life on 2025-09-02. By 2026-03-26, the supported stable lines are 39.0.0, 40.0.0, and 41.0.0, so targeting 35 now means starting on an unsupported branch.

When to choose

Use this when you are planning a new upgrade path in late March 2026 or later, your compliance or security posture expects vendor-supported runtimes, and you do not have a narrow migration window that requires landing briefly on 35 first.

Tradeoffs

You avoid landing on an already-expired line, but you may need to absorb more upgrade work in one step and validate newer Chromium and Node.js changes at the same time.

Cautions

Do not treat Electron 35 as a safe intermediate landing zone for a product that still needs normal security maintenance. As of 2026-03-26, its support window is already closed.

Sources

Keep Electron 35 only on a frozen legacy branch

Electron 35.0.0 introduced concrete migration work: `PrinterInfo.isDefault` and `PrinterInfo.status` were removed, `session.serviceWorkers.fromVersionID(versionId)` was deprecated in favor of `getInfoFromVersionID(versionId)`, and `Session.setPreloads` and `Session.getPreloads` were deprecated in favor of the preload registration APIs. It also changed `WebRequestFilter.urls`, where an empty array no longer means all URLs and developers must use `"<all_urls>"` explicitly. On Linux, Dialog API `defaultPath` is not supported through portal file chooser dialogs unless the portal backend is version 4 or higher. As of 2026-03-26, this line has been end-of-life since 2025-09-02.

When to choose

Use this only for short-lived emergency maintenance on an already-shipping Electron 35 app where the alternative is a risky immediate major jump. The decisive factor is that you are accepting unsupported status deliberately to buy time for a bounded migration.

Tradeoffs

This minimizes near-term code churn if you are already on 35, but you stay outside the supported release set and keep carrying deprecated APIs and platform caveats.

Cautions

Replace deprecated preload and service-worker APIs immediately, and audit any code that relied on `urls: []` in `WebRequestFilter`. Linux file dialog behavior can regress if your environment does not provide portal backend version 4 or higher.

Sources

Pin to Electron 34 or older only if the app is effectively maintenance-only

Electron 34.0.0 was released on 2025-01-14 with Chromium 132 and Node.js 20.18.1, and reached end of life on 2025-06-24. Pinning below 35 therefore does not avoid unsupported status; it chooses an even older unsupported branch. Electron's breaking-changes documentation also shows nearby majors already removed older behaviors such as `File.path` in Electron 32 and deprecated `BrowserView` in Electron 30, so staying back does not avoid the medium-term migration backlog.

When to choose

Use this only for products that are near retirement, contract-bound, or otherwise frozen enough that unsupported runtime risk is accepted. The decisive factor is organizational willingness to stop chasing Electron support rather than any technical advantage in 34 itself.

Tradeoffs

This fits a retirement or sustain-only plan, but it hardens the app around an older unsupported stack, reduces incentive to pay down the eventual migration backlog, and can leave the final decommissioning period dependent on internal compensating controls rather than upstream fixes.

Cautions

Do not present this as a security-preserving choice. Electron 34's end of life passed on 2025-06-24, earlier than Electron 35.

Sources

Facts updated: 2026-03-26
Published: 2026-04-03

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