How to get packaged chrome apps show up in settings > extensions

Question

I've made a few chrome apps and published them to the chrome store and when I install them then appear in my chrome://chrome/extensions/ page. When I package an app into a crx file and install in manually, my app works fine and shows up on the new tab page but not the chrome://chrome/extensions/ page. Am I missing something in my manifest file or will only store apps show up on the extensions page?

Answer 1

The correct way to have apps which are under development show up in the extensions page is to load them as an "load uppacked extension" from the extensions page. You just point it to the parent directory of your app, then as you make changes, you just save and refresh your app. When you are ready to publish, just zip it up and upload it to the store.

There's no need to manual package your app unless you are distributing the app outside the chrome web store.