Browser notifications can be a great way to get updates but they are get annoying after a point and at a very distracting. Microsoft has devised a fix for this on its Edge browser so that might come as a bit of relief for Windows users. Microsoft is rolling out ‘Quiet notification requests’ for the Chromium-based on the Edge browser version 84. What in this feature does that it is actually quite helpful. It does not block site notification requests that are made through Notifications or Push APIs, instead, it makes them all appear under a bell icon with the label “Notifications blocked” in the address bar.
Microsoft explained that in a blog post that this feature has been introduced to reduce the “prominence of notification requests” so as the user can focus on the task at hand instead of getting distracted by these notifications. At the same time, by clubbing all the notifications under one icon, users can check them as and when they can and not miss an important notification. This is pretty much Microsoft’s version of the pop-up blocker you have seen Chrome use that blocks out the pop-up window while notifying the user discreetly. For Chrome too, if a user wants to check a notification, they can click on the bell icon. There is also an option to allow notifications from a particular site while still blocking others.
This new feature is enabled by default for all Microsoft Edge users and if you want your notifications to show up, you just need to head over to Settings and configure it. Microsoft said that they have opted to turn on this setting by default due to high volumes of user feedback about unwanted notification subscriptions. The company is also hoping that quiet notification requests will help reduce unintentional subscriptions. Microsoft also mentioned on the blog that they are working on improving notification reception and interaction experience through their future updates. The company said that many users were frustrated by the ‘high priority’ notifications that need user interaction to be dismissed and won’t go away otherwise. With Microsoft Edge 85, these notifications will auto-dismiss in Windows Action Centre after 25 seconds.
