Chrome finally tackles notification hell. It automatically disables spam from websites you don't visit

Chrome on both Android and desktop is getting a new feature that automatically disables notifications from websites you rarely visit but that send you a large number of alerts. Google aims to reduce notification spam, which primarily arises when you click “Allow” on a site once and then it bombards you with notifications, even if you haven’t visited it for half a year.

Specifically, Chrome will revoke notification permissions for sites with “very low user engagement” but simultaneously a “high volume” of sent alerts. In practice, this means that if a website sends dozens of notifications a week, but you haven’t visited it for months and don’t react to the notifications, Chrome will revoke that permission itself.

Part of the Safety Check feature

Automatic notification disabling is part of the existing Safety Check feature, which already revokes camera and location access permissions from sites you haven’t visited in a long time. This is a logical extension – if you don’t use a site, there’s no reason for it to have access to sensitive data or bombard you with alerts.

When Chrome disables notifications, you’ll receive an alert “Chrome unsubscribed you from notifications”. If you want to re-enable notifications, you can do so in three ways:

• Go to Settings → Safety Check → View sites and manually re-enable them there
• Visit the site again and confirm that you want notifications
• Disable the entire automatic permission revocation feature

It’s important to note that the feature does not apply to PWAs (Progressive Web Apps) that you have installed on your phone’s home screen or in your launcher. For example, if you add Twitter or Spotify as a PWA, notifications from them will remain active because Google assumes you are actively using these applications.

Less than 1% of notifications are meaningful

During feature testing, Google discovered interesting statistics. Less than 1% of all web notifications receive any user interaction at all – meaning a click, open, or any reaction. This means the vast majority of spam goes straight into the void.

Even more interesting is that websites sending a smaller volume of alerts paradoxically have higher engagement. Conversely, websites that send notifications every hour achieve only a fraction of the reaction.

How this will affect everyday use

For most users, this change will be positive. You will no longer receive notifications from random news websites you once clicked “Allow” on, nor from e-shops where you made a purchase a year ago. Chrome will automatically clear permissions, and you will only receive alerts from websites you actually use.

However, if you miss a notification, it’s easy to restore it – either by visiting the site or through Safety Check in the settings. And if the entire automation bothers you, you can disable it and manage permissions manually, as before.

The feature is gradually rolling out on both Android and desktop, so if you don’t see it yet, it should arrive in the coming weeks with a Chrome update.

Will you appreciate this feature in Google Chrome?

Source: 9to5Google