Webapps have come a long way. Thanks to features like notifications, they can even replace traditional desktop apps for many people. But if you’d rather not be bombarded by notifications, though, here’s how to manage Chrome’s notifications (and block them from certain apps).
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Before we jump in, all of these settings should be identical in Chrome on PCs, as well as on Chromebooks. I’m using a Chromebook Flip C302 for this tutorial, but you shouldn’t have any issues following along. The only time things will look different is if you’ve enabled Chrome’s Material Design Settings page, though most options should still be found in the same place.
You have two options: you can take a blanket approach and control notifications for all websites, or manage them site-by-site.
How to Control Notifications for All Websites
If you’re looking silence all of Chrome’s notifications, this is where you’ll do it. You can easily block all notifications, allow all notifications, or ask for each one with this setting.
First, click the three-button overflow menu in the top right corner of the Chrome window.
From there, scroll down to “Settings” and click on it.
At the very bottom of this page, there’s a link that reads “Show Advanced Settings.” Click this to, um, show advanced settings.
One of the first sections in the Advanced Settings menu is “Privacy.” Under this subhead there are several options, but you’ll want to click the “Content Settings” box.
Scroll down in this section until you see the “Notifications” subhead. There are three options here:
All all sites to show notifications Ask when a site wants to show notifications Do not allow any site to show notifications
Pick your poison. Your browser will need to restart for the changes to take affect, but after that you should experience notifications bliss.
How to Manage Notifications for Specific Websites
If you’ve accidentally granted notification access to a website that you don’t want notifications from (or the opposite), you can also manage each site individually.
With the website in question open, click on the little “i” circle on the far left side of the address bar. On secure websites, this will actually read “Secure” instead of showing the “i”—it works the same though.
Scroll down to the “Notifications” section and click the dropdown box. Three options will again be present:
Use global default Always allow on this site Always block on this site
Bam—pick your preferred action and call it a day.
You’ll need to refresh the page for the effect to take place, but that’s the extent of it. Your work here is done.
Web notifications are both a blessing and a curse. For example, when I’m on my Chromebook, I want the Slack web app to send notifications so I don’t miss any important work-related info. But I never, under any circumstances, want Facebook to push notifications on me. Thanks to these simple settings, I can easily tweak these things to my liking.
