Websites can send notifications using Chrome browser even when you’re not actively using a site. Although notifications are meant to be informative, browser notifications from websites can be irrelevant. To avoid such interruptions, let’s see how to disable notifications in browsers like Chrome on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
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What Happens When You Block or Disable Website Notifications
Not all website notifications are intrusive; some also provide valuable updates and information. However, if you have already made up your mind to disable or block website notifications, here’s a list of things you should consider before doing so:
- The most obvious outcome will be that you won’t receive notifications from websites on your phone and PC. While this will help you reduce distractions, you may miss out on some important notifications.
- Disabling notifications can enhance your online privacy because websites won’t be able to track your behavior as closely through notifications.
- You will reduce data usage, as these notifications require a small amount of data to be sent and received. This will also help save battery life on Android and iPhone.
- Your personal data will be more secure since these notifications can potentially be used for phishing attacks or to trick users into clicking on malicious links.
- Your browsing experience will improve, as Chrome won’t need to process incoming notifications to display them.
Disable Chrome Notifications on Desktop
It gets annoying when a site notification pops up while working on the desktop. Note, that a site will only send notifications when it has the necessary permissions to do so. Let’s check how to stop sites from asking for permissions and disable notifications for sites that are already enabled on Chrome. The process will work on both Windows and macOS.
Disable Notifications for All Sites
1. Open Chrome on your desktop and click on the kebab menu at the top right.
2. From the list of options, click on Settings.
3. In the settings menu, click on Privacy and security on the left pane.
4. Click on Site settings.
5. In the sub-settings, click on Notifications.
6. Click on Don’t allow sites to send notifications. Now, no site on the browser will send a notification requesting permissions. Also, none of the sites will be able to send a notification to you.
Manage Individual Site Notifications
If you disable notifications for all sites, you may not receive important notifications from useful ones like Gmail. Here’s how you can enable or disable notifications from individual sites too.
1. Again, go back to the same screen as in the above method via Settings > Privacy and security > Sites settings > Notifications.
2. Now under the Allowed to send notifications, click on the kebab menu next to the site whose notifications need to be disabled.
3. Click on Block. The selected site will not send notifications anymore.
4. On the other hand, if you want to enable notifications for certain sites after blocking notifications from all sites, under Not allowed to send notifications, click on the kebab menu next to the site and select Allow.
Pro Tip: Like Chrome, Windows may also send notifications that you may want to disable. Here’s how you can enable and customize startup app notifications on Windows.
Disable Chrome Notifications on Android
Chrome for Android offers a lot of options to manage notifications. From disabling app notifications to individual site notifications, all can be managed in the native settings app of Android.
Disable Notifications for All Sites
You can completely disable all the notifications from Chrome if you think they are of no use to you. Here’s how to do it.
1. In the Settings of your Android mobile, tap on Notifcations.
2. Tap on App notifications.
3. Scroll to Chrome from the list of apps and tap on the toggle next to it. All notifications from Chrome are now disabled.
Manage Individual Site Notifications
If you want to receive notifications from specific sites like Gmail instead of all sites, here’s how you can do it.
1. Go back to Settings> Notifications>App notifications. Tap on Chrome.
2. Tap on Notification Categories.
3. Under the Sites section, tap on the toggle next to the site to enable or disable notifications from that site.
4. To disable notifications from all sites, disable Allow notifications under the same section
This will disable notifications from all sites. However, you will still receive general notifications from Chrome like active downloads, playing media, etc.
Revoke Permissions
Even after disabling individual site notifications, websites will still ask for permission to send the notification. These pop-ups can be irritating. You can easily revoke permissions disallowing apps from asking for notification permissions in the future.
1. Go to Settings > Notifications > App notifications > Chrome same as the previous method and tap on In-app notification settings Chrome.
2. Tap on the toggle next to Notifications to disallow sites from asking to send notifications.
General Notifications
General notifications include pop-ups for active downloads, browser notifications, and notifications of playing media. Here is how to manage them.
1. Go to Settings > Notifications > App notifications > Chrome > Notification categories as mentioned in the previous methods.
2. Under the General section, you can either allow/disallow permissions for all or manage them individually.
Pro tip: Did you know you can view Android notification history and logs to check notifications that you might have missed or swiped without seeing?
Disable Chrome Notifications on iOS
Chrome cannot send notifications on iPhones. Websites can send a notification if pop-ups are enabled. Here is how to disable pop-ups on Chrome for iOS.
1. Open Chrome and tap on the meatball menu.
2. Tap on Settings.
3. From the Settings menu, tap on Content Settings.
4. In the Content Settings, tap on Block Pop–ups.
5. Disable Block Pop-ups option.
Notifications Out of Site
Site notifications can be annoying when they provide updates or content that lacks relevance. Interruptions while browsing, difficulty in disabling or managing notifications, and aggressive permission requests can also lead to annoyance. However, now you know how to revoke existing permissions and manage notification pop-ups selectively.
It is recommended to disable all notifications in one go and then enable notifications for sites that you use. If you are a Samsung Galaxy mobile user, there are a few notification settings that you must know.
