Microsoft Edge will soon bombard you with notifications, even when it's inactive

[aum]

Edge push notifications will land on your desktop whether you like it or not.

 

An update has landed for Microsoft’s flagship web browser Edge that is likely to prove divisive among its expanding pool of users.

 

The update delivers a few nice-to-have features, including an upgraded PDF experience and superior multitasking capabilities, but also changes the way push notifications are served.

 

With the new Background Notifications feature - present in Edge build 85 and newer - notifications will land on the user’s desktop irrespective of whether the browser is open and active.

 

Given the proclivity of some websites to manipulate users into consenting to notifications and the effort required to disable them once set up, the change means some people are likely to be bombarded with a storm of alerts.

 

Microsoft Edge notifications

With the retirement of Internet Explorer and Edge Legacy, the new Chromium-based Edge has been gathering momentum in recent months - and even threatens to topple established rivals in the charts.

 

It has also received a raft of high-quality upgrades, including a secure password generator, in-built price comparison tool, screenshot capture facility and scrolling tab bar.

 

However, while the new Background Notifications feature will solve a problem for users that want to receive alerts when not actively browsing, it’s also likely to grate on a large portion of the user base.

 

Microsoft might suggest it’s up to the user to curate the list of websites given permission to serve notifications, but that’s not always as easy as it sounds - especially if the user is not particularly tech-savvy.

 

Although it’s simple enough to block notifications when you know how, the correct menu is concealed in the depths of the Edge settings panel, so finding it requires some digging.

 

Disable push notifications in Microsoft Edge

Users that would like to disable or tweak notifications in Microsoft Edge should follow these instructions:

• Select the three dots in the top right-hand corner (or press Alt + F), and select Settings from the drop-down menu
• Click Site permissions in the left hand sidebar and scroll down to Notifications, where you’ll find a list of sites that have permission to serve you push notifications
• Use the Block and Allow menus to configure which sites you would like to whitelist and which to blacklist

Source

 

[Sylence]

misleading title and article

it's exactly the opposite. Edge isn't like Chrome to show notification request spam, it quietly suppresses them and user should explicitly allow the notification for it to work. Quiet notifications are actually one of the prominent features of Edge. but of course the article mentions nothing about it.

this feature also was asked by a lot of users in Edge community forums. it also plays an important role in PWA experience.

[mp68terr]

How to explicitly allow notifications that are quietly suppressed? The browser/msoft decides what is a spam?

It is not the role of the browser to hide to the user what is received, it is not the role of the browser to replace the user for deciding if the notification is good or not. White/blacklists are here for that, according to the user choice, not according to the company delivering the browser.

[Sylence]

10 hours ago, mp68terr said:

How to explicitly allow notifications that are quietly suppressed? The browser/msoft decides what is a spam?

It is not the role of the browser to hide to the user what is received, it is not the role of the browser to replace the user for deciding if the notification is good or not. White/blacklists are here for that, according to the user choice, not according to the company delivering the browser.

 

 

It sounds like you've never used Edge then.

try it you'll see what I mean. by suppressed i didn't mean block, quietly shows a small icon in the address bar, instead of a big ass notice that would distract user and prevent from doing other things. if user wants to allow notification, clicks on the little icon.

[mp68terr]

3 hours ago, Sylence said:

It sounds like you've never used Edge then.

Vivaldi and brave are fine for me.

 

3 hours ago, Sylence said:

try it you'll see what I mean. by suppressed i didn't mean block, quietly shows a small icon in the address bar, instead of a big ass notice that would distract user and prevent from doing other things. if user wants to allow notification, clicks on the little icon.

At least the 'big ass notice' displays clearly what it is about, and the user can deal with it directly. In edge, if I understand correctly, the user has to click the icon in order to see the notification: one more step is required compare to seeing the notification directly.

[Sylence]

5 hours ago, mp68terr said:

Vivaldi and brave are fine for me.

 

At least the 'big ass notice' displays clearly what it is about, and the user can deal with it directly. In edge, if I understand correctly, the user has to click the icon in order to see the notification: one more step is required compare to seeing the notification directly.

 

That's how you deal with spamming websites, and there are a lot of them. the reason they implemented it is because of people that asked for it.

and no it's not how you understood it, more complex.

it has No negative impact. 1 more step is only 1 click that's absolutely nothing. a lot safer for less tech-savvy users and also tech-savvy users that don't want to be disturbed by stupid website developers.

Edge has security features better than Brave and other browsers. and Tor in Brave is useless. read it in Tor website that they say Tor is only safe when used in Tor bundle, their own customized Tor browser based on Firefox.

 

 

[Sylence]

@mp68terr Go to edge://settings/content/notifications 

in Edge and there is an option to turn off quiet notifications feature for whoever wants to do so. no reason to complain anymore.