Ask HN: Does anybody allow websites to “Send Notifications”?
43 comments
All Chromium-based browsers (at least Chrome, Opera, Edge), Firefox, and their Android variants, can be configured from their default setting "Ask" to "Deny all" for notifications.
This is usually under Settings, "Site Settings", "Site Permissions", or similar names.
One of the first things I always do when setting up a web browser from scratch, is to disable notifications. It is muscle memory, at this point. Otherwise, lots of websites will bother me trying to get permission to show me useless notifications.
This is usually under Settings, "Site Settings", "Site Permissions", or similar names.
One of the first things I always do when setting up a web browser from scratch, is to disable notifications. It is muscle memory, at this point. Otherwise, lots of websites will bother me trying to get permission to show me useless notifications.
I always say "no" but we've all watched older and/or less-technically-inclined people use computers and mindlessly click "OK" or "Accept" on dialogs without reading what they say.
a few months ago I was helping an older family friend with a computer issue. she said she had a virus on her Windows laptop, she couldn't find her Norton account credentials, panicked and bought a Kaspersky anti-virus product, and needed help installing it. I was surprised, because I thought normal, non-content-pirating computer users getting viruses was mostly a thing of the past, and I certainly don't miss the days of having different antivirus, antimalware, antispyware, etc. etc. programs just to "catch everything."
well, it turned out there was no virus, it was just Chrome notifications from some URLs she had inadvertently allowed push notifications from, and these push notifications were doing the old classic popup thing of mimicking system UI dialogs informing you that a virus scan has found 173 viruses, click here to download the thing that will fix it that totally isn't malware itself. Windows 10 makes this attack vector very convincing for the average person because the notifications show up in the system notifications tray, so if you don't know what to look for, it can seem like a legitimate system alert popping up while you're doing something else.
a few months ago I was helping an older family friend with a computer issue. she said she had a virus on her Windows laptop, she couldn't find her Norton account credentials, panicked and bought a Kaspersky anti-virus product, and needed help installing it. I was surprised, because I thought normal, non-content-pirating computer users getting viruses was mostly a thing of the past, and I certainly don't miss the days of having different antivirus, antimalware, antispyware, etc. etc. programs just to "catch everything."
well, it turned out there was no virus, it was just Chrome notifications from some URLs she had inadvertently allowed push notifications from, and these push notifications were doing the old classic popup thing of mimicking system UI dialogs informing you that a virus scan has found 173 viruses, click here to download the thing that will fix it that totally isn't malware itself. Windows 10 makes this attack vector very convincing for the average person because the notifications show up in the system notifications tray, so if you don't know what to look for, it can seem like a legitimate system alert popping up while you're doing something else.
I have them enabled for Slack and email (Fastmail). Already got my browser open so figured they might as well use that
I’ve never accepted a random drive by request though
I’ve never accepted a random drive by request though
I wish there was a default "no" and a locally maintained in browser page to go see cached request and say "yes" one by one.
The popup sucks. Since its in browser, it's capable of being improved. As in: blocked.
[Edit: there is. Settings->Advanced->Site Settings->Notifications and set the toggle to deny. ]
The popup sucks. Since its in browser, it's capable of being improved. As in: blocked.
[Edit: there is. Settings->Advanced->Site Settings->Notifications and set the toggle to deny. ]
In Firefox at least you can set default permissions settings. On a fresh install the default is "Always Ask" but you can change it to "Deny". You can then grant per-page at your leisure.
I assume chromium is the same.
I assume chromium is the same.
Rather than handling these one a time, try https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/18/18716041/website-notifica...
This should handle all future requests.
To answer your question, "Notifications" are a dirty word to me, and this behavior is not allowed on my machines.
This should handle all future requests.
To answer your question, "Notifications" are a dirty word to me, and this behavior is not allowed on my machines.
You can shut this off in any browser. Since somebody else pasted the link for Chromium browsers, here's the setting for Firefox:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/push-notifications-fire...
And Safari:
https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/customize-website-not...
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/push-notifications-fire...
And Safari:
https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/customize-website-not...
There is an entire sector of malware and spam distribution that makes use of this feature.
I allow sites like webmail services and web based chat apps to send notifications.
I allow sites like webmail services and web based chat apps to send notifications.
When I was using Google Calendar for work, I'd let that do desktop notification because it helped keep me from missing meetings. Other than that, no chance. Turned it to default-deny instead of default-ask so I don't have to deal with a dozen lame news pages I check one story on trying to send me a notification about their breaking news every 10 minutes.
Never. I've already enough notification on my phone.
Deny all.
In Safari I've unchecked "allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications" but it doesn't work - I still get banner ads in the page asking me for @#$@#$ notifications. No, just no. And don't try to evade the browser preference.
Law of "Not our popups": For every browser feature designed to improve the user experience, web designers will think that users could never (ever!) want it to apply to their site so they will do their best to break the feature and deliver the unwanted content or feature (pop-up windows, tracking/unblockable cookies, auto-playing video, etc..) in direct contravention of user preference settings.
In Safari I've unchecked "allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications" but it doesn't work - I still get banner ads in the page asking me for @#$@#$ notifications. No, just no. And don't try to evade the browser preference.
Law of "Not our popups": For every browser feature designed to improve the user experience, web designers will think that users could never (ever!) want it to apply to their site so they will do their best to break the feature and deliver the unwanted content or feature (pop-up windows, tracking/unblockable cookies, auto-playing video, etc..) in direct contravention of user preference settings.
I never test for safari. The people who complain about safari compatibility are the boomers of the modern web. Just use chrome like everybody else, you hipster.
I assume people always say no, that's why i implement my own "notification" system in the webpage. If the user wants to hear the audible beeps, they just leave the tab open. if not it's fine with me
There are so many dodgy sites with notification popup tricks (and that company that makes that fake dialog that asks you if you want notifications every time, so that they can keep bugging you unlike the real notification dialog which bugs you only once). At this point i think people associate notification prompts with malware sites so it s not a good look
There are so many dodgy sites with notification popup tricks (and that company that makes that fake dialog that asks you if you want notifications every time, so that they can keep bugging you unlike the real notification dialog which bugs you only once). At this point i think people associate notification prompts with malware sites so it s not a good look
I say yes for ReviewBoard because it means I can keep a review open in a random tab somewhere and get notifications for that review.
Plenty of people enable it for the web interface for whichever email service they use.
Plenty of people enable it for the web interface for whichever email service they use.
I never did. Even for full-fledged web apps that may have legitimate use of notifications such as Discord or emails, I never accepted.
Just don't think you are getting a universally-relevant "survey" of any sort from techies caring about privacy.
Not sure this is about privacy as much as just not being bothered. Anecdotally, people I know who are not tech-oriented at all tweak their notification settings pretty regularly. It's nearly a necessity these days to avoid being overwhelmed. As OP said, they want to notify you much more than you want to be notified.
I set the browser to block all notification requests by default and if there is a site that I really need notification to be turned on (e. g. Facebook Messenger) I would turn it on manually in the browser setting. In Chromium-based browsers you can change these settings using the padlock icon near the website address.
My mother once did it by accident on a site and thought she had adware installed. Not sure that really counts though.
I set all notifications to off by default, so that sites do not bother me with it. However, for work, I have to keep it enabled. Because we use google's apps for everything and all of them are in the browser, and so all of them need notifications support.
[deleted]
A couple. Calendar. DeployHQ. Maybe one or two more. But not much.
I always refuse, but do ponder the question sometimes.
Thsi question has made me think about whether my service, purpleport.com, should ask to send notifications or not :-p
Thsi question has made me think about whether my service, purpleport.com, should ask to send notifications or not :-p
The only one I allow to distract me is Google Calendar, and I aggressively remove any event that I don't want to be notified about.
Since I refuse to use anything but the browser-based versions of any office365 products... I enable it for Teams and Outlook.
Rarely/never
They're designed to trick most people into getting spam indefinitely and never being able to turn it off
They're designed to trick most people into getting spam indefinitely and never being able to turn it off
I do, for one website - Basecamp. I've disabled email notifications and get my alerts via the browser.
No, I don't remeber a single request coming from a website I would like to be in synch with.
Once! For the Lichess website so I'd be notified when it was my move in correspondence games.
Repent!
Only for chat sites, nothing else really deserves my attention to send desktop notifications
Only Gmail/similarly important websites.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Push_API
I always say "No" because, in every other sphere, the brands I interact with want to communicate with me much more than I want to be communicated with. Does anyone else do differently?