Master web notifications in Safari and Chrome

By

MacBook Air
The World Wide Web would like you to pay attention.
Photo: Apple

Websites these days have another tool to engage you: the desktop notification. Many sites, this one included, allow you to opt in to a system of popup notices that encourage you to click through and see new content.

Of course, not all content is created equal, and you might someday wish to stop being notified of new cat photos from that feline-friendly website.

Here’s how to manage web notifications using two of the Mac’s most popular web browsers, Safari and Chrome.

Manage web notifications in Safari

Safari makes it pretty easy to disable and even remove web notifications.
Safari makes it pretty easy to disable and even remove web notifications.
Screen: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Launch Safari and then head into its preferences, either with a Command-Comma or the Safari menu. Once there, click on the Notifications icon in the upper right section at the top of the window.

You’ll see a list of all the websites you’ve allowed to send you web notifications. You can click the Deny radio button next to any site you want to stop from sending you desktop notifications.

You can also click on the site name, then the Remove button at the bottom to take any site (or all of them) off your radar. These sites will then revert back to seeing you as a new notifications customer, and ask you to sign up again when you visit them. Personally? I prefer to just click the Deny button — that way I won’t see any requests to enable web notifications again in the future.

Manage web notifications in Chrome

The Chrome system isn't as pretty, but it gets the job done.
The Chrome system isn’t as pretty, but it gets the job done.
Screen: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

When you run Chrome on your Mac, the notifications reside in a menu bar icon in the top right of your Mac’s monitor.

Click on the little bell in the menu bar and you’ll see all your web notifications waiting for you. Click on the little gear icon in the upper right of that dropdown menu and you’ll see all the sites you’ve allowed to send you web notifications.

Simply click on the checkbox to the left of any site name you’d like to remove from your notifications, and you’ll no longer see any from that site. Simple, easy, fun.

Now that you’ve taken control of your web notifications, you can decide what sites get your attention. Of course you’ll keep Cult of Mac front and center, right?

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