The upcoming new version of Google Chrome is aiming to kill off annoying notification alerts for good.
Google has revealed that Chrome 80 will block such popups by default, meaning you can continue in peace without annoying alerts whenever you visit a new site.
Chrome 80 is scheduled for release on February 4.
- What to expect from Google Chrome in 2020
- How to enable dark mode on Google Chrome
- Chrome will start showing error codes to help with debugging
Blocked
Google's blog post announcing the release of Chrome 80 notes that the update includes a "quieter notification permission UI that reduces the interruptiveness of notification permission requests."
The post adds that notifications are "a common complaint" for many users, as many websites display notification permissions on a user's first visit rather than at contextually relevant moments, making the browsing experience disjointed.
The new feature will hide notification requests for Chrome users who typically dismiss such prompts, but also automatically blocking prompts on sites with very low opt-in rates.
The news will not be a surprise to users of Mozilla Firefox, which muted popups in Firefox 72, released earlier this week.
Although popups don't appear on newer versions of Firefox, notificiations do still work - instead they are hidden under an icon in the URL bar, rather than being shown on whatever page the user is visiting.
Chrome 80 will take a similar approach, hiding notification alerts in the URL bar. A new option will be added in the Chrome settings menu that allows users to enable what Google calls the new "quieter notification UI."
This setting can be enabled by users as soon as they download Chrome 80, or Google will enable it by default over the coming weeks as the new update rolls out worldwide.
