One of the most irritating modern web trends is the proliferation of notification requests. You visit a news website or a recipe blog for the very first time, and before you can even read the headline, a little bell icon pops out of the address bar demanding: “www.example.com wants to Show notifications.” If you accidentally click “Allow,” that website gains the ability to push breaking news alerts or advertisements directly to your computer screen, even when you aren’t looking at the site. If your screen is constantly pinging with unwanted pop-ups, you need to stop notifications in Google Chrome. You can silence a specific offending website, or you can invoke the nuclear option and permanently stop all websites from ever asking you again.
Silencing a Specific Offending Website
If you generally like notifications but accidentally allowed a spammy website to send them, you can surgically revoke its privileges.
- Open Google Chrome.
- Click the three vertical dots in the extreme top-right corner to open the More menu.
- Select Settings.
- In the left-hand sidebar, click on Privacy and security.
- In the main window, click on Site settings.
- Scroll down to the ‘Permissions’ section and click on Notifications.
- Scroll down to the section labeled Allowed to send notifications. This is your whitelist.
- Locate the URL of the annoying website in the list.
- Click the three vertical dots to the right of that specific URL.
- Select Remove (or ‘Block’). The site instantly loses its ability to ping your screen.
The Nuclear Option: Stopping the Prompts Entirely
If you never want any website to send you a notification, and you are tired of clicking “Block” on every new page you visit, you can disable the feature entirely.
- Navigate back to the Notifications settings page (Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications).
- Look at the very top of the page under the ‘Default behavior’ section. You will see three radio buttons.
- Select the third option: Don’t allow sites to send notifications.
This action is absolute. Websites will no longer be allowed to ping your screen, and more importantly, they are permanently banned from even showing you the “wants to Show notifications” prompt when you visit. Your browsing experience will become significantly quieter.
The Middle Ground: Quieter Messaging
If you don’t want to completely disable the feature, but you hate the aggressive pop-ups, select the middle radio button: Use quieter messaging. Websites will still be blocked from sending notifications, but instead of a large pop-up demanding an answer, you will simply see a tiny, crossed-out bell icon silently appear in your address bar. You can click it if you change your mind.