A look at Microsoft Edge's new Quiet Notifications system

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All modern web browsers support notification APIs that allow sites to push short messages to user devices once the request to accept notifications from that particular site has been accepted by the user.

What has been designed as a way for sites to keep users informed, e.g. of new events, auctions that are running out, new articles or tips, has turned into an Internet-wide overload of notification prompts and notifications; many serve no other purpose than to push advertisement to user systems.

Browser makers started to address issues associated with browser notifications recently. Google introduced quieter notifications in Chrome 80, and Mozilla toned down web notification requests in Firefox 72 as well. The systems have in common that they hide the big request prompts in the browser's user interface when enabled and move it to the browser's address bar instead.

Microsoft added quiet notifications support to its new Microsoft Edge 84 web browser recently as well. The company revealed that it talked to users of its browser to find out more about the real-world use of notifications. It found out that users disliked notification requests, especially when it was not cleared what the site intended to do with the permission and when they did not know anything about the site, but that there were cases in which notifications were used.

Microsoft enabled Quiet notification requests for all users in Microsoft Edge 84, and added an option to the settings to disable the feature. Most users probably want to keep it turned on though as it hides notification prompts on all visited sites in Edge and moves indicators to the Edge toolbar instead.
 

With quiet requests enabled, site notification requests made via the Notifications or Push APIs will appear as a bell labeled “Notifications blocked” in the address bar, as opposed to the typical full flyout prompt.

Edge displays a bell icon in the address bar when a site tries to get permission for sending notifications to the user device; this is the case even when the request was initiated by the user, e.g. by clicking on a bell icon on the site.
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