It seems Google heard our collective sigh. For anyone tired of constant pings from websites you barely remember visiting, good news is on the horizon. Chrome is getting a smart new feature for both Android and desktop that automatically silences those annoying website notifications.
This new tool builds on what Chrome already does for camera and location permissions. If you rarely interact with a site, but it keeps trying to send you alerts, Chrome will simply turn off its ability to bother you. It’s designed to cut down on digital clutter from websites you don’t frequently check.
Google shared some interesting numbers on this. They found that less than one percent of all website notifications actually get a response from users. That tells you a lot about how many alerts are just noise. The company realized that many of these notifications are simply ignored, adding little value to the browsing experience.
When Google tested this new feature, they saw positive results. It greatly reduced the number of unhelpful notifications users received. Interestingly, the change had only a small effect on how often people clicked on important alerts. In fact, websites that sent fewer notifications sometimes saw more clicks. Chrome will also pop up a message to let you know when it has quietly disabled notifications from a particular site.
Users will have full control over this handy function. You can switch the auto-disable feature on or off directly within the Chrome app. If there’s a specific website you always want to hear from, you can set it as an exception. While this sounds like a welcome relief, Google hasn’t yet announced when we can expect to see this feature roll out.