Those pesky, annoying notifications from low quality websites the moment we open our browser. Google announced that Chrome will automatically revoke notification permissions from websites you haven’t interacted with recently, addressing years of user complaints about notification overload.
The feature launches on Chrome for Android and desktop as an expansion of the browser’s Safety Check tool, which already removes camera and location permissions from dormant sites.
The move represents a low-key admission from Google: browser notifications, as currently implemented, were a mistake. Google’s own data reveals that less than 1% of all notifications receive any user interaction, meaning 99% of push notifications are either ignored or actively annoying users.
How the Auto-Revocation Works
Chrome will automatically disable notifications for sites that meet two criteria: very low user engagement and high notification volume. The feature specifically targets spammy sites that blast frequent alerts with minimal user interaction, not sites that send occasional useful updates.
What gets revoked:
- Notification permissions for websites you rarely visit or interact with
- Permissions from sites sending high volumes of notifications with low engagement
What stays enabled:
- Installed web apps (Progressive Web Apps) retain notification permissions
- Sites you actively visit and engage with
- Notifications from services you interact with regularly
Chrome will inform users when it removes notification permissions. Users can re-enable notifications anytime through Safety Check or by visiting the site directly and granting permission again. The auto-revocation feature can also be disabled entirely if users prefer manual control.
Why This Matters: The Notification Spam Problem
Browser notifications became a problem because the original permission model was too permissive. Websites could request notification access with minimal friction, and once granted, there was no automatic mechanism to revoke that access when the user stopped visiting the site.
The result: notification permission accumulation. Over months or years, users grant notification access to dozens of sites. Some continue sending alerts long after the user loses interest. Others abuse the permission by sending far more notifications than users expected when they clicked “Allow.”
Google’s testing revealed the scope of the problem. The company found that removing low-engagement notification permissions had “only a minimal change in total notification clicks” meaning users weren’t clicking those notifications anyway. More tellingly, sites that send fewer, more targeted notifications actually saw an increase in clicks, suggesting that reducing spam improves engagement for legitimate use cases.
The feature expands on existing functionality already available in Chrome’s Safety Check feature, which revokes camera and location permissions from websites you don’t visit anymore.
The Broader Context: Platform Control Over Notifications
Chrome’s move follows similar interventions by other platforms. Apple added notification management controls to iOS after years of user complaints, allowing users to send notifications to a daily summary, mute them, or disable them directly from the notification itself without opening Settings.
The technical angle that matters: notification fatigue besides being annoying also degrades the utility of all notifications. When users receive 50+ notifications daily with minimal relevance, they stop paying attention to notifications entirely, including the ones that actually matter. By automatically pruning low-value notification sources, Google aims to make the notifications that remain more valuable.
This also shifts responsibility. Instead of requiring users to manually audit notification permissions (which almost nobody does), Chrome takes proactive action. Users who want specific notifications can easily re-enable them, but the default behavior favors a cleaner experience.
What This Means for Websites
For sites that rely on notifications for legitimate engagement (news updates, messaging services, delivery tracking), this change is unlikely to cause issues. They typically generate high user interaction relative to notification volume, so Chrome won’t revoke their permissions.
For sites that spam notifications, especially those using notifications primarily for re-engagement or ad delivery, this represents a significant constraint. If a site sends many notifications, but users rarely interact with them, Chrome will automatically revoke access. To maintain notification permissions, these sites will need to either reduce notification volume or improve relevance to increase engagement.
This creates an interesting incentive structure: sites that respect users’ attention keep their notification access, while those that abuse it lose it automatically. It’s similar to email spam filtering, where sender reputation determines deliverability.
Privacy and Control Implications
Chrome’s Safety Check already revokes unused permissions for camera and location access sensitive permissions where automatic revocation makes sense from a privacy perspective. Enhanced Safe Browsing in Chrome provides additional protections against malicious sites and downloads.
Extending auto-revocation to notifications is less about privacy (sites can’t do much harm with notification permissions) and more about user experience. But it represents a shift in how browsers handle permission models: from “grant once, stays forever” to “grant once, but we’ll revoke it if you stop using it.”
This approach could extend to other permissions in the future. If Chrome can automatically revoke notifications based on engagement patterns, similar logic could apply to other permissions like geolocation, clipboard access, or storage quotas.
User Control: Opting Out or Re-Enabling
Google emphasizes that users retain control. When Chrome revokes notification permissions, it informs the user. If you want notifications from a specific site:
- Visit the site and re-enable notifications when prompted
- Use Safety Check to review and restore specific permissions
- Disable auto-revocation entirely if you prefer manual management
The opt-out option is important. Some users may prefer receiving notifications from rarely-visited sites (tracking packages from an online retailer, updates from a forum they check occasionally). For those users, disabling auto-revocation maintains the current behavior.
Chrome will automatically revoke notification permissions from sites you don’t interact with, targeting spammy notifications while preserving access for legitimate use cases. Google’s data shows 99% of notifications go unclicked, indicating widespread notification fatigue.
By pruning low-engagement notification sources, Chrome aims to reduce overload and make remaining notifications more valuable.
It’s a recognition that the original “ask once” notification model failed not because users made bad choices, but because there was no mechanism to undo those choices as circumstances changed.
For users, it means fewer irrelevant notifications without manual permission management. For websites, it means notification access is now conditional on maintaining user engagement.
The feature is rolling out now on Chrome for Android and desktop.
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