With the release of Edge (v84) update last year, Microsoft launched a new feature called ‘quiet notifications’ that would turn website notifications appearing as a small window into a tiny bell icon inside the address bar. This was a less intrusive way of managing website notifications, one that was enabled by default for all uses and ensured a distraction-free web browsing experience. Now, Microsoft is building upon that feature by taking a crowdsourcing approach to decide which websites can show full-fledged notifications and whose notifications are given the ‘quiet’ treatment.
This feature is rolling out for all Edge (v88) users via stable channel
The company is calling it adaptive notification requests, and here’s the gist of it. Edge browser will analyze user preference for notifications sent by a particular website. For example, if more users choose to click on the ‘Allow’ button for seeing notifications, those websites are given a positive score. Those which get a ‘Block’ response are ranked negatively, while Dismissal (via the X button) or choosing to ignore it yields a weak negative score.
Microsoft will analyze this mass user preference behavior for each website, and on the basis of this crowdsourced data, Edge browser will decide which websites can show a full-fledged notification prompt in the form of a window, and which websites get their notification prompts silenced and relegated to the address bar. The company is relying on a scoring system to bring the Adaptive notification requests to life.
| We suggest site owners provide permission requests with consideration to the user’s context and timing, after users have engaged with sites. Sites that follow good practices and earn a high user acceptance rate will begin to show the full prompt without being “quieted.” |
Public behavior decides which websites can show full-fledged windows notifications
However, Microsoft will give a second chance to websites with bad user responses to their notification prompts by allowing them to mend their ways. In order to take advantage of Edge browser’s crowdsourced notification tool, you must first enable the Quiet Notification Requests feature by following this path: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Notifications.
Microsoft adds that if users consecutively block three notifications across different websites, the quiet request feature will be enabled on its own. And in case users block the notification request of a website 3 or 4 times in a row, Edge will automatically block further notifications from it. The new crowdsourced notification feature in Edge is rolling out publicly for all users with v88 of Edge browser.
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