How to block notifications for good in popular web browsers

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All modern web browsers support notifications, also known as push notifications. These allow websites to send, mostly text, messages using the device's notifications system. The main idea behind notifications is to allow websites to send users information, even if the user is not on the website.

However, for any website that uses notifications ethically, there are dozens that abuse the system to send advertisement or other unwanted content to users.
Tip: you can also block notifications on the operating system level. I have published a guide on disabling all or specific notifications in Windows 11.

Browser makers like Google or Mozilla have launched several attempts in the past to address abuse. These focus on two different key aspects:

• Reduce the number of notification requests by websites.
  
• Limit the ability of sites that abuse the feature to have their notifications shown to users who accepted to receive them.
  

Soon, AI will also be used to sort and organize notifications, at least on Android.

 While those have helped, some Internet users may want to block notifications once and for all to avoid any notification prompts in the future.

The following section walks you through the process of limiting or disabling notifications in popular browsers. As a rule of thumb, most web browsers are based on Chromium. If a browser is not listed below, the method used for Google Chrome might work for that browser as well.

Note: You can add exceptions for specific sites. Say, you have one or two sites that you want to receive notifications from. Add them to the allow list of the browser while blocking notifications globally for all other sites.

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