How to Block Push Notifications in Edge Browser?

Push notification is a method of sending app updates to subscribed users. Website owners use this method to request readers to subscribe their feed without collecting email or name details. However, the device ID will be collected and the notifications will be sent to the device of the subscribers. Though this may be the effective method for website owners, it may be annoying to see these notification requests in Edge when you open websites. In this article, we will explore how to block push notifications in Edge browser and other details.

Edge and Push Notifications

When a website uses push notification, Edge browser will show request immediately after the website is loaded. You will see a pop-up from the padlock icon on the address bar as shown below. Though this looks like a pop-up, it is not. So, blocking pop-up in Edge will not block push notification requests from websites.

As you can see, the notification request has two buttons. You can either accept the request by allowing push notifications or reject the request by clicking on “Block” button.

Edge will manage your preferences in the browser’s settings section so that you can change them anytime later. When you allow the request, you will see notifications from websites like information about new article. Edge uses the default Windows notification setup to show the alert on the bottom right corner of the screen. If you missed the notification, you can anytime open notification center by clicking on the date/time on the taskbar.

These notifications may disturb you when you are doing some important tasks. In addition, some subscribed websites send too many notifications that you may want to unsubscribe.

Blocking Push Notifications in Edge

Since push notifications have two components (request and actual notification alerts), blocking them has different meanings depending on the situation.

• Get rid of push notification requests from all sites – in this case, you will not even see the request pop-up that appears from the padlock icon.
• Block a specific subscribed site – you can block an already subscribed site. In this case, you will not receive notifications from that specific site. However, Edge will continue to show push notification requests from other sites. You will also continue to receive actual notification alerts from other subscribed sites.
• Allow a specific website – in this case, you want to block all sites and allow only a specific site to show request and notifications. Alternatively, you may want to unblock and allow previously blocked site.

We will explain both the cases in the following section.

Blocking Push Notifications for All Sites in Edge

• Launch Edge app and click on the three horizontal dots icon (called “Settings and more”) showing on the top right corner of the browser’s screen. Alternatively, you can press “Alt + F” shortcut keys to open the “Settings and more” menu.
• From the list of menu items, click “Settings” to open Edge settings page.

• Go to “Cookies and site permissions” section from the left sidebar and click “Notifications” option on the right pane under “All permissions” heading.

• On the next screen, you can see the options to enable or disable push notifications along with the list of allowed and blocked websites.
• Simply turn the switch off against “Ask before sending (recommended)” to completely block all push notifications.

There is also an option to temporarily block push notifications when you are busy. Turn on “Ask before sending (recommended)” option to see another option called “Quiet notification requests”. You can turn on this “Quiet notifications requests” to block push notifications  and work with distraction free browsing in Edge. When you want to receive notifications, simply turn on that option off to receive call notification requests.

Block a Specific Subscribed Site’s Push Notifications

If you fed up with a site sending too many push notifications, then you can easily unsubscribe and block the site from sending alerts. You can do this with two methods in Edge browser.

First method is to go “Cookies and site permissions > Site permissions > Notifications” section. Under “Allow” section, click the three dots icon showing against the site that you want to block. Select the “Block” option and move the site to “Block” section.

Second method is to open the site that shows too many push notifications and click on the padlock icon showing in browser’s address bar (left side of website URL). You will see “Allow” option is showing for “Notifications” under “Permissions for this site” section. Click on the dropdown and select “Block” to revert the permission granted to the site. Remember, this will add the site to “Block” section in the Edge settings page.

Note: Selecting “Remove” in the first method or “Ask (default)” in the second method will completely remove the site from Edge settings page. This means, you will start seeing the push request when you open the site again. You can choose “Allow” or “Block” as per your need.

Allow Push Notification from a Specific Website

As mentioned, disabling “Ask before send (recommend)” option will completely block push requests from all websites. However, in some cases you may want to receive notifications from specific websites. In this case, go to “Cookies and site permissions > Site permissions > Notifications” settings page. Click on “Add” button showing against “Allow” section. This will open a pop-up where you can enter the site address and click “Add” button.

You can enter main website address like https://www.example.com or [*.]example.com to receive notifications from example.com and all its subdomains.

Final Words

First, these push request may annoy you by showing distractive pop-up that you are forced to act. Second, Edge uses the default Windows notifications setup which will clutter your notification center by mixing your important email alerts with useless notifications from sites. Therefore, you can use the above methods to block push notifications in Edge and allow only specific sites that you need.