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The sparsely-used Chrome notifications centre is a goner

The same is true actually for mobile devices as well as I prefer not to receive constant streams of updates as I find the feature invasive and distracting.

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Here is a chart showing the new change. “By streamlining the experience on desktop, Chrome can ensure a simple notification experience on every platform”. The most recent change was integrated in Chrome 42 when the company added push notifications support to the browser.

Google is also getting rid of the notification center in Chrome 46 that debuted in the browser five years ago.

You probably know about this little notification center, but it’s very unlikely that you ever use it. That fact is according to data that Google itself has compiled, and – as is definitely not unusual – low usage means cutting features in the name of simplicity…

The notification center that you may have used in the past to look up messages will be removed. Google’s intention was to keep their users informed about what apps and extensions appeared while they were away.

This change affects notifications sent exclusively to the notification center, which will now result in an error, any and all other notifications will continue to work just fine without needing any changes. That in turn will encourage sites, it hopes, to make the switch, knowing they won’t turn users off during the transition.

While the decision falls under the “and it’s a good thing too” heading for security experts, there’s no doubt it will cause a few angst among people whose sites include both secure and insecure elements (images, for example, are often served sans-encryption even when everything else on a page is HTTPS). “The notification centre on Chrome OS will remain unchanged”.

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Now You: are you using Chrome’s notification system on the desktop or Android?

There's Now One Less Google Chrome Security Icon To Remember