How to turn off push no­ti­fic­a­tions

Are you getting too many push no­ti­fic­a­tions? Maybe even from apps where you never con­sciously activated no­ti­fic­a­tions? Keep reading to find out how to turn off push no­ti­fic­a­tions on your phone or in your browser.

A brief guide on how to stop push no­ti­fic­a­tions

In your browser

1. Search for ‘No­ti­fic­a­tions’ or ‘Push No­ti­fic­a­tions’ in your browser settings.
2. Remove the websites that you don’t want to receive no­ti­fic­a­tions from.

For Android apps

1. Enter ‘Apps’ in the settings.
2. Change the no­ti­fic­a­tion settings for the app in question.

For iOS apps

1. Search for ‘No­ti­fic­a­tions’ in the settings.
2. Change the no­ti­fic­a­tion settings for the app in question.

What are push no­ti­fic­a­tions?

Push no­ti­fic­a­tions provide you with new in­form­a­tion or messages from apps and websites. They often take the form of a short text on the lock screen of your smart­phone. Push no­ti­fic­a­tions are usually ac­com­pan­ied by a sound and/or vibration, so that you’re aware of their arrival.

Why turn off push no­ti­fic­a­tions?

Stat­ist­ics show that in 2021, users had an average of 40 apps on their smart­phones, including messaging services, shopping apps, games, lists, exercise apps, and more.

If you turn on push no­ti­fic­a­tions for every app, you likely won’t be able to keep track of all the updates. This is the main reason why you might want to turn off push no­ti­fic­a­tions for some apps.

How to stop push no­ti­fic­a­tions in your browser

Turning off push no­ti­fic­a­tions is re­l­at­ively simple. In browsers, push no­ti­fic­a­tions are usually tied to specific websites. Some websites ask you on your first visit whether you want to get updates from them in the form of push no­ti­fic­a­tions. You might have ac­ci­dent­ally clicked yes or changed your mind about who you want updates from.

So how to disable these push no­ti­fic­a­tions? For Chrome, simply follow these steps:

1. First go to your browser’s settings.
2. Navigate to the ‘Privacy and security’ menu.
3. Then click on ‘Site Settings’.

4. Once you’re in Site Settings, click on ‘No­ti­fic­a­tions’. This is where you can de­ac­tiv­ate push no­ti­fic­a­tions for certain sites or all sites.

5. The websites that are and aren’t allowed to send you no­ti­fic­a­tions are listed on this page. Click on the three dots to the right of the website names to remove the sites that you’d no longer like to receive no­ti­fic­a­tions from. Al­tern­at­ively, you can add websites to the list of sites that aren’t allowed to send no­ti­fic­a­tions using the ‘Add’ button.

JavaS­cript is required for push no­ti­fic­a­tions to work in the browser. When you de­ac­tiv­ate JavaS­cript, push no­ti­fic­a­tions are auto­mat­ic­ally disabled.

How to turn off push no­ti­fic­a­tions in apps

Turning off push no­ti­fic­a­tions in Android

On Android smart­phones, you’ll have to turn off push no­ti­fic­a­tions app by app. Follow these steps:

1. Go to the settings in your phone.
2. Once you’re in the settings, look for ‘Apps’.
3. Choose the app that you’d like to de­ac­tiv­ate no­ti­fic­a­tions for.
4. Open the ‘App settings’, and then go to ‘No­ti­fic­a­tions’.
5. Use the toggle at the top of the screen to activate or de­ac­tiv­ate push no­ti­fic­a­tions for the app. If you want to de­ac­tiv­ate, the button should be on the left.

Turning off push no­ti­fic­a­tions in iOS

On Apple devices, you can turn off no­ti­fic­a­tions in the device’s settings under ‘No­ti­fic­a­tions’. Do as follows:

1. Go to the settings on your device.
2. Then navigate to the menu item ‘No­ti­fic­a­tions’.
3. Choose the relevant app from the list under ‘No­ti­fic­a­tion Style’.
4. At the top of the screen, you’ll see a toggle labelled ‘Allow No­ti­fic­a­tions’. Tap on the toggle to de­ac­tiv­ate no­ti­fic­a­tions. If no­ti­fic­a­tions are de­ac­tiv­ated, the button should now be on the left.

In both Android and iOS, you can also choose how you would like to be alerted to no­ti­fic­a­tions. This includes whether no­ti­fic­a­tions are shown on your lock screen, whether they’re ac­com­pan­ied by sounds, and more.

How can I protect my privacy?

In general, apps use a variety data to send push no­ti­fic­a­tions, including cookies and sometimes even location data.

Since no­ti­fic­a­tions often entail saving and pro­cessing cookies, you should be sure to delete cookies regularly and always double check which per­mis­sions you’ve granted to apps. You can also disable cookies in your browser across the board to prevent your data from being saved.

There are also a number of apps and browser ex­ten­sions that anonymise your browser activity, thus making it harder for websites to ac­cu­mu­late targeted data about what you’re doing online. Find out more in our article ‘What is cyber security?’.