Firefox gets native Windows Notifications support

Mozilla plans to introduce a feature in its Firefox web browser in March 2023 that enables support for native notifications on Windows 10 and 11 devices. Notifications by websites in the browser would then be displayed by Windows 10’s Action Center or Windows 11’s Notification Center.

Firefox, like all modern web browsers, supports notifications. Websites may prompt users to enable push notifications, so that they may push messages to the user’s devices. Most often, these notifications are used to inform users about updates. Here on Ghacks, users may receive notifications when certain articles are published, provided that they allow notifications here on the site.

Notifications have received bad press in the past because of abuse of the feature. Some sites use the feature to push advertisement or even malware. It has gotten this annoying that browser makers decided to make push notification requests less aggressive in their browsers.

Many browsers nowadays may hide notification requests in the address bar of the browser, instead of displaying the prompts directly to the user.

Current versions of Firefox display notifications as a small overlay in the browser window. This window is closed automatically, and there is no option currently to look up previous notifications. Support for Windows’ notification feature moves notifications on Windows to the operating system.

There, users get to see the notifications based on their configuration of the feature. They may also access previous entries, but there is no full log available natively on Windows.

Tip: check out our guide on blocking notifications on Windows 11 devices.

Firefox 11: native Windows notifications support

Mozilla plans to launch the feature in Firefox 111, which is scheduled for a release on March 14, 2023. It is interesting to note that Firefox supported native notifications functionality on Windows for several years, but that Mozilla never made the feature available publicly.

One of the requirements for native notifications support is that Windows users or administrators have not turned notifications off. Notifications need to be enabled and Firefox needs to be allowed to use the functionality as well.

Two preferences in Firefox determine whether the native Windows notifications backend is used by the web browser.

Load about:config in the address bar of the browser.
Use the search field to find the following preferences:

alerts.useSystemBackend
alerts.useSystemBackend.windows.notificationserver.enabled

Make sure both are set to TRUE. This means that the system is enabled and will be used by the Firefox web browser.
A restart of the browser may be required if preferences are changed.

Closing words

Support for native notifications on Windows in Firefox is a welcome feature addition. While it is limited to Windows 10 and 11, it is making notifications more accessible, especially since these may be looked at again after the initial display.

Mozilla plans to release the new feature in Firefox 111, and it looks ready enough already in development editions of the web browser. There is always the chance of delays though, as last minute bugs may require additional development time.

Now You: do you subscribe to push notifications on certain websites? (via Techdows)

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