Microsoft has announced a number of improvements it has done to notifications and badging in the Edge browser. Now Edge will be able to deliver notifications even when you closed it, for selected websites and apps.
Most desktop browsers only receive notifications while they’re running, causing users to miss out on important updates if the browser is closed. And when users do finally open their browser, they’re treated to a flood of incoming notifications that may no longer be relevant. The legacy version of Microsoft Edge addressed this issue with support for background notifications while the browser was closed. Finally, the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge app has received the same option.
Any site which supports web push notifications using the web standard Push API, Notifications API, and web push protocol is already supported. This feature is available now for anyone using Edge 85 on Windows 10 version 20H1 and above.
Additionally, the latest version of Microsoft Edge, PWAs and pinned sites can now display badges over their taskbar icons. You may remember the similar feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer 11. Developers can set and update badges using the Badging API, which is already available starting in Edge 81 for Windows and Mac.
Badges are also supported by other Chromium-based browsers, but they display them only when a PWA is open. By making Edge handling web site notifications in the background, Microsoft has resolved this issue, and now it is able to draw taskbar icon badges all the time.
To take advantage of these improvements, users must be on Edge 85 (for PWAs) or Edge 87 (for pinned sites) with Windows 10 version 20H1 or higher.
The firm is also working to reenable the full notification prompt for sites with desired notifications while maintaining quit requests for others. This change will become available soon.
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