In this short post we are going to show you how you can enable Facebook notifications on Chrome – both on Android and on the desktop.
You won’t need to add extensions, unearth a hidden setting or use a third-party service,
All you need is the Google Chrome browser on Android, Chrome OS, or a regular desktop.
First, a little recap.
Chrome Push Notifications Will App-ify The Web
Introduced to Google Chrome earlier this year is support for a new Push Notifications API. This feature allows websites that you give permission to the ability to send you notifications and alerts – even when the website isn’t open in a tab.
Web Push works hand-in-hand with other cool features like Service Workers and Web Manifests to help ‘app-ify’ websites on mobile and desktops.
Facebook is among the first sites to add support for the feature (Vice News, eBay and Product Hunt are also among those taking advantage), keeping you up to speed with comments, replies and mentions.
Now for the caveat.
Facebook only supports web push notifications on the mobile version of its website. This is not an issue on Android; the Facebook mobile site is a leaner way to use the social network without the storage bloat and data demands of the full Android app.
Desktop users can benefit from Facebook’s support of the web push API standard to get alerts free of the need to keep the site open in a browser tab but clicking these notifications will open the mobile version of the website and not the version most are familiar with.
But even this has it’s pluses.
On my aged Samsung Series 5 (!) Chromebook I added the mobile version of Facebook (m.facebook.com) to my Chrome app shelf because a) it’s more ‘app-y’ b) it loads faster and c) I can “lock” it in the Chrome OS Sidebar.
This gives me a handy way to keep tabs while working on other stuff, like this post.
Keeping Facebook open all the time is not hugely practical. So I opted to turn on desktop notifications for Facebook through Chrome. This way I keep on top of pointless pressing updates but without the need to keep checking the site itself.
Clicking on a web push toast from Facebook opens the corresponding page in the mobile version of Facebook in a new tab (or, if you’ve added the website to your app shelf like I have, in a separate window).
I will caution now that on the desktop iteration notifications sometimes never arrive – so don’t rely on this solely.
How To Enable Facebook Notifications in Chrome
Tell Facebook You Want Them
First things first: you may need to enable Mobile Notifications on the Facebook website by going to Facebook > Settings > Notification Settings > Mobile.
This page also lets you decide which notifications you want to receive alerts for and turn off the notification you don’t want to receive.
Android Instructions:
To enable Facebook notifications on Chrome for Android follow these simple steps:
- Visit the Facebook website in Chrome for Android
- Agree to ‘Allow Notifications’ when prompted
To disable/turn off web push notifications in Chrome for Android:
- Go to Chrome > Settings > Site Settings
- Select ‘Notifications’
- Under ‘Allowed’ section tap ‘Facebook’
- Under ‘Permissions’ tap ‘Notifications’
- Select ‘Block’
Desktop Instructions:
To enable Facebook Notifications in desktop Chrome or on Chrome OS:
- Visit m.facebook.com in a new tab
- Agree to the ‘show notifications’ prompt
To disable/turn off web push notifications in desktop Chrome or on Chrome OS:
- Open Chrome notification center
- Click on the ‘cog’ icon
- Locate ‘m.facebook.com:433’ in the list
- Uncheck the box beside it
On desktop Chrome you’ll receive notification toasts infrequently through the Chrome notification centre.
On Android notification appear in the notification shade. Alerts are denoted by a ‘bell’ icon in the status bar (this will shortly be changed to a Chrome icon).
Is this a feature you’re already using? Which other sites would you like to see offer push notifications? Let us know your take in the comments space below.