How to completely disable push notifications in Firefox?

I am using Firefox (version 58.0.1) and for awhile now, Firefox and other browsers have implemented this feature known as 'Push Notifications.'

It now seems like every site wants to 'Push' notifications to you. This has become a new form of pop-up, and is an intrusive technology. Because of this constant bombardment of push notification requests, I wish to completely disable push notifications.

I do not wish to disable on a site-by-site basis. I want to disable this 'feature' completely, for every site, forever.

I have looked through the Firefox settings, and through the documentation on the Mozilla website, but there is nothing official on how to disable the Push Notifications. 2

David

Posted 2018-03-03T15:43:50.127

Reputation: 2 222

2Best practice for this API is that sites should first tell you why they need notifications, and only then request permission. However there's a plague of sites that ask for this permission without any context. I'm worried that a useful feature gets degraded this way – Kos – 2018-03-04T07:41:45.123

2The amusing thing is, I'd really like a leading network of QA sites to support this... – Journeyman Geek – 2018-03-04T08:19:21.917

@Kos While I agree in principle, the abuse of this feature for antipatterns is already quite evident, unfortunately. I actually wonder how the W3 thought that this would not be abused. I think the only way for this work is for sites work in an opt-in request model, without the popup, because that is what this is, just a new version of popup Windows. – David – 2018-03-04T10:48:56.370

Answers

From further research, I discovered that you have to go into the about:config interface. HERE BE DRAGONS! (1) Or if you use the American locale, Your warranty might be voided (2)

I changed four settings to FALSE:

dom.webnotifications.enabled
dom.webnotifications.serviceworker.enabled
dom.pushconnection.enabled
dom.push.enabled

(1) Here be dragons:

(2) This might void your warranty:

David

Posted 2018-03-03T15:43:50.127

Reputation: 2 222

Definitely a good Q&A! That being said, while the whole Here Be Dragons thing is rather amusing, perhaps it depends upon version and/or your regional locale. I am utilizing the En-US 64-bit version of Firefox 58.0.2, and my about:config page never says that.

– Run5k – 2018-03-03T18:20:29.073

1@Run5k - I have added a screen capture for you. I have always seen this. – David – 2018-03-03T18:53:16.860

David, I know that you have the best of intentions, but please remember that this answer isn't specifically for your benefit. It is designed to help the community as a whole, and we have already established that the humorous Here be dragons! screen is strictly a regional version. As a result, it could potentially confuse a large percentage of the people viewing this answer. Including it is simply unnecessary, and actually a bit counterproductive. – Run5k – 2018-04-14T22:41:07.587

@run5k - I think you are missing my point, which is to alert people that they can severely mess up their firefox. I would appreciate if you would add the link to your warning screen, rather than to remove the content that I have added. And I would not like to assume that 'people should know better'. I would like to have a warning. – David – 2018-04-17T10:29:31.117

On the contrary, good sir. My goal is to take good care of the end-users, also... and not just the ones who live in the UK. Notably, you didn't have any type of "alert" or warning within your original answer (either a written explanation or screen shot) before my original comment. Please, don't get me wrong: I was simply trying to help a very good answer become even better. But when I showed your tutorial to several different American end-users, most of them stopped because they thought they were on the wrong screen. However, now that this is built into the options page it is a moot point. – Run5k – 2018-04-17T13:06:06.443

Please clarify: On the contrary to what? Your straw man ad hominem attack is not appreciated. It comes across as being highly condescending.

Further, most users worldwide use the GB locale, not the US one. And I find it surprising that you, or your American users could not make the logical extrapolation that the Dragons warning message was the same as the Warranty message.

So, can you stick the brief of making the answer better? – David – 2018-04-17T17:28:41.427

If I came across in an offensive manner, my sincere apologies. That certainly wasn't my intention. I was simply trying to improve the original answer and make it universally applicable for the benefit of the entire community. The bottom line is that you authored an excellent answer, and deserve credit accordingly. Thanks for your contributing your time, technical expertise, and candid feedback... it is definitely appreciated. – Run5k – 2018-04-17T17:47:36.047

1This is the correct answer. Firefox's preferences dialog has become such a dumpster fire, about:config is easy to use by comparison. @Run5k's answer isn't going to be helpful in the long run since it requires detailed screenshots which are going to become obsolete with each release of the software. – Cerin – 2019-04-29T15:14:54.490

@Cerin the typical end-user doesn't even realize that the about:config interface exists, but they do know about the default Settings page. Beyond that, my answer actually does help right now, and you will find that I am quite prompt when it comes to updating the screenshots within my previous answers. Flagging my answer with a downvote because it might not be helpful in the future is unprofessional, at best. – Run5k – 2019-04-29T15:41:07.450

1@Run5k, Please don't tell me what I can upvote or downvote. Your answer is less useful than this one for the reasons I wrote. That's the whole point of the votes. Don't take it personally. Yes, about:config is subtle, but as the large number of Google results "explaining" how to use the preferences dialog shows, most users don't realize that exists either or don't understand how to find anything in it. The nice thing about the about:config interface is that it doesn't completely change with each release, so once you know how to use it, you're job is done. – Cerin – 2019-04-29T19:50:13.623

You can sync this settings as described here: https://superuser.com/questions/466291/firefox-sync-aboutconfig

– Pedro77 – 2019-06-09T00:40:33.830

With the release of Firefox 59, we can now disable push notifications using the default Options page.

The official release notes for Firefox 59 described the modification:

Added settings in about:preferences to stop websites from asking to send notifications

You can configure this option in the following manner:

Navigate to the about:preferences page
Click on Privacy & Security on the upper-left
Scroll down to the Permissions section on the right
Click on the Settings... button associated with Notifications
In the subsequent window check the box to Block new requests asking to allow notifications
Click the Save Changes button

Run5k

Posted 2018-03-03T15:43:50.127

Reputation: 13 092

Disable push notifications and sync config

Paste this lines to config prefs.js file You can find the config file at:

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\XXXXXX.default\prefs.js

user_pref("dom.webnotifications.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.webnotifications.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.webnotifications.serviceworker.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.pushconnection.enabled", false);
user_pref("dom.push.enabled", false);
user_pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.dom.webnotifications.enabled", true);
user_pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.dom.webnotifications.serviceworker.enabled", true);
user_pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.dom.pushconnection.enabled", true);
user_pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.dom.push.enabled", true);

Pedro77

Posted 2018-03-03T15:43:50.127

Reputation: 1 367