Google’s always been one for trying new stuff with different company’s content, and this new motion by the search provider is no exception. Apparently, in the latest canary build of Chrome, it’s been discovered that the company appears to be testing native notification integration with Apple’s built-in Notification Center found in OS X on the Mac. This means that if say you had Gmail open in Chrome and you get an email; if desktop notifications are enabled, you’ll receive the notification natively as a part of Notification Center where it’ll be visible alongside all your Mac’s other notifications.
This is pretty big for Chrome as it’ll help attract more Mac users to switch to Chrome on their computers opposed to say Safari, Apple’s built-in web browser. And by now, you’re probably like, “Well, when will it be available?!?” And I’m pleased to say that today, you can enable the feature! I do need to warn you, however, that it’s still in the testing stage and is most likely filled with bugs. But if you’re willing to see past the flaws, here’s how to enable them:
- Open Chrome
- In your address bar, paste chrome://flags/#enable-native-notifications
- When the page loads, click “enable” next to “Enable native notifications”.
- Restart Chrome
Now, you’ll begin receiving notifications from Chrome right in Notification Center. But remember, the feature isn’t perfect yet and you’re bound to run into some kind of a problem down the road. However, ideally, Google should keep working on the feature, but when asked if native notifications for the Mac will ever go mainstream, the team behind the Chrome says “It is not 100% clear either way as we may run into certain roadblocks.” So basically “cross your fingers” is what they’re telling you.
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