Push notifications are messages that applications or websites send to our device, even when we are not using them. These notifications can be useful to inform us of news, reminders, offers, alerts or any other type of content that interests us.
Until now, on the iPhone, only applications could send us push notifications on iOS and iPadOS, but with the arrival of version 16.4 and its 31 new emoji of these operating systems, websites can also do it. This is one of the new features that were presented during the last WWDC, and that we can already enjoy.
Notifications from any site without apps in between
What are the advantages of this new feature? Well, it allows us to receive notifications directly from those websites that we add to the home screen of our iPhone or iPad, without having to download a specific application. For example, if we add to our home screen the website of a newspaper, we can receive notifications with the latest news or the most prominent headlines. Or if we add the website of an online store, we can receive notifications with the most interesting offers or the most popular products.
How can we activate push notifications on the web? The process is very simple. The first thing we have to do is to add the website we are interested in to our home screen. To do this, we open the website in Safari and click the share button (the icon with a square and an up arrow). Then we select the option Add to home screen and give a name to the access that will be created.
Once this is done, the website, provided it has a notification system, will ask for permission to send us push notifications. We can accept or refuse this permission at our discretion. If we accept, we will start receiving notifications from the website on our device, just like those from any other application.
Subsequently, we can manage all these notifications in the Settings app, just like those of any other application. There we will be able to enable or disable website notifications, choose the type of alert (warning, strips or none), sound, notifications on the locked screen and notification center, etc. We will also be able to filter notifications in the configuration of the states of concentration, to avoid unnecessary distractions at inopportune moments. A configuration, moreover, that will be synchronized with the rest of our devices thanks to iCloud and that will come into play if we decide to add the website to another of our iPhone or iPad.
The websites we add to our home screen will also be able to show us notifications in the form of little red dots on their icon, just like any application. An indicator that we have one or more notifications pending to read and that we can access from the same Control Center to see exactly what we have been notified or open the site so that the count disappears.
Push notifications on the web are one more way to keep up to date with our favorite websites, without having to install additional applications. A system that has been available for years in Safari on our Mac, and one of the many new features of iOS 16.4 that gives us more options and flexibility when it comes to receiving relevant and personalized information on our iPhone or iPad.
