Web Push for Safari • Hacker News Board

Re: Web Push for Safari

#11

Post by tehlike » Sun, Jun 12, 2022, 10:11 PM UTC

mihaic wrote: post #10

I know I'm a bit tangential, but what are some actually useful examples of push notifications for browsers? Every time I've seen them in action was with spam/clickbait, after someone accidentally subscribed and couldn't remove it.

I am working on a pwa for android/chrome extension for desktop that would let users know if the price of an item they were watching drops.

If you assumed pwa, you can see why they are useful.

Also if slack were mobile friendly, i could see notifications being helpful there too

Re: Web Push for Safari

#12

Post by kgbcia » Sun, Jun 12, 2022, 10:12 PM UTC

Web push would be great for emails or transit updates, but most of the time there is an app. Also, I don't want to be disturbed at night or work. So I end up blocking everything except messages.

Re: Web Push for Safari

#13

Post by simion314 » Sun, Jun 12, 2022, 10:12 PM UTC

mihaic wrote: post #10

I know I'm a bit tangential, but what are some actually useful examples of push notifications for browsers? Every time I've seen them in action was with spam/clickbait, after someone accidentally subscribed and couldn't remove it.

You could run Slack or Discord in browser instead of an application, then notifications could be used exactly as for the apps.

Re: Web Push for Safari

#14

Post by swatcoder » Sun, Jun 12, 2022, 10:15 PM UTC

mihaic wrote: post #10

I know I'm a bit tangential, but what are some actually useful examples of push notifications for browsers? Every time I've seen them in action was with spam/clickbait, after someone accidentally subscribed and couldn't remove it.

All the same things they’re useful for in apps (which are also prone to spam/clickbait).

Web push is a prerequisite for moving a ton of apps out of app stores and into the platform agnostic thin client model of the web: messaging clients, timers, background tasks, transaction/shipping status updates, trading tools, etc

Re: Web Push for Safari

#15

Post by fuzzy2 » Sun, Jun 12, 2022, 10:18 PM UTC

mihaic wrote: post #10

I know I'm a bit tangential, but what are some actually useful examples of push notifications for browsers? Every time I've seen them in action was with spam/clickbait, after someone accidentally subscribed and couldn't remove it.

What I know and appreciate: Notifications for replies on forums, chats and web mail, notifications about CI pipeline status on GitLab.

Re: Web Push for Safari

#16

Post by morepork » Sun, Jun 12, 2022, 10:21 PM UTC

mihaic wrote: post #10

I know I'm a bit tangential, but what are some actually useful examples of push notifications for browsers? Every time I've seen them in action was with spam/clickbait, after someone accidentally subscribed and couldn't remove it.

Push notifications are useful in browsers in all the same places they are useful in mobile apps. Note that browser push notifications also work on mobile, so you don't need to install an app to get real time alerts.

For example:

- Sites with chat can send you messages even if you don't have the tab open (or even browser in some cases)

- Online game e.g. board game or chess can push to you when it's your move.

- Home alerts, e.g. that your garage door has been opened

Sure there are a lot of spammy notifications, e.g. sales alerts, news items, etc. that most people probably don't want, but there are genuinely useful use cases.

Re: Web Push for Safari

#17

Post by airza » Sun, Jun 12, 2022, 10:21 PM UTC

mihaic wrote: post #10

I know I'm a bit tangential, but what are some actually useful examples of push notifications for browsers? Every time I've seen them in action was with spam/clickbait, after someone accidentally subscribed and couldn't remove it.

It would be nice if mobile browsers had push notifications in IOS because it would make it possible to have browser based mobile apps with some chance of feature parity.

Re: Web Push for Safari

#18

Post by al_borland » Sun, Jun 12, 2022, 10:39 PM UTC

kgbcia wrote: post #12

Web push would be great for emails or transit updates, but most of the time there is an app. Also, I don't want to be disturbed at night or work. So I end up blocking everything except messages.

If a user only wants notifications, web push might be a good alternative to installing a whole app just for a notification service.

Re: Web Push for Safari

#19

Post by lxgr » Sun, Jun 12, 2022, 10:42 PM UTC

infocollector wrote: post #2

This is support for web push notifications in safari it seems. ( https://web.dev/push-notifications-overview/ ) - and it plays nice with macs. I guess it is useful if you want to support Safari for your webapp + use push notifications.

Where in the linked article is Safari mentioned?

This simply isn‘t possible at all on iOS as of now, and on macOS it requires registering an Apple developer account, as far as I understand.

Re: Web Push for Safari

#20

Post by pvg » Sun, Jun 12, 2022, 10:46 PM UTC

randyrand wrote: post #8

pvg wrote: post #3

Big thread a few days ago, 172 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31644424

Note: the url discussed there is just the announcement not the details

The threads are essentially the same because the story is the same so it ends up being an HN dupe. It was also discussed in a number of the other Safari-related WWDC posts.