Firefox just got the ability to send push notifications

Chrome has been able to send push notifications for what feels like years, but now Firefox is officially getting them too.

As of Firefox 44, websites are able to send push notifications to visitors without keeping the site open, provided users opt in. Notifications look and feel like their native desktop counterparts, too.

That means Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and other services could start sending you push notifications to your desktop instead of requiring a whole app in the future — which saves on battery life and system resources.

Push notifications are now possible because they’re an extension of the Service Worker technology that became a part of HTML last year. Any website is able to take advantage of the push API, though it’s not widely supported yet.

Firefox is the second browser to get full push support, following Chrome. Microsoft Edge, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer don’t use the official push API and haven’t added support yet.

➤ Web push arrives in Firefox [Mozilla Hacks]