Google is removing the Chrome notification center because no one uses it

You probably know about this little notification center, but it’s very unlikely that you ever use it. That fact is according to data that Google itself has compiled, and — as is definitely not unusual — low usage means cutting features in the name of simplicity…

In some cases, these desktop notifications would appear while users were gone, so in 2013 Chrome launched the notification center, a place for users to find notifications from Chrome apps and extensions that they’d missed.

However, in practice, few users visit the notification center. To keep Chrome simple, it will be removed from Windows, Mac, and Linux in the upcoming release. The notification center on Chrome OS will remain unchanged.

Personally, I’ve never touched the notification center. I’ve used many Chromebooks for months at a time, and I use Chrome every day on my MacBook Pro. But never — not even a single time — have I intentionally opened up the Chrome notification center.

So “to keep Chrome simple,” Google is removing it from Windows, Mac, and Linux in the upcoming release. If you happen to use a Chromebook, though, Google thinks you still need it. On the company’s Chrome OS, the feature “will remain unchanged.”

Au revoir.