The macOS 15.5 update is here, and it’s overall pretty light on features. However, the Safari 18.5 update bundled with it does include a new developer feature that will save battery life for users. “Declarative Web Push” is a more efficient approach to web notifications that will drain less battery every time you get a notification on Safari.
The feature already came to iOS and iPadOS in the last update, allowing developers to swap their notification implementations to the simpler JSON format. Just for fun, here’s what it looks like:
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{ “web_push”: 8030, “notification”: { “title”: “Webkit.org — Meet Declarative Web Push”, “lang”: “en-US”, “dir”: “ltr”, “body”: “Send push notifications without JavaScript or service worker!”, “navigate”: “https://webkit.org/blog/16535/meet-declarative-web-push/”, “silent”: false, “app_badge”: “1” }}
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If you automatically click “NO!” every time a website asks to send you notifications, this little perk may not affect you at all. If you do allow a few of your favorite sites to send you notifications, this new system will make sure your notifications are reliable and timely — even when you haven’t opened the target website in a while — without making your Mac work too hard. Because Declarative Web Push doesn’t require Service Workers, it’s also easier for developers to use and more private by design.
If you didn’t even know that websites could send you notifications, the concept is pretty simple. Just like apps on your phone send you notifications about new content, promotions, and updates, you can choose to let websites do the same.
If you accept notifications from a news site, it’ll tell you about trending stories and new posts. If you accept notifications from an online store, it’ll probably tell you about sales and promotional deals. Some people like them, other people hate them — it’s really a matter of preference.
If you’re not running macOS Sequoia, you can still get this Safari update on macOS Sonoma and macOS Ventura as well. If you were hoping for more features in this latest update, don’t be too disappointed — WWDC 2025 is under a month away now, which means we’ll get our first look at macOS 16.
