Microsoft’s ‘Smart opt-out’ feature to reduce unwanted notifications in Windows 11

Microsoft has announced that Windows 10’s life cycle will end on October 14, 2025. As a result, the tech giant is urging users to switch to its latest operating system, Windows 11. However, Windows 11 has a notifications problem. Both first and third-party apps and websites depend heavily on push notifications, resulting in almost every application trying to send unnecessary notifications that can be irritating to users. Microsoft is implementing changes to the Windows operating system to decrease the number of daily alerts received by users. For example, Windows 11 features a function called “Focus Assist”, which reduces multiple distractions, such as toast notifications from apps like Outlook and Edge. To further reduce notifications spam, Microsoft is beta testing a new feature called “Smart opt-out.” This feature recommends disabling notifications from seldom-used apps. If a user has not opened an app for a month, Smart opt-out will prompt them to turn off notifications from that app, enhancing their user experience. This feature will be a minor addition to the operating system and is set to arrive in a few months via Windows 11’s new configuration updates. Windows 11 is also expected to receive an update that allows users more control over high-priority notifications from first and third-party apps. Urgent notifications can bypass Focus Assist (Do Not Disturb) settings and appear as “Allow important notifications.” A new control called “view notification” will also be included to provide users with increased privacy when viewing the notification contents while using full-screen apps.