progressive web apps - Can I use web push notifications to update the page without displaying a notification?

Question

I am wondering if I can use web push notifications to update a web page without displaying a notification for the user to interact with. Essentially I want to refresh data after an event on the server.

If this is possible, is it still necessary to receive permission from the user to send these push updates?

Answer 1

Yes, you can send push messages without showing a notification, but there are limitations on both Firefox and Chrome on the raw number of "invisible" push messages and the rate at which you send them.

You can experiment a bit with the quotas in different browers using the Push Quota ServiceWorker Cookbook example.