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Often, when I open gmail.com in Safari for macOS, I get the following obtrusive pop-up ad in the corner of my email app:

Google recommends using Chrome

Google recommends using Chrome

Easily search on Google with the fast, secure browser

Don't switch | Yes

I obviously want to keep using Safari, which is why I select Don't switch, but the annoying pop-up advertisement will be there next day or week when I open Gmail again.

How can I disable this pop-up advertisement for the Chrome browser in the gmail web interface?

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How can I disable this pop-up advertisement for the Chrome browser in the gmail web interface?

You can't.

This is a Google (GMail) issue and has nothing to do with Safari. Well, nothing that can be changed on Safari, actually. Part of the issue is because you're using Safari.

There are two issues at play here:

  • The browser's user agent string. This is an identifier sent by your browswer to the server (Gmail) that tells it you are using a Safari browser, on a Mac running a particular version of macOS. All browsers send this identifier.
  • That's not a pop-up in the traditional sense. It's actually called a CSS Modal. It's a CSS/Javascript element that part of the rendered page where as a traditional popup is a new window.

What's happening here is that the Gmail server is detecting you're not using the Chrome browser and (through JavaScript) creating that modal that advertises their Chrome browser. Unfortunately, it's the price you have to pay for utilizing a free email service - you're inundated with ads.

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    I asked this question on Web Apps and some mod migrated it here...
    – pkamb
    Jan 30, 2023 at 21:19
  • They apparently thought it was related to macOS. We can try to migrate it back.
    – Allan
    Jan 30, 2023 at 21:51
  • I can see how this Q could be on topic at Web Apps, but I totally get why it was migrated here - in the hope you'd get an answer (which you did). For general browser questions they do often migrate questions to Super User, so we could migrate it there if you'd like - but I agree with Allan that there's nothing you can do within Safari. I'd be providing feedback to Google instead (they really should offer a 'Don't ask again' option, or at least only ask when a new version of the browser is detected, not every time you log in to Gmail.
    – Monomeeth ♦
    Jan 30, 2023 at 23:37
  • I was really looking for an option within Gmail / Google Account, not for Safari. IMO it should live at Web Apps @Monomeeth
    – pkamb
    Jan 31, 2023 at 1:59
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    @pkamb I've reached out to the mods on Web Apps and they still don't believe it belongs there. I'm happy to migrate it to Super User for you, but it may be worth first editing your question with more detail (such as you're looking for an option within Gmail / Google Account etc). You may also want to consider putting a bounty on it. All that said, if it is an ad you're seeing, you may be able to block it with an ad blocker? Finally, I don't use Gmail, but I am surprised that you would be getting this prompt every time you log in. There may be something else going on here.
    – Monomeeth ♦
    Jan 31, 2023 at 4:07
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Tl;Dr: In order to avoid being anoyed by this ad you have two main options:

  1. Find a way to prevent that the Google apps data (history) be deleted from your computer.

    I didn't have to do anything special on my Mac Mini with M1 and MacOs Ventura 13.1. Depending on your computer model and setup you might have to do something special.
  2. Use an utility to block ads that keep track of the technologies used by Google to make this ad work.

The "Google recommends using Chrome" "pop-up" not only happens when visiting Gmail, it also happens when visiting other Google sites like Google (web search / https://www.google.com and all the country specific domains) but not all Google owned web apps, i.e. it hasn't appeared to me when using Youtube, maybe due to a business decision related to keeping brands separated.

This "pop-up" isn't managed by a setting managed on a Gmail or other Google services user settings. Based in my most recent experience, I think that the "Don't switch" option of this "pop-up" is managed by using something stored in the Safari history as clearing it makes that this "pop-up" appears again but Google might be using other way to store this user action.

The experience might vary for different users and for the same user from time to time as Google has a large history of creating variations of their web apps and target each variant to different users based on whatever they want to learn about the use of their web apps, so it might not make sense to go deeper on this as an end-user as finding way that Google apps work nowadays is not an easy task due to the way that Google develop them.

Related

Cookies

Cookies is a common way used in web apps to store data like user preferences in browser history

Block ads

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  • I am the most hesitant person to down vote (only unless really egregious), but this answer is not correct in the context of the question. It shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how this particular modal works. It’s advisable to do some further research - start with the links I supplied. This approach to “pop ups” is obsolete by at least a decade.
    – Allan
    Feb 2, 2023 at 3:13
  • @Allan I used the term "pop-ups" because is the term used in the question. I don't think that it's necesary to go so deep in the techinical details to give the OP the guidance to get the relief that they are looking.
    – Rubén
    Feb 2, 2023 at 3:33
  • You’re missing the point. Cookies are not the issue here.
    – Allan
    Feb 2, 2023 at 3:36
  • @Allan How do you explain that I don't have the problem?
    – Rubén
    Feb 2, 2023 at 3:37
  • I mean, the ad only appears after deleting Safari history.
    – Rubén
    Feb 2, 2023 at 3:41
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I had the same issue. Resolved by going into Safari preferences, under "Search", disable "Include search engine suggestions". enter image description here

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