Install TVmaze - Chrome App/Ext ?

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BazzaG wrote a year ago: 1

Not sure if this is a Chrome issue or a TVmaze issue.

But now every time a come to TVmaze & on every webpage I get a small window open to the right of the URL line (or whatever its called) asking to install the TVmaze app or extension. I can select cancel but when I go to the next TVmaze page it happens again & again. There's also a small icon that if I hover the mouse pointer over it, says ... Install TVmaze. Likewise in the "..." menu.

I've gone to the Chrome app/extension store & searched for TVmaze but it finds nothing. There's also no indication that I have any malware installed.

Is this because of some recent change? What is this TVmaze app?

Cheers...

david wrote a year ago: 1

TVmaze is available as a "PWA", which - very simply put - is a technology where you can use a website as app, adding it to your homescreen and allowing it to send push messages etcetera. The website advertises the existence of this PWA, which causes most browsers to offer it to you as a user if it notices you're a frequent user of the website. I suspect that this is what's going on here, but could you make a screenshot of the popup you're getting so I can double-check?

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BazzaG wrote a year ago: 1

Hi David,

Here's a link to screen shot:

https://imgur.com/a/cAIFt4V

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BazzaG wrote a year ago: 2

Is this a site issue or a Chrome issue because it's damn annoying? How do I stop it?

Jan wrote a year ago: 1

It's probably specific to your browser and/or your configuration.

To resolve this, you can try the following steps:

Go to the Chrome menu (the three dots in the top right corner of your browser window).

Select "Settings" from the dropdown menu.

Scroll down and click on "Site Settings."

Find and click on "Notifications."

Look for TVmaze in the list of websites that are allowed to send notifications, and remove it by clicking on the three dots next to it and selecting "Remove."

Additionally, you can check the "Do not allow any site to show notifications" option to prevent this from happening in the future.

This should stop the prompts from appearing on TVmaze and other websites. If the issue persists, you can try clearing your browser cache and cookies or resetting your browser settings to their default state.

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BazzaG wrote a year ago: 1

With regards to browser cache & cookies ... I did all of that before opening this thread/post. Including Logging Out of TVmaze & then deleting the TVmaze cookies.

With regards to notifications ... Chrome has changed a lot & your step instructions don't apply any more. However, from the Settings page I did a search for "Site Settings".

All of the options for TVmaze were their default values except for notifications. Reset this to the default ... NO change. Set to Block ... NO change. Cleared Browser cache, etc. again ... NO change.

This is recent problem, ie. it only started a few days ago. Other than any automatic updates to Chrome [v112.0.5615.50 (Official Build) (64-bit)], I haven't changed/added/deleted anything in Chrome, be it, extensions, settings or whatever.

I don't know where else to look.

david wrote a year ago: 2

Based on the screenshot, I don't think this has anything to do with notification permissions @Jan

It looks to me like what I already suspected in my first reply: that Chrome is automatically offering you to install our website as an app, based on the PWA technology that we support.

To be clear: our code doesn't actively do anything that would trigger this popup. So I don't think there is anything we can do to prevent it from happening, either. Also nothing in this regard has changed on our side at all in the last couple of days, or even months.

I'm sure it'll be fixed eventually in a future Chrome update. In the mean time, I recommend switching to Firefox.

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BazzaG wrote a year ago: 1

If I install the TVmaze "app" then it adds a shortcut to my desktop. Clicking on the shortcut, opens the TVmaze in a standalone browser window which is missing various options at the top of the window.

Is this what the PWA Technology used by TVmaze do?

Asking Professor Google for more info about PWA's there are lots of sites that are PWA compliant, eg. Twitter, Reddit, Youtube & many others.

Going to a number of these sites does NOT cause the small popup as shown in the above screenshot. So far the ONLY site that causes the popup is TVmaze.

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BazzaG wrote a year ago: 1

I have no idea what's changed but the popup is no longer happening.

Ardjc wrote a year ago: 1

I had this happen to me too about three weeks ago. I must have accepted because I had the site as a PWA app for a time as you say ... but then I switched devices and no longer have the option to do so on my new phone.

LadyShelley wrote a year ago: 1

I had this the same day as BazzaG, but it went away on its own a day later. I didn't do anything to install the app.

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FHFbVB1Mkd3 wrote a year ago: 1

@david wrote:
So I don't think there is anything we can do to prevent it from happening, either.

I am not sure, but I think you could use the beforeinstallprompt event to catch the event and show your own message (where you can control on how often to show it.) Not sure it's worth the effort though.

david wrote a year ago: 2

@FHFbVB1Mkd3 wrote:
I am not sure, but I think you could use the beforeinstallprompt event to catch the event and show your own message (where you can control on how often to show it.) Not sure it's worth the effort though.

Thanks for thinking along! I was reading that as well, maybe I'll try catching it and using a simple cookie to make sure it's only thrown once per visit/session.

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BazzaG wrote 10 months ago: 1

This problem is back again. Came back yesterday but this time it's not every every new webpage or refresh of a webpage. Happens at least once; but not necessarily the 1st TVMaze page that I open, usually the 2nd & then every so often after that. So no way as annoying as before, I can live with it but thought I'd update this thread.

As before, I haven't changed anything except what has been installed by Chrome auto-updates.

deleted wrote 10 months ago: 1

I'm getting the same problem and it's on EVERY page of TVmaze it's annoying! I read all threads, did all the suggestions, but nada.

I'm a bit disappointed this can't be fixed :(

david wrote 10 months ago: 1

@Laura1 wrote:
I'm getting the same problem and it's on EVERY page of TVmaze it's annoying! I read all threads, did all the suggestions, but nada.
I'm a bit disappointed this can't be fixed :(

Thanks for reporting this (again) and sorry for the inconvenience! I can't reproduce this myself, but I rewrote the safeguards that were previously added. Possibly this is more fool-proof and the problem will disappear now. Please let us know the result.

Cecile wrote 10 months ago: 1

@BazzaG & @Laura1

It's a Chrome issue. It's probably an error coming from one of your chrome extension. Do you have one managing cookies and browser's configuration (cache, settings, etc) ?

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BazzaG wrote 10 months ago: 1

@Cecile wrote:
@BazzaG & @Laura1
It's a Chrome issue. It's probably an error coming from one of your chrome extension. Do you have one managing cookies and browser's configuration (cache, settings, etc) ?

Not that I know of. Only have a few installed anyway.

deleted wrote 10 months ago: 1

@david wrote:
Thanks for reporting this (again) and sorry for the inconvenience! I can't reproduce this myself, but I rewrote the safeguards that were previously added. Possibly this is more fool-proof and the problem will disappear now. Please let us know the result.

what ever you did seams to be working! yay! ...not completely gone, but it pops up once in a while, a LOT better! thanks