Google has introduced push alert support for apps in Google Chrome browser or Chrome OS. The protocol called Google Cloud Messaging for Chrome is designed to let apps receive notifications from outside Chrome and respond to them more efficiently.

Earlier apps that wanted to respond to an outside trigger would have to keep checking back with a server, using more data and power. Now, developers can have the app request a token, then have their server post a message with said token to Cloud Messaging.

“Event pages keep apps and extensions efficient by allowing them to respond to a variety of events such as timers or navigation to a particular site, without having to remain running persistently. But what if you need to respond to something that occurs outside of Chrome, such as a news alert, a message sent to a user or a stock hitting a price threshold? Until now, you had to do this by repeatedly polling a server. This process consumed bandwidth and reduced the battery life of your users’ machines.” wrote Mark Scott, Product Manager on the Google Chrome team.