Google's web notification widget is disappearing on March 7

Back in the early days of Google+ (R.I.P.), the search giant added a notification widget to the top of its websites. But if you’re like most people, you probably never touch that bell icon which can be seen in the above photo. Google must have realized that it was underused because the widget is getting the ax on March 7.

Over the years, Google added notifications from Photos and Hangouts Chat to the widget to accompany those from Google+. Whenever something came through, a notification dot would appear next to the bell to alert you. From there, you could interact with or dismiss the various notifications.

The company announced this change on its help forum in addition to the banner within the widget. Google doesn’t officially state if the bell icon itself will go away too or if the company plans to utilize it for something else.

If you still want notifications from Photos or Hangouts Chat, you can go to the respective service’s website, open the settings menu, and toggle on the option for notifications. Instead of having items show up in the widget, you’ll get the usual browser pop-ups that show up from other websites.