I think it’s caused by the “greeting message” which starts a “conversation” and disabling the greeting message would solve the problem.. unfortunately in the theme editor, one cannot leave the “greeting message” field blank.
Topic summary
Issue: Shopify Inbox displays a misleading red notification badge (showing “1”) to new customers, even when no actual messages exist. Users want to disable this false notification but standard CSS solutions don’t work because the element is dynamically generated via JavaScript within a ShadowRoot.
Attempted Solutions:
- Simple CSS hiding (
.chat-notification { display: none !important; }) fails because the notification is added dynamically - Shopify support suggests contacting the Help Center, as Inbox is officially developed by Shopify, but cannot guarantee coding assistance
Working Solution: A JavaScript workaround was developed that:
- Waits for the chat widget to load (500ms delay)
- Sets a cookie when users click the chat widget
- Checks for the cookie and removes the false notification badge if the user hasn’t interacted with the widget
- Navigates the DOM/ShadowRoot to target the notification element
Important Update: Shopify has since modified the source code structure. The solution requires updating the childNodes selector from [2] to [1] to continue working.
Status: Multiple users report frustration that this deceptive notification cannot be disabled through official settings. The JavaScript solution works but requires maintenance when Shopify updates their code.