New Distraction Control Safari Feature Launches in Latest iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia Betas

by

With the fifth betas of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, Apple is introducing a previously unannounced feature for Safari, Distraction Control.

safari icon blue banner
As the name suggests, Distraction Control is designed to cut down on distracting elements from articles and webpages, such as sign in windows, cookie preference popups, newsletter signup banners, autoplay videos, and more.

Distraction Control can be used to hide static content on a page, but it is not an ad blocker and cannot be used to permanently hide ads. An ad can be temporarily hidden, but the feature was not designed for ads, and an ad will reappear when it refreshes. It was not created for elements on a webpage that regularly change.

To use Distraction Control, go to the Page Menu and select Hide Distracting Items. You can select an area on the page that you want to hide, and static content that you select will remain hidden. It is a good way to eliminate the pesky popovers that show up when browsing online stores, reading articles, and more. iPhone, iPad, and Mac users need to opt in to hiding elements on the page, and Apple says that nothing is hidden that is not proactively selected.

When hiding a cookie banner or GDPR popup with Distraction Control, the function is the same as closing a banner without submitting website preferences at all.

Your Distraction Control settings are on-device and will not sync from device to device, so you will need to hide website elements on each one of your devices. You can use the "Show Hidden Items" option by going to the Safari search field to instantly see all hidden elements on a webpage.

Distraction Control is available in the fifth iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia developer betas, and it should soon be available to public beta testers as well.

Distraction Control is just one of the new features that Apple is introducing in Safari, and it joins other options like the Highlights feature for quickly surfacing info you might want to see on a website, the redesigned Reader interface with table of contents and summaries, and the video viewer that removes distractions when watching a video on a webpage.

Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia

Popular Stories

wwdc sans text feature

Apple Rumored to Announce New Product on February 19

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld. The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld. Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Read Full Article
maxresdefault

Apple Shows Off a Key Reason to Upgrade to the iPhone 17

Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie. "Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Read Full Article • 79 comments
Apple Logo Zoomed

Tim Cook Teases Plans for Apple's Upcoming 50th Anniversary

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026. "I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
Read Full Article • 149 comments
Finder Siri Feature

Why Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Upgrade Will Be Bigger Than Originally Promised

Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do. The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up. Upgraded Architecture The next-generation...
Read Full Article • 154 comments
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April. Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far. iOS 26.3 iPhone to Android Transfer Tool iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
Read Full Article • 37 comments

Top Rated Comments

LouisPiper Avatar
LouisPiper
20 months ago

This kind of feature is just unimaginably stupid. While some websites may be bloated with crap everywhere...just go to a different site. Users should not be able to hide random elements that the developer put there for a reason.
Terrible take.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LouisPiper Avatar
LouisPiper
20 months ago

Nope. Literal truth. There is no reason why a user should be able to start manipulating elements on a web page or web app, and I'm certain you can't think of one.
Accessibility? Readability? Increasing contrast? Removing the "sign up and get 10% off your order" pop up before you've even seen the page?

"Just go to a different site" is idealistic at best and juvenile at worst. This isn't Walmart vs Target. Many of these sites are highly specialized and you could want to read/interact with the content and also not get bombarded with ads, strange/broken designs, etc foisted upon you by the sales division.

Lastly, it isn't like this is new. This is a super charged Reader Mode, like people have been using for years. What an absolutely strange position to take in this era of unabated web clutter. What's next? Telling people to take another road instead of fixing potholes?
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KorvaxChris Avatar
KorvaxChris
20 months ago

Nope. Literal truth. There is no reason why a user should be able to start manipulating elements on a web page or web app, and I'm certain you can't think of one.
There are plenty of reasons why someone would want/need the ability to manipulate certain elements on a webpage. Accessibility being probably the biggest one.

This is a pretty disingenuous statement.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lounge vibes 05 Avatar
Lounge vibes 05
20 months ago

Nope. Literal truth. There is no reason why a user should be able to start manipulating elements on a web page or web app, and I'm certain you can't think of one.
As a blind person who relies on a screenreader, cookie pop-ups and other nonsense has made huge parts of the Internet a usability nightmare.
The pop-ups are usually completely unlabeled so not accessible, create massive usability problems, and really badly developed ones can bring VoiceOver on the Mac completely down with a full system restart being the only solution.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
jz0309
20 months ago
The biggest distraction on websites is: ads
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dynamojoe Avatar
dynamojoe
20 months ago

Nope. Literal truth. There is no reason why a user should be able to start manipulating elements on a web page or web app, and I'm certain you can't think of one.
I’m with LouisPiper on this. I’d love to get rid of some web elements. I’m tired of the prompt to log into some sites with my google ID, but it doesn’t take ”never” for an answer. I hate it when a page I’m reading goes gray to attract my attention to a coupon code (or what they think about my adblocker). Giving me more tools is a good thing even if I don’t use them.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments