New Distraction Control Safari Feature Launches in Latest iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia Betas - MacRumors
Skip to Content

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

iPhone 18 Pro Rumored Colors

What's Coming in September: New iPhones, Apple Watches and More

Thursday August 13, 2026 4:20 pm PDT by
Apple will introduce at least five new devices at its iPhone-centric event next month, and it's also possible we'll get devices waiting on Siri AI like the Apple TV. iPhone 18 Pro The iPhone 18 Pro is going to look like the iPhone 17 Pro, but with a smaller Dynamic Island. It's getting some internal updates, including a new Wide camera with a variable aperture for more control over lighting ...
Read Full Article • 24 comments
Everything New Your iPhone Can Do on iOS 27 Feature 1

30 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 27

Friday August 14, 2026 6:24 am PDT by
Apple will release iOS 27 in September, and despite the company's focus this year on refining its flagship operating system and nixing bugs, there are still many additional features on the way, not least of which is Apple's new context-aware Siri, re-tooled for the generative AI era. This year's major iPhone software update isn't all about AI, though, as the following feature list...
Read Full Article • 33 comments
iPhone 17 One Year Later Thumb 1

Should You Buy an iPhone 17 Now or Wait for iPhone 18?

Friday August 14, 2026 12:15 pm PDT by
For the first time since Apple started selling standard and "Pro" iPhones, we're not going to get an entry-level iPhone model this fall. Apple doesn't plan to release an iPhone 18 in September, and will only launch the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and foldable iPhone Ultra. The lower-cost iPhone 18 won't come out until spring 2027. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Read Full Article • 82 comments

Top Rated Comments

L
LouisPiper
27 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)
L
LouisPiper
27 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)
K
KorvaxChris
27 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)
L
Lounge vibes 05
27 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
27 months ago
The biggest distraction on websites is: ads
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
P
Premium1
27 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.
Found the website designer who's page is littered with so many ads it takes 30 seconds to load. Nah, if your website wasn't ****, this wouldn't be needed. Stupid pop ups (and not to mention the ones that make the x to close it the same color as the web page so its all but impossible to find) are the worst offenders.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments