On the verge of full release iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia and more, Apple continues to innovate beta versions are available to early testers. Today, the company released the fifth developer beta to these platforms, and with it comes several changes to Safari and Photos. Specifically, Apple’s browser is getting some tools to make surfing on today’s cluttered and overcrowded web pages less distracting with a tool called Distraction Control.
Is Safari’s distraction control an ad blocker?
To be clear, this is not intended for an ad blocker. This refers to parts of the page that distract you, such as an overlay asking you to subscribe or even requests to use cookies. When you visit a website, you can click the Page Menu button in the Search area (where the Reader and Viewer buttons are). There you can tap on “Hide distractions” and choose which parts of the page you want to filter. Later, on repeat visits, that part will be blocked on the advancing domain.
However, there are a few important caveats. The first time you click Distraction Control, Apple will tell you that it won’t permanently remove ads or other areas where content can be changed or updated. Because on-page banner ads typically refresh on each visit, this makes Distraction Control useless for those elements.
You’ll also choose which parts of the site to hide, and there’s no artificial intelligence to automatically detect which components might be distracting. You will see a blue outline over certain fields and you can tap to select them. According to Apple, nothing will be hidden unless the user actively chooses to do so. You’ll also be able to show items later by going back to the hide icon in the search field and selecting “Show hidden items”.
If it’s changed in any way that you chose to block, such as a headline or an ad, it will reappear on your next visit.
How does Distraction Control handle those pesky GDPR cookie requests?
In theory, you can also use Attention Diffusion Control to hide dialogs with GDPR-defined cookie permission requests. If you choose to block them, the website will be notified that you have closed the request without responding. Based on legal requirements in different regions, the website will need to act on that information.
It’s not yet clear how Distraction Control will handle paywalls, especially since there are different ways to protect content.
The fifth developer beta also brings with it some annoying features At WWDC, such as the redesigned Reader and Highlights, which bring you summarized information from the website, such as business hours or phone number. There’s also a new Viewer experience that works when Safari detects video on a page and brings it up front. It will also give you system playback controls in this mode, including picture-in-picture.
If you’re curious about the new tools and how Distraction Control works, you can launch Apple’s developer beta. Just be aware that there may be bugs or quirks because you chose to preview the software, so make sure to back up your data before proceeding. According to the information accompanying the iOS 18 beta 5 update, it also requires 7.11 GB of storage.
Update, August 5, 2024, 1:31 PM ET: This story has been updated to clarify that the blocking of distractions only applies to that specific domain moving forward and not to all websites on the web.
