Apple has released the fifth beta of iOS 18, which brought several new features to Apple's operating system. The fifth beta brings significant changes to Safari, including a new distraction control tool.
Distraction control reduces distracting elements such as content overlays or login banners on articles and web pages.
With this tool, you can hide static content on a page, but it's worth noting that Distraction Control is not an ad blocker, so it won't hide ads permanently. It seems that an ad, such as a newsletter banner or an auto-playing video, can be temporarily hidden. However, the ad will reappear when it's refreshed. It's mainly for elements that don't change on the page.
If you're in the beta and want to try Distraction Control, it takes a bit of finesse to master.
The tool is found in the Page menu when you select “Hide Distracting Elements.” Then select an area of the web page that you want to hide. You can also select static elements that you don’t want to see.
According to Apple, nothing is hidden that you haven't proactively selected.
The settings are built into the device, however, which means they won't sync if you switch between iPhones or iPhones and iPads. You'll have to do this manually for each device.
You will need to do this for each website you visit, so your actual usefulness may vary.
You can find Distraction Control on developer betas of Apple's operating system, including iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.
Distraction control is just one of the new features added in the fifth beta. Other options include rolling back changes to the Photos app that iOS users didn't like.