Apple released the 5th beta of macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPad 18 on August 5, 2024. And I noticed that it adds a new distraction control feature to Safari. What is the Safari’s distraction control feature? Does it matter? If I want to enable this feature on my Mac, how can I make it? Besides, is it synced across my Apple devices?
The new distraction control feature introduced to Safari in the 5th beta of macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, iPad 18, is designed to enable Apple users to manage distracting elements while browsing webpages, to improve your browsing experience.
Distraction control in Safari can help hide static contents such as sign-in windows, cookies, preferences, popups, newsletter signup banners, autoplay videos, and content elements like headlines and images, these elements do not change frequently, so they’ll remain hidden for future visits after you set it. But it is an ad-blocker given that those data often refresh.
Here are the key features of distraction control:
Customizable distraction levels: It provides there primary levels of distraction control for you to choose from, including low distraction, medium distraction, and high distraction, you can adjust the levels anytime to meet your needs in different situations.
Focus profiles: Just like the focus mode on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, the focus profiles enables you to create custom settings for different activities or times of day. For example, you can create a Work profile with Medium Distraction during office hours.
Integrated content blocking: Although content blocking features have long been available in Safari, Distraction Control goes one step further by including these capabilities into the entire distraction management system. Certain material categories that could divert attention from the activity at hand like social media widgets can be blocked by users. This improves privacy, reduces distractions, and quickens the loading of web pages.
Smart Suggestions: Based on your browsing preferences and activity patterns, it employs machine learning to suggest setting changes. Safari may recommend changing to a higher level of distraction management during specific hours if, for instance, you are easily sidetracked by social media at those times.
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The Safari Distraction Control feature is available on the 5th beta version of macOS Sequoia, iOS 18, and iPadOS 18, you can enable it via Safari’s Settings and choose what to hide. Here’s an example of turning on Distraction Control in Safari for macOS Sequoia:
- Open a web page in Safari.
- Tap on the Page Menu icon (the one in the upper left corner).
- Then tap on “Hide Distracting Items”. A prompt appears to tell you that “hiding distracting items will not permanently remove ads and other content that update frequently,” click OK and then proceed.
- Manually choose the part of the page you want to hide. You can move the cursor over something on the webpage. If you want to hide something, hover the cursor until a blue box surrounds it, and click on it to hide the element. Then, the webpage automatically reorganizes to fill in the gap.
- If you want to make the items reappear, you can click The Page Menu icon and choose Show Hidden Items.
Until something about the items changes, they should remain hidden even when the website refreshes or reloads. Besides, your settings and profiles in Safari Distraction Control will automatically sync whether you’re using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, giving you a consistent experience across all devices.
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Thanks, I got it. It seems that the Distraction Control is a practical feature, it could help me stay focused on my task.
Appreciate the detailed steps 
, I’ll update my Mac to the macOS Sequoiua Beta 5 and follow the steps to turn on Distraction Control in Safari.