It’s great for elements you don’t want to interact with, like ads for 10% off sales, or navigation bars that provide links to similar articles, and while it’s not marketed as an ad blocker, Distraction Control does help hide ads to some extent, though they tend to reappear if you keep browsing.
If you use distraction controls to close a popup that asks you to change settings, consent to cookies, etc., the website will behave as if you never interacted with the dialog box. So, in the case of cookies, for example, the site may not remember your location or preferences because cookies are not allowed. Depending on the page, it may take a bit of trial and error to figure out what you can hide and still keep everything working properly.
How to Use Safari Distraction Controls
Safari doesn’t automatically identify and hide distracting items. If there are any you don’t want to see, you’ll need to hide them manually. Load a webpage and scroll to the part of the page that shows the element you want to hide. One odd thing about Distraction Control (at least for now) is that you can’t scroll a website while you’re hiding parts of it.
Tap the icon that resembles a rectangle over several lines to the left of the address bar at the bottom of the Safari interface. Hide distracting items: You can now select parts of a web page on the screen, hide Any element has a button that allows you to dismiss it (complete with a satisfying little animation).
Your webpage may reorganize itself to make up for the missing elements, but it may not. It depends on what you’re hiding and how the page is coded. As you continue to hide items, a total will appear at the bottom of the screen. When you’re happy with the look of your page, end Return to browsing (or tap cancel to undo the changes).
If you ever want to restore an item you’ve hidden, tap the same button to the left of the address bar at the bottom of the Safari interface, Show hidden items and show To check, click . Everything you previously hid will be visible again. There is no option to unhide elements one by one.
