How to use Distraction Control on Mac
Constant distractions on your Mac can hinder productivity, but Apple’s distraction control tool offers an easy way to stay focused and in control. You can find it here.
From pop-up ads to crowded sidebars, it’s easy to get distracted by non-essential elements on a webpage. Fortunately, with the introduction of macOS Sequoia, iPadOS 18And iOS 18, safari has a new feature called Distraction Control.
Distraction Control is a Safari feature designed to hide certain parts of a webpage that might distract your attention. Unlike traditional ad blockers that attempt to remove all ads, Distraction Control gives you the freedom to manually select and hide elements you find distracting – whether they’re ads, menus, or embedded videos.
Distraction control works best with static elements because it doesn’t permanently hide dynamic content like refreshing ads.
How to use Distraction Control on Mac
Safari’s distraction control feature makes it easy to hide distracting elements on a webpage. Whether it’s a sidebar or a popup, you can easily select and remove these distractions with just a few clicks.
Hide elements
- Open safari and navigate to the webpage where you want to avoid distractions.
- Click on Side menu button in the address bar
- Choose Hide distracting objects from the drop down menu.
- Highlight and click the items you want to remove.
- Click Completed to confirm your changes. If you change your mind, click Cancel.
Apple added a fun animation to make hiding items more interesting as they disappear in an explosion of particles.
How to recover hidden items
If you have decided to show the hidden items, you can easily restore them using Safari. With another few clicks, you can quickly restore these items without having to reload the entire page.
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- Click on Side menu Click the button in Safari’s address bar again.
- Choose Show hidden items.
Safari will ask you to confirm which hidden items you want to restore if you have hidden several.
Restrictions to consider
Although Distraction Control is a powerful tool, it is not a replacement for a full-fledged ad blocker. It works best with static elements, meaning it may not hide constantly updated ads or content that reloads frequently.
However, the tool is still a great option for anyone who wants to quickly clean up their browsing experience without installing additional extensions.
Distraction Control in Safari is a simple but effective way to customize your web browsing experience and minimize interruptions. Whether you’re working, reading, or shopping online, this tool puts you in control of what you see – and what you don’t.
You can then also combine this with Reading Mode for an even cleaner experience, making Safari one of the best browsers for distraction-free browsing on Mac and iPhone.
