Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Daily TipsMac

How to Use Distraction Control in macOS Sequoia’s Safari

Does a webpage show a lot of items you find distracting? With Apple’s Distraction Control feature, you can hide such items until you choose to see ‘em again.

Here’s how to use the feature in macOS Sequoia:

° From the Smart Search field in Safari, click the Page Menu button.

° Choose Hide Distracting Items.

° As you move the pointer around the page, Safari shows a border around each item that you can hide.

° Click an item to hide it. You can click to hide additional items as well.

° Click Done in the Smart Search field to confirm your changes. Or click Cancel.

How to show hidden items

When viewing a webpage that has hidden items, an eye with a line through it appears next to the Page Menu button. 

Tap or click the Page Menu button, then select Show Hidden Items. If you’ve hidden more than one item on the page, you’re asked to confirm your choice before hidden items are shown.

Apple notes that Distraction Control works best with items that don’t regularly change. It doesn’t permanently hide ads or other items that update frequently. If other pages on the same website use the same items in the same way, they’re hidden on those pages as well. Items hidden in one Safari profile are also hidden in other Safari profiles on the same device.

By the way, French media and ad groups HATE Distraction Control. They say the feature, formerly dubbed “Web Eraser,” could could hamper websites and advertising.

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.