Every day, I find myself increasingly frustrated with the state of the mobile web. Reading news articles on my iPhone has become a chore due to intrusive cookie prompts and overwhelming ads that obscure the content.
It seems Apple shares my frustration, as they’ve introduced a new feature in iOS 18 called “Distraction Control,” complete with a Thanos snap animation that eliminates annoying website elements.
This feature appeared in Safari earlier this week with the fifth beta of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. It allows you to temporarily remove distractions like cookie prompts, ads, and autoplay videos that follow you as you scroll.
I’m a fan of the Thanos snap animation in iOS 18, which lets you remove annoying ads from webpages 🫰 pic.twitter.com/24UhKxExoy
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) August 6, 2024
The animation is a clever nod to the Thanos snap and feels empowering, as if I’m wielding the Infinity Stones to clear away half of the clutter on mobile websites. Importantly, this isn’t an adblocker—it's a temporary solution. Ads still load, ensuring website owners receive ad views, so there’s no harm done.
MacRumors has an excellent hands-on video demonstrating the feature. However, I wish there were a more straightforward way to use Distraction Control. In the latest iOS 18 beta 5 release, you have to tap the same button used for enabling reader mode, which focuses on text, to hide parts of webpages. A gesture to swipe away these distractions would make the feature even more useful.
Barring any last-minute changes, the Distraction Control feature is expected to be part of the final iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 release, likely arriving next month.