Now, it’s important to say that you’re reading this article on a partly ad-supported website. While digital ads aren’t perfect, they’re one of the core ways websites can monetize their content and remain in business on the modern web. Without advertising, many websites would likely go out of business.
WithiOS 18, Apple is introducing a new feature called Hide Distracting Items. In some ways, the feature makes it seem like Apple is bringing an ad-blocker natively to Safari – but is it really?
AI assistants are on the rise again, but do we really want to talk to our phones?
AI chatbots are going big on voice interaction – I prefer using my thumbs over my voice.
What is Hide Distracting Items?
Yeah, let me be direct – this isn’t an ad-blocker. When this feature was initially rumored, Apple began receivingcomplaints from organizationsconcerned about how it could impact their business. Whether intentionally or not, Hide Distracting Items can’t remove pieces of a website that change every time it’s reloaded. These are more formally called dynamically changing elements.
I’m never one to discourage Apple from adding anew feature, as I’m sure someone, somewhere, can find a good use for it. Still, it’s important to stress that this isn’t an ad-blocker, at least on most websites. Even if it did, there are several pretty goodextensionsfor Safari and just about every other browser that can block ads and more.
My 10 favorite iOS 18 features that you need to try
Despite Apple Intelligence not arriving until next month, iOS 18’s first public release includes several awesome new features.
How to use Hide Distracting Items
I’m not sure what you’ll hide
To use Hide Distracting Items:
To show hidden items:
Remember that hidden items only remain hidden with static elements. Items that dynamically change, like most ads, do not remain hidden.
