Part of Hidden in Plain Sight, our series on Apple features that already shipped and already work, sitting one tap away in apps you already use.

Ever opened a recipe on your iPhone and had to scroll past a newsletter box, a strip of "you might also like" links and a banner pinned to the bottom of the screen before you saw a single ingredient? You close the banner, tap through to the next page, and there it is again. Since iOS 18, Safari has been able to make some of that clutter stay gone. Apple calls the feature Distraction Control, and the button that starts it says Hide Distracting Items.

It's easy to miss. Apple gave Distraction Control a brief mention in its iOS 18 release announcement, next to bigger Safari news like Highlights and a redesigned Reader. You also won't find it by browsing Settings, because it starts from the Page Menu button in Safari's address bar, which Apple calls the Smart Search field.

What Hide Distracting Items does

You point at a part of a webpage, like a sign-up box, a floating banner or a block of links you never click, and Safari hides it. Come back to that page later and it's still hidden. Apple's iPhone User Guide describes it as a way to hide menus and other distractions on webpages.

It also carries across a site. Apple says that if other pages on the same website use the same items in the same way, they're hidden on those pages as well. Hide a news site's subscribe banner on one article and the next article from that site should load without it, as long as the site builds the banner the same way.

Your choices follow you between Safari profiles too. According to Apple, items hidden in one profile are also hidden in your other profiles on the same device.

When a page has hidden items, Safari shows an eye with a line through it next to the Page Menu button, your cue that you're not seeing the whole page.

How to use it

On iPhone or iPad, Apple lists Distraction Control for iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 or later, so it's there in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27.

1. Open the webpage in Safari, then tap the Page Menu button in the Smart Search field.
2. Tap Hide Distracting Items.
3. Tap the item you want to hide. Safari draws a border around it so you can see exactly what you've picked.
4. Tap anywhere inside that item to hide it. You can keep tapping to hide more items on the same page.
5. Tap Done (the checkmark) in the Smart Search field to keep your changes, or tap Cancel (the X) to back out.

Changed your mind? Tap the Page Menu button and choose Show Hidden Items. If you hid more than one thing on that page, Safari asks you to confirm before it brings them back.

On a Mac with macOS 15 or later, the steps are close to the same. Click the Page Menu button in the Smart Search field and choose Hide Distracting Items. As you move the pointer around the page, Safari puts a border around each item you can hide. Click the ones you want gone, then click Done, or click Cancel to leave the page as it was.

Tips for getting more out of it

Aim at things that don't change. Apple says Distraction Control works best with items that don't regularly change. A site's fixed header or a sidebar that looks the same on every visit are good targets. An ad slot that loads something new every time is a poor one.

Start with the sites you read every day. Since hidden items carry over to other pages on the same site, cleaning up a site you visit daily pays off on every article you open there afterward.

Reach for Reader on long articles. Apple suggests Reader when you want a distraction free view of an article. Hide Distracting Items fits better on pages you use rather than read, like a store listing, a forum thread or a scoreboard, where you still want the site's own layout.

Pair it with pop-up blocking. Apple's support article on Distraction Control links to a separate guide for blocking pop-up ads and windows in Safari, so use both if pop-ups are part of the problem.

What to know before you rely on it

Ads may come back. Apple's support article says the feature doesn't permanently hide ads or other items that update frequently, so a slot that loads a fresh ad on every visit will likely keep filling up.

Private browsing keeps its own list. Items you hide in a private browsing window are hidden only in private browsing windows, and they don't stay hidden after you quit Safari.

Clearing your history wipes the list. If you use Clear History and Website Data in your default Safari profile on iPhone or iPad, or Clear History on a Mac, you also clear all hidden items on that device. If you clear history often, plan on hiding things again afterward.

If you use a content blocking Safari extension on a Mac, Apple notes that Distraction Control might work best with the Content Blockers setting turned on for that website.

If a page you've cleaned up suddenly seems broken, with a missing button or a menu that won't open, check for the eye with a line through it and use Show Hidden Items before you blame the site. A hidden item can turn out to be something the page needed.

Start with the one site that bugs you most. If it redesigns and the clutter returns, run Hide Distracting Items again on the new layout.

More from Hidden in Plain Sight: cutting down Lock Screen noise by screening texts from unknown senders, stopping unknown callers before your phone rings with Call Screening, and setting a battery charge limit on your Mac.