Apple’s aid to saying adios to annoying ads could be a game changer

Finally, a feature in Safari that makes me consider using it: Apple has not talked much about it to try to avoid inevitable controversy, but the new version of Safari that comes with iPhones, iOS 18 (already available in beta) and in OS X in Macs now includes Distraction Control, which allows the user to easily remove unwanted elements from a website.

It’s as simple as that: you enter a web page, press a button in the browser bar that says “Hide distracting items”, click on the item that bothers you, a menu pops up, and if you choose “Hide”, you will see it disintegrate. You can do this with as many items on the page as you want, finish with “Done”, and when you return to the page, those items will remain hidden. At any time, you can choose “Show Hidden Items” and display them again.

We’re basically talking about something that looks a lot like an ad blocker, which is nothing new except that it is part of a browser that many users may use because it comes with their device, which has the highest market share on smartphones in the United States (49%) and the second highest globally (24.71%), and the one that users with the most purchasing power tend to use.

Safari is not a minority competitor in the browser landscape, but above all, it is especially relevant due to the position of…