iOS 18 will bring distraction free browsing to parts of the web

16 August 2024

News sites seem to be the worst, but they’re not alone*. You want to read a news item, but are assailed by a plethora of interfering popups of some sort. But a new feature in the soon to be released iPhone operating system, iOS 18, for Apple’s Safari browser, is a step in the right direction:

As the name suggests, Distraction Control is designed to cut down on distracting elements from articles and webpages, such as sign in windows, cookie preference popups, newsletter signup banners, autoplay videos, and more.

This is welcome news for anyone simply trying to browse the web, and obtain information. I’m not sure what other platforms (e.g. Android) have a similar feature, but distraction-free technology (not to be confused with ad blocking), needs to be more widespread than it is at present.

The other option, of course, for a distraction-free web experience, is to browse #IndieWeb, or independent websites, such as this one, for instance.

* we were looking for some chairs to buy, but gave up after three vendor websites threw an array of popups at us. We just want to buy furniture, leave us be.