An unannounced feature coming to iPhones in iOS 18 has been discovered by eagle-eyed beta testers.
The secret feature was created to bring a big boost to Apple’s native Safari app.
The tech giant released iOS 18 – dubbed Apple’s “biggest update ever” – to iPhone owners who are part of Apple’s Developer Program last week.
Since then, this special group of iPhone owners has been scrambling to see what iOS 18 is all about — and whether it actually works.
At WWDC 2024 in June, Apple announced several new features coming to iPhones and iPads in iOS 18.
One feature that wasn’t on the raft is Distraction Control, a new feature that’s reportedly coming to Safari.
The name of the feature leaves little to the imagination.
Distraction Control is designed to filter out distracting but static elements on a web page.
For example, login windows, cookie preferences pop-ups, newsletter sign-up banners, and autoplay videos.
When Distraction Control is enabled, a GDPR cookie banner or pop-up will act as if you closed it, meaning it will disappear without sending any preferences.
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It doesn’t double as an ad blocker, so ads will still shine through – for better or worse.
According to MacRumors, some ads may be temporarily hidden, but reappear when they are updated.
The new feature has been dubbed “the best update for Safari yet” by Apple fans.
Some say it’s even better than an ad blocker.
One person wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “Man, this ‘Sign in to Google’ on almost every site these days is getting so annoying.”
Another responded, saying: “Exactly! And ad blockers don’t hide them. Good to see this feature.”
More features coming to Safari
Other features coming to Safari in iOS 18 include:
Highlights
Safari will automatically detect relevant information on a page and highlight it as you browse.
Reader summaries
Reader mode is gaining summaries that provide a high-level table of contents and summary, so iPhone owners get the gist of an article before reading further.
Will my iPhone have iOS 18?
If your iPhone can get iOS 17, it can also get iOS 18.
Here is the full list:
- iPhone SE (2nd generation)
- iPhone SE (3rd generation)
- iPhone XR
- iPhone XS
- iPhone XS Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story