This new Safari feature lets you snap away annoying ads like Thanos

In Safari for macOS Sequoia, you’ll find a new Page Menu icon on the left side of the address bar. It replaces the Add page to Reading List (a circle with a “+” symbol) that would appear when you moved the cursor to that space.

Click on the Page Menu icon and you’ll see a pop-up menu. If the page can be formatted for Reader View, a Show Reader button along with the title of the webpage appears at the top of the pop-up. Below that (or at the top, if the Show Reader option isn’t available, see image above), you’ll find a Hide Distracting Items option.

Click on Hide Distracting Items. A pop-up appears to tell you that, “Hiding distracting items will not permanently remove ads and other content that update frequently.” Click OK and then proceed to step 2.

After activating Hide Distracting Items, whenever you move the cursor over something on a webpage, you’ll see a blue box surrounding it. This indicates which element will disappear if you click on it.

When you want to make an item go away, hover over it until the blue box appears, and then click. You’ll see an animation of the element dissolve and then disappear. (I like to call Distraction Control the Thanos feature.) When you remove an item, the webpage reorganizes to fill in the gap, so you’re not left with a distracting blank space

 In the macOS Sequoia beta, there don’t seem to be any restrictions on what you can make disappear. You can select the very top header of a webpage, the very bottom footer, and anything in between. You can make everything on a webpage disappear and end up with a blank page.

The items are supposed to stay hidden through page refreshes or reloads unless something about that item changes. In my experience with macOS Sequoia beta 5, the behavior of items staying hidden through page reloads was inconsistent. This could change in future betas.

In the address bar, you’ll see a tally of the items you’ve removed. You can click Cancel to reinstate the items or Done if you’re satisfied.

f you decide you want to be like Bruce Banner and bring the items back, here’s how:

1. Click the Page Menu icon in the address bar.
2. A new Show Hidden Items option appears. Select it to unhide the items.
3. A confirmation window will appear. Click Show if you want to proceed or Cancel if you change your mind.
4. The items are re-inserted into the webpage. You can hide them again if you wish.