Safari Hide Distracting Items
Ranked 3 of 3 reader modes by recommenders
Lets people tap to remove popovers and other page elements in Safari on iPhone, quickly and intuitively. Critics note that removed items can come back.
Lets people tap to remove popovers and other page elements in Safari on iPhone, quickly and intuitively. Critics note that removed items can come back.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Removes popovers and page clutter
“I just used Safari's hide distracting items feature. Popovers gone.”
Comment from 30 Nov 2025 in “We're learning more about what Vitamin D does” “which blocked it once and for all, which I was pretty impressed by”
Comment from 30 Jul 2026 in “The coolest use for the Vision Pro” Intuitive select-and-remove on pages
“Hide distracting items is great on the iPhone to delete elements on the page intuitively”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices” “The native “hide distracting items” feature does allow you to select and remove it”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “XCancel service is suspended until further notice” Praised as a recent Apple improvement
“The "hide distracting items" option is the best thing Apple has done lately.”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Microslop Manifesto” “I'm liking Apple's "Hide Distracting Items…" feature in Safari.”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts”
Other reader modes people recommend
The two most recommended other reader modes, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox Reader Mode | 58 | 10 | 85% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Safari Reader Mode | 13 | 6 | 68% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Safari Hide Distracting ItemsThis page | 8 | 1 | 89% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The native “hide distracting items” feature does allow you to select and remove it”
““hide distracting element” on safari”
“Hide distracting items is great on the iPhone to delete elements on the page intuitively”
“which blocked it once and for all, which I was pretty impressed by”
“The "hide distracting items" option is the best thing Apple has done lately.”
“I'm liking Apple's "Hide Distracting Items…" feature in Safari.”
“I don't think it's actually permanent though, is it? The items will eventually come back.”
“I just used Safari's hide distracting items feature. Popovers gone.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.