Apple releases iOS 18 Developer Beta 5 with Distraction Controls for Safari

Apple's confusing airport departure board full of different iOS and iPadOS software Betas gets a little more complicated today as the company pushed out the fifth Developer Beta of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. Don't confuse these newly released Betas with the iOS 18.1 Developer Beta that came with the Apple Intelligence Beta that was just released on July 29th. 

Available only in the U.S. right now for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Apple Intelligence Beta comes with some of the AI features that iPhone users have been waiting for since hearing about them at WWDC. Such features include the ability to summarize emails and websites, have AI change the tone of an email or text being written, and record a phone call and have it transcribed in the Notes app.

Some features, such as the following, won't be ready until next year. For example, Siri will eventually be able to access data on your iPhone so that the digital assistant can answer a query such as, "What time do I need to pick up my mom at the airport?" Siri will also be able to remove certain distractions from photographs similar to Google's Magic Eraser. Apple Intelligence will allow rough sketches to be turned into images and custom emoji, known as Genmoji, can be created. Don't forget that ChatGPT will also become available to compatible iPhone users in 2025.

So right now, the Apple Intelligence features available in the iOS 18.1 Developer Beta won't be ready for those not interested in joining the Beta program until October when the stable version of iOS 18.1 is released.

The build number for iOS 18 Developer Beta 5 and iPadOS 18 Developer Beta 5 is 22A5326f. Apple today also released the watchOS 11 Developer Beta 5 with the build number of 22R5328e, the fifth Developer Beta of tvOS with a build number of 22J5335d, and the fifth Developer Beta of macOS 15 Sequoia with the build number of 24A5309e. The visionOS 2.0 fifth Developer Beta for the Vision Pro was dropped by Apple today with the build number of 22N5297g.

A new feature available in the just released iOS 18 Developer Beta 5 is called Distraction Controls. Developed for Safari, it allows iPhone users to have certain distracting features removed from websites. These features include cookie preference popups, sign-in windows, banners to subscribe to a newsletter, and more. Each website will require you to choose the items you wish to have removed. Keep in mind that this is not an ad blocker and ads will reappear when a site is refreshed.

To use Distraction Control, go to the page menu in Safari and tap on Hide Distracting Items. You then tap on the features you want removed which disappear from a webpage using a cool-looking animation. You can restore the hidden items by tapping on the Show Hidden Items option. The Betas also get rid of the carousel in the Photos app which was done due to user request.

To update your iPhone or iPad to the fifth Developer Beta of iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 respectively, go to Settings > General > Software Update. Follow the directions to install the Beta.