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macOS Sequoia (macOS 15) brings a wealth of new features to Apple’s Safari browser, making it faster, smarter, and more user-friendly than ever. With enhancements like Distraction Control, Highlights, and Apple Intelligence integration, Safari 18 is designed to streamline your workflow, boost productivity, and protect your privacy. This comprehensive guide explores advanced Safari tricks tailored for macOS Sequoia, offering step-by-step instructions, practical tips, and recommendations for free tools to elevate your browsing experience. Whether you’re a casual user or a power user, these techniques will help you make the most of Safari on your Mac.

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1. Master Distraction Control for a Cleaner Browsing Experience

Safari 18 introduces Distraction Control, a feature that lets you hide intrusive webpage elements like pop-up ads, banners, or cookie consent prompts, creating a cleaner and more focused browsing environment. Unlike traditional ad blockers, Distraction Control allows you to selectively hide elements without breaking webpage functionality.

How to Use Distraction Control

1. Open Safari on macOS Sequoia.
2. Navigate to a webpage with distracting elements (e.g., pop-up ads or sticky banners).
3. Click the Smart Search field (the address bar) to reveal the Hide Distracting Items icon (a crossed-out eye symbol) on the left.
4. Click the icon and select the webpage elements you want to hide, such as banners or sidebars.
5. Confirm your selections, and Safari will hide those elements for the current session. To make the changes persistent, revisit the same page and confirm again.

Pro Tip: Combine Distraction Control with macOS Sequoia’s Focus Mode to block notifications and create a distraction-free workspace. To enable Focus Mode:

• Go to System Settings > Focus.
• Create a new Focus profile (e.g., “Work”) and customize which notifications to allow.
• Activate it via the Control Center in the menu bar.

For advanced ad-blocking capabilities, consider installing AdGuard for Safari, a free extension that enhances Distraction Control by automatically blocking ads and trackers across websites.

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2. Leverage Highlights for Smarter Web Navigation

Safari’s Highlights feature uses machine learning to detect and display relevant information on webpages, such as directions, links, or summaries, making it easier to find what you need without endless scrolling.

How to Use Highlights

1. Visit a webpage (e.g., a restaurant’s site or an article).
2. Click the Smart Search icon in the address bar.
3. Look for highlighted information like addresses (with one-click Maps integration), phone numbers, or quick links to related content (e.g., music, movies, or reviews).
4. Click the highlighted item to access additional details, such as directions in Apple Maps or a quick call option.

Example Use Case: If you’re browsing a restaurant’s website, Highlights might detect the address and offer a direct link to Apple Maps for navigation. This is especially useful for planning trips or finding local businesses.

Pro Tip: Highlights works best on content-rich websites. Test it on sites like Yelp or Wikipedia to see how it pulls relevant data like contact info or article summaries.

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3. Optimize Reader Mode for Focused Reading

Safari’s Reader Mode has been redesigned in macOS Sequoia to provide a cleaner, distraction-free reading experience with new features like a table of contents and article summaries.

How to Use Reader Mode

1. Open a webpage with an article (e.g., a news site like The New York Times).
2. Click the Reader Mode icon (a page with lines) in the Smart Search field.
3. The page will transform into a clean, text-only view with a summary and table of contents for longer articles.
4. Use the table of contents to jump to specific sections or read the AI-generated summary for a quick overview.

Customization Options:

• Adjust font size and style by clicking the AA button in the address bar.
• Choose a background color (e.g., sepia or dark mode) for comfortable reading.
• Save articles for offline reading by adding them to your Reading List (Shift + Command + D).

Pro Tip: For academic or research-heavy browsing, pair Reader Mode with Obsidian, a free Markdown-based note-taking app, to save and organize article excerpts. Install it via Homebrew with the command: brew install --cask obsidian.

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4. Use Video Viewer for Immersive Media Playback

Safari’s Video Viewer feature in macOS Sequoia enhances video playback by bringing videos to the forefront of the webpage, blurring out background distractions, and offering full playback controls, including Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode.

How to Use Video Viewer

1. Navigate to a webpage with a video (e.g., YouTube or Vimeo).
2. Click the Video Viewer icon (a play button) in the address bar’s left-hand side.
3. The video will expand into a theater-like mode, with the rest of the page blurred.
4. Use the playback controls to pause, rewind, or enter PiP mode by clicking the PiP icon.

Pro Tip: To make PiP videos float across apps, drag the PiP window to any corner of your screen. This is ideal for multitasking, such as watching a tutorial while taking notes in Notion.

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5. Boost Productivity with Window Tiling

macOS Sequoia’s Window Tiling feature integrates seamlessly with Safari, allowing you to organize multiple browser windows for a clutter-free workspace. This is particularly useful for researchers, students, or professionals juggling multiple tabs.

How to Use Window Tiling

1. Open multiple Safari windows or tabs.
2. Drag a window to the edge or corner of your screen, and macOS will suggest a tiled position (e.g., half-screen or quarter-screen).
3. Release the window to snap it into place.
4. Alternatively, click the green traffic light button in the top-left corner of a Safari window and select a tiling option.

Pro Tip: For advanced window management, try Rectangle, a free app that enhances Window Tiling with customizable keyboard shortcuts. Install it via Homebrew: brew install --cask rectangle.

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6. Enhance Privacy with Intelligent Tracking Prevention

Safari 18’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) has been upgraded in macOS Sequoia to offer stronger protection against cross-site tracking, ensuring your browsing data remains private.

How to Enable and Customize ITP

1. Go to Safari > Settings > Privacy.
2. Ensure Prevent Cross-Site Tracking is checked.
3. Enable Hide IP Address from Trackers for additional privacy.
4. Clear your browsing data periodically by going to History > Clear History and selecting the desired time range.

Pro Tip: For enhanced privacy, switch your default search engine to DuckDuckGo, which prioritizes user anonymity. To change the search engine:

• Go to Safari > Settings > Search.
• Select DuckDuckGo from the dropdown menu.

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7. Utilize Safari Extensions for Customization

Safari extensions allow you to add new features and customize your browsing experience. macOS Sequoia supports a growing library of extensions available through the Mac App Store.

Recommended Free Extensions

• AdGuard for Safari: Blocks ads and trackers for a cleaner browsing experience.
• KeySearch: Adds quick-search shortcuts for sites like Google, Amazon, or Wikipedia.
• Text Statistics: Displays character, word, and paragraph counts for selected text, ideal for writers.

How to Install Extensions

1. Open Safari > Settings > Extensions.
2. Click More Extensions to visit the Mac App Store.
3. Search for the desired extension, click Get, and follow the prompts to install.
4. Enable the extension in Safari > Settings > Extensions by checking its box.

Pro Tip: Use 1Password (free trial available) to manage logins securely alongside Safari’s new Passwords app, which syncs credentials via iCloud Keychain.

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8. Share and Collaborate with Tab Groups

Safari’s Tab Groups feature lets you organize tabs into groups and share them with others via iCloud, making it ideal for collaborative projects or shared research.

How to Create and Share Tab Groups

1. Open Safari and click the Tabs icon (two overlapping squares) in the toolbar.
2. Select New Tab Group and name it (e.g., “Project Research”).
3. Add tabs to the group by dragging them into the sidebar.
4. To share, click the Share icon next to the Tab Group and choose a contact or app (e.g., Messages or Mail).
5. Recipients can open the Tab Group in Safari on their iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Pro Tip: Use Tab Groups with iPhone Mirroring to access iPhone-exclusive websites on your Mac’s larger screen.

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9. Use Apple Intelligence for Smarter Browsing

On Macs with Apple Silicon, Safari integrates with Apple Intelligence to offer AI-powered features like Writing Tools, content summarization, and smarter Siri searches.

How to Use Apple Intelligence in Safari

1. Highlight text on a webpage (e.g., an article or email draft).
2. Right-click and select Writing Tools to rewrite, summarize, or proofread the text.
3. Use Siri (activated via Command + Space) to perform complex searches, such as “find articles about macOS Sequoia features from 2025.”
4. Siri will pull relevant information from webpages, Calendar, or Contacts.

Pro Tip: Combine Apple Intelligence with Grammarly (free version available) for advanced text editing directly in Safari.

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10. Download Manager and File Handling

Safari’s Download Manager in macOS Sequoia makes it easier to manage files downloaded from the web, with options to save files to specific locations or access them via the Files app.

How to Use the Download Manager

1. Long-press a downloadable file (e.g., a PDF or image) and select Download Linked File.
2. Click the Downloads icon (a downward arrow) in the toolbar to view all downloaded files.
3. To change the default download location, go to Safari > Settings > General > File Download Location and choose a folder.

Pro Tip: Use CleanMyMac X (free trial available) to organize downloaded files and free up disk space.

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Free Applications to Enhance Your Safari Experience

Here are some free tools to complement the Safari tricks above:

• AdGuard for Safari: Blocks ads and trackers.
  Download: AdGuard for Safari
• Rectangle: Enhances Window Tiling with customizable shortcuts.
  Download: Rectangle
• Obsidian: Markdown-based note-taking for research and article organization.
  Download: Obsidian
• DuckDuckGo Browser: A privacy-focused alternative for occasional browsing.
  Download: DuckDuckGo Browser
• Grammarly: Free text editing for Writing Tools integration.
  Download: Grammarly

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Conclusion

Safari 18 on macOS Sequoia is a powerhouse for productivity, privacy, and customization. By mastering features like Distraction Control, Highlights, Reader Mode, and Apple Intelligence, you can transform your browsing experience. Pair these tricks with free tools like AdGuard, Rectangle, and Obsidian to unlock Safari’s full potential. Whether you’re researching, working, or browsing casually, these techniques will help you stay efficient and focused.

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