TLS Inspector vs Charles Proxy
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
TLS Inspector
Inspect TLS certificates for any domain or IP address to understand trust and safety. Detect man-in-the-middle attacks by highlighting invalid certificates. Access detailed certificate properties and integrate with your browser.
- Input domain or IP for inspection
- Inspect websites via browser extension
- View entire issue chain and trust status
- Detailed TLS certificate properties
- Detect man-in-the-middle attacks
- Share sheet integration with Safari
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Trust & Safety in the palm of your hand. • Input & Inspect. It's really that simple. Input a domain or IP address using the TLS Inspector app, or inspect any website from within your favourite browser using our Inspect Website extension. • No Nonsense Results. "At a glance" has never been easier. TLS Inspector will show you the entire issue chain for any website, and whether or not your device trusts that chain. • Dive Deep. Details for days. View important properties of any TLS certificate including fingerprints, dates, algorithms, and more. • Stay Safe Online. No training required. TLS Inspector makes it easy to detect and avoid man-in-the-middle attacks on unsafe networks by highlighting invalid and untrustworthy certificates. • Right Place, Right Time. Inspect nearly anything from anywhere. Easily access TLS Inspector from other apps, such as Safari, with the Show Certificates share sheet action. TLS Inspector is free & libre open source software (FLOSS) with source code available on GitHub. TLS Inspector is made entirely without the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Large Language Models (LLMs).
Charles Proxy
Capture and inspect network requests and responses directly on your iOS device. Debug networking issues without needing a computer. View detailed metadata, headers, and bodies, and even transfer sessions to a desktop for further analysis.
- Capture network requests and responses
- Inspect metadata, headers, and bodies
- SSL Proxying for plain text viewing
- Measure network performance
- Block requests to specific hosts
- DNS spoofing
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Charles Proxy for iOS lets you capture, inspect and modify network requests and responses on your iOS device. You can view metadata, headers and bodies in the app, so you can finally debug your app’s networking issues without a computer. Charles Proxy for iOS is an app from the creator of Charles Proxy for desktop. HOW IT WORKS Turn Charles on when you want to start capturing. Charles captures your network requests and responses in the background while you test your app or website. Return to Charles to inspect the requests and responses. If you also have Charles on your desktop, you can transfer recorded sessions to your desktop to explore them on the big screen. Charles creates a local VPN on your device. All of your network traffic passes through Charles on your device, and then out to the internet as usual over either WiFi or Mobile / Cellular data. There is no remote server involved, and your data always remains private to you. FEATURES * SSL Proxying to view SSL requests in plain text * View and share request and responses bodies * Syntax highlighting for text request and response bodies * Measure network performance over WiFi or Mobile / Cellular networks * Block requests to nominated hosts * DNS spoofing
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: TLS Inspector at Free against Charles Proxy's $8.99. TLS Inspector also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.0) and review sentiment (83% vs 52%). Charles Proxy's advantage is chart position (#135 vs unranked). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
TLS Inspector is free to download; Charles Proxy costs $8.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
TLS Inspector holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 256 and 187 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of TLS Inspector's written reviews are positive against 52% of Charles Proxy's.
TLS Inspector ships an update monthly, Charles Proxy every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on August 5, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | TLS Inspector | Charles Proxy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $8.99 |
| Rating | 4.8 (256 ratings) — better | 4.0 (187 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 83.0% of reviews — better | 51.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 256 — better | 187 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Paid |
| Best chart rank | — | #135 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 18 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ian Spence | XK72 Limited |
Customer experience
TLS Inspector
Charles Proxy
User reviews
TLS Inspector
From 256 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✅ Essential security utility
- 🔧 Useful for cert renewals
- 📱 Inspects certs on mobile
- 💡 Innovative CA root updating
- 👍 Seamless share sheet integration
Room to improve
- 🐛 Share extension not working
- ⚠️ Error messages for updates
- 📉 No longer works for some
- 🥶 App freezes
- 🚫 Unauthorized app claim
Charles Proxy
From 187 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Great tool for developers
- 👍 Useful for debugging
- 🔒 SSL proxying works
- 💡 Convenient to use on mobile
Room to improve
- 🐛 Stability issues, crashes
- 🐛 SSL certificate not trusted
- 🐛 Doesn't handle gzip compression
- 🐛 Slow performance compared to desktop
Bugs and requests
TLS Inspector
Reported bugs
5 issues- App crash issue fixed
- Share extension 'inspect website' never works
- Error checking for TLS bundle updates
- App freezes
- App locks up, non functional
Requested features
3 requests- Continue making app great and helpful
- Add dark mode option
- More advanced features
Charles Proxy
Reported bugs
4 issues- Doesn't work with latest iOS versions
- Fails to export sessions frequently
- Incompatible with apps using VPN
- Large JSON bodies not displayed properly
Requested features
5 requests- Add ability to edit and replay requests
- Improve JSON viewer and formatting
- Add support for WebSockets
- Provide option to map to local
- Add scripting and breakpoint features
In-app purchases
TLS Inspector
No in-app purchases
Charles Proxy
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is TLS Inspector free?
Is Charles Proxy free?
Which has better reviews, TLS Inspector or Charles Proxy?
Do TLS Inspector or Charles Proxy have ads?
Which is updated more often, TLS Inspector or Charles Proxy?
Other comparisons
