Phone vs Privacy Defender
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Phone
This app consolidates all your calling needs, including standard phone calls, FaceTime audio, and video calls. It offers advanced features like voicemail transcription, call recording, and intelligent call screening to manage your communications efficiently.
- Unified calls (phone, FaceTime audio/video)
- Voicemail transcription and summaries
- Live call recording
- Customizable contact posters
- Intelligent call screening
- Wi-Fi calling
- Automatic mic modes
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Make and receive calls with the Phone app. • Phone calls, FaceTime audio calls and FaceTime video calls all in one place. • Choose a new unified layout that brings together your Favorites, Recents, and Voicemails • Favorites offers one-tap shortcuts for calls and messages to your most important contacts. • Recents displays recent conversations and missed calls. Search for previous calls, transcribed voicemails, and contacts using a broad range of search criteria. • Voicemail Summaries powered by Apple Intelligence appear in-line with missed calls and help surface the most important information. • Keypad search lets you quickly find and call existing contacts by typing in their name or number with the alphanumeric keypad. • Contact Posters let you customize exactly how you appear when you give someone a call. Choose from various treatments for photos, Memoji and your name. • Record live calls or FaceTime audio calls from the Phone app and review the transcripts in the Notes app. When you start a recording, the Phone app automatically announces that the call is being recorded. • Visual Voicemail offers a written transcript of your voicemails. Save Visual Voicemail messages as notes, voice memos, or share them using Messages, Mail or AirDrop.* • Live Voicemail lets you see a real-time transcription as someone is leaving you a message, and you can pick up the call if it’s something you want to address in the moment. • Automatic Mic Mode picks the right Mic Mode for you. Voice Isolation blocks out ambient noise and spotlights your voice. Wide Spectrum will leave ambient noises unfiltered, allowing your voice and all the sounds around you to be heard. • Text responses make it easy to send a response in a single tap when you can’t pick up a call. Use suggested replies, or create your own custom text responses. • Remind Me Later helps you remember to return calls that you can’t pick up in the moment. • Hold Assist lets the Phone app wait on hold for you and alerts you once a live agent is available. • Call Screening lets you screen incoming calls from unknown numbers. Your phone will pick up the call for you and ask for a name and reason for the call before the phone even rings. • Call Context uses Apple Intelligence to help surface relevant information — like a confirmation code — when you call a business. • Silence Unknown Callers gives you the option to automatically send unknown numbers to voicemail. Your phone will only ring for people in your contacts, recent outgoing calls, and Siri Suggestions. • Blocked Contacts allows you to identify unwanted callers and blocks phone and FaceTime calls from those numbers. • A range of ringtones and vibrations allow you to choose distinct alerts for certain people. • Wi-Fi Calling lets you make or receive a phone call on a Wi-Fi connection, so you can stay connected in areas with little or no cellular coverage.* • Dial Assist automatically determines the correct international or local prefix when dialing. • Call Waiting allows someone to call you while you’re already on another call.* • Call Forwarding relays calls made to your number to another number that you specify.* Apple Watch Features: • Make and answer phone calls right from your wrist. • When you hear or feel the call, send the call to voicemail, answer using your iPhone or send a message. • While you’re on a call, adjust the call volume, use the keypad or even switch the call to your iPhone. • Listen to voicemails. • Ask Siri to call someone in your contacts. *Requires carrier support
Privacy Defender
This all-in-one mobile security app offers online protection, ad blocking, and identity safeguards. It secures your personal information with a password manager, secure notes, and safe browsing features. Stay informed about security threats and protect your data from malware and phishing.
- Online security and safe browsing
- Ad and tracker blocking
- Password manager with secure notes
- AES 256-bit encryption
- Face ID/Fingerprint unlock
- Security news and awareness
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Privacy Defender is an All-In-One Mobile Security & Privacy App which provides Online Security, Ad blocking, Identity Protection and Mobile Security to iOS Users and keeps Mobile User's personal Information Private, Safe and Secure. Mobile Security - Safe Online Browing & Ad Blocker • Safe browsing experience by blocking Malicious websites that distributes Malware & Viruses. • Block Phishing Websites that steal Users personal and financial data. • Protects Mobile Users Personal Information by allowing only secure internet connectivity on insecure Wi-Fi networks. • Block Ads & Trackers to provide AdBlock and Ad Blocker functionality from annoying Ad Trackers and pop-ups. • Provides clutter free environment by blocking Ad Trackers when browsing websites. • Saves battery usage and increases performance by blocking Social Media Ad Trackers. Password Manager & Secure Notes • Privacy Defender & Security App has a Password Manager and Secure Notes Manager to provide ultimate Hacker Protection. • Built-in Secure Vault with AES 256-bit encryption to safeguard your information & data. • Password Manager and Secure Notes are protected by Master Password and provides easy access through Face ID or Fingerprint. • Master Password is the key to encrypt and decrypt the information and Privacy Defender App cannot access your personal data. • Mobile Users can also create secure passwords in one click with the built-in password generator. • Store items in different categories such as logins, credit cards, addresses etc. Security Threats, News & Awareness • Provides latest security news and awareness campaign to identify Frauds • Mobile and User Data Security by identifying outdated and Vulnerable IOS. User Consent Privacy Defender App will collect, store and process URL’s, IP Addresses and Domain Names visited by the User to identify suspicious malicious sites. User’s Personal Identifiable Information is neither collected, stored nor shared with any 3rd party. Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period, and identify the cost of the renewal. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during the active subscription period. Note that uninstalling the App will not cancel your subscription. You can manage subscriptions and auto-renewal by going to your Apple ID after purchase. You can find automatic charging information later in our app by going to "Settings" > "Legal" > "Subscription Terms". Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable. Privacy Policy: https://privacydefender.app/PrivacyPolicy Terms of Use: https://privacydefender.app/PrivacyPolicy/Useragreement
Screenshots
Verdict
Phone and Privacy Defender both sit at 4.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 74% of Privacy Defender's written reviews are positive against 28% of Phone's. Privacy Defender also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 8 months). Phone's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and ratings volume (10K vs 30). On price, rating and ads 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
Both are free to download. Privacy Defender sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Phone asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.0 for Phone against 4.0 for Privacy Defender. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Phone has 10K ratings behind it against 30, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 28% of Phone's written reviews are positive against 74% of Privacy Defender's.
Phone ships an update every 8 months, Privacy Defender every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and August 25, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Phone | Privacy Defender |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (10K ratings) — better | 4.0 (30 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 28.3% of reviews | 73.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 10K — better | 30 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Subscription |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 66 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Apple | Pligence Inc. |
Customer experience
Phone
Privacy Defender
Bugs and requests
Phone
Reported bugs
4 issues- Voicemail notification issues
- Disappearing contact photos and information
- Inability to make outgoing calls after updates
- Inconsistent behavior with call log and missed call notifications
Requested features
5 requests- Allow editing of mistyped numbers
- Add search option in Recents tab
- Provide option to delete/change voicemail greeting
- Enable bulk contact deletion
- Integrate more customization options (e.g., ringtones, backgrounds)
Privacy Defender
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Phone
No in-app purchases
Privacy Defender
- Privacy Defender - Per Month$1.991 Month
- Privacy Defender - 6 Months$10.996 Months
- Privacy Defender - 1 Year$20.991 Year
Questions
Is Phone free?
Is Privacy Defender free?
Which has better reviews, Phone or Privacy Defender?
Do Phone or Privacy Defender have ads?
Which is updated more often, Phone or Privacy Defender?
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