Comparison

Lean Browser vs Aetherium Browser

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Lean Browser

Features
Read full description

Lean Browser is the browser that forgets. Open a page, read, leave — and what you did is wiped: tabs, cookies, cache, history. No account, no AI, no suggestions, no data collected. FORGETS, YOUR WAY • Browsing data is kept only for the session and wiped on your schedule: right away, after 1 minute up to 1 day in the background, or when the app closes (except a file you choose to open in another app: stored briefly on the device, then deleted) • Tap the flame to forget now: the page turns to dust, then an "All forgotten" card lists, with icons and counting numbers, pages viewed, tabs closed, cookies deleted, site data erased and trackers blocked (zero lines hidden). Share it as a square or portrait image or a short video: numbers only, never a site • Panic gestures: shake the phone, put it face down, or swipe down on the address bar. Try them in the welcome tour (the swipe can be turned off) • Up to 5 tabs, each with its own separate storage, and self-destruct timers of 1, 5 or 15 minutes. Drag a tab to reorder it, swipe the address bar to slide to the next tab, touch and hold the tab count for New tab, Close tab and Forget now • Lock Screen countdown before the wipe, Face ID lock when you come back. The unlock screen has Forget now: wipe the session without unlocking, without showing a single page • Forget now without opening the app: from the Lock Screen countdown, Control Center, the Action button, Siri or a Home Screen widget PRIVATE BY DEFAULT • Ads and trackers blocked with a built-in list of about 55,000 domains (EasyList/EasyPrivacy). See the count and the blocked trackers for each page, or turn blocking off for one site that breaks • Cookie banners of common consent platforms rejected for you, even when Reject is one screen deeper. Never accepted • Third-party cookies and pop-ups blocked; tracking parameters (utm, fbclid…) removed from links, and tracking redirects (Google, Facebook, Reddit…) unwrapped so links open straight at the real page • HTTPS first (or HTTPS-Only), Global Privacy Control signal • Video autoplay blocked by default: videos start only when you tap play • Plain explanations for refused certificates, no way around them • Camera and microphone for video calls only when you say yes, per site, and never your location • Asks before every download; warns about password requests, profiles and app installers BROWSE WITHOUT THE NOISE • Reader mode: pick a typeface and a light, sepia or dark background, see the estimated reading time, and have the article read aloud with a voice that matches its language, all on the device • While reading aloud: choose the speed, skip a paragraph back or ahead; the paragraph being read is highlighted. Lock Screen and Control Center controls never show the title • Print in reader mode: just the article, black on white • Dark pages: show web pages dark for night reading (off by default) • Scroll down and the bottom bar shrinks to a thin line; one tap brings it back • Scan a QR code, or show the page's QR code • Touch and hold an image to open it in a new tab, copy or share its link, or download it; a link, to open it in a background tab • Select text and search it with the engine you chose: DuckDuckGo (default), Mojeek, Qwant, Ecosia and more • "Search in Lean" from Siri, Shortcuts and Spotlight; share a link or any text to Lean from other apps • Picture in Picture for web videos, Print, "Open URL in Lean" for Shortcuts and the Action button • Address bar at the bottom, no suggestions, no autocorrect • Quick panel: turn off JavaScript, images or video for every page, and a peek guard that blurs the page until you touch the screen • "What I forgot today", a widget and Home Screen shortcuts for a fresh session TRANSPARENT No analytics, no account, no calls to any Lean server. Only your choices in Settings and a few small counters are saved on the device. Lean doesn't promise perfect safety — only trust the sites you trust. Vietnamese and English, with VoiceOver support.

About

Aetherium Browser

Features
Read full description

Aetherium is a web browser for your iPhone and the companion of the Aetherium desktop browser. It keeps your browsing on your phone, blocks ads and trackers, and brings your bookmarks, history and tabs over from your computer when you want them. Browse your way Pick one of ten styles, each in light or dark, and a New Tab background from a set of wallpapers or your own photo. Tabs open in a grid you can search and pin. Private tabs stay out of your history and are not reopened after a restart. Fewer ads and trackers The built-in blocker uses the EasyList and EasyPrivacy lists and runs on the phone, so nothing about your browsing is sent anywhere to block ads. You can allow ads on sites you want to support. Sync that only you can read Sign in to Aetherium Sync to share bookmarks, history, open tabs and a few settings with Aetherium on your computer. Everything is encrypted on the phone with a passphrase only you know before it leaves. You can delete your Sync account from the app at any time. Logins from VaultPass Unlock your VaultPass vault with your master password or Face ID, and fill a saved login on the page you are on. Copied passwords are cleared from the clipboard after a minute. An agent that asks first Ask the agent to do something on a page, such as compare prices or fill in a long form. It reads the page and taps and types for you while you watch. It stops and asks before it buys, sends, posts, deletes or signs in, and it asks your permission before any page is sent to an AI service. Use Claude with your own Anthropic API key, an AI on your own network such as Ollama, or Claude Code on your own computer through Aetherium for desktop. Made for reading Reader view turns long articles into clean text with your choice of size, font and colors. There is also find in page, a desktop site switch, and text size for each site. Handy tools Scan a QR code, show one for the page you are on, take a screenshot of a page, and manage camera, microphone, location, pop-up and JavaScript choices for each site. Clear your history for the last hour, day, week, four weeks or all time. Profiles and Guest Keep work and home apart with profiles, each with its own tabs, bookmarks, history, theme, Sync and VaultPass. Guest mode keeps nothing after you leave. No tracking by the app Aetherium has no analytics, no ads of its own and no crash reporting. Read the full privacy policy in the app under Settings > About.

Screenshots

Lean Browser4 screens
Aetherium Browser4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Aetherium Browser at 15.0 against Lean Browser's 17.0. On price, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference · 5 level
Lean Browser versus Aetherium Browser: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLean BrowserAetherium Browser
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyWeekly—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB30 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperTran Cong MinhJOHN BRYAN LADA LOGDONIO

In-app purchases

None

Lean Browser

No in-app purchases

None

Aetherium Browser

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Lean Browser free?
Lean Browser is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Aetherium Browser free?
Aetherium Browser is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Lean Browser or Aetherium Browser have ads?
Neither Lean Browser nor Aetherium Browser shows ads.

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