Comparison

Glimpse 2 vs Surfed

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

Head to head
About

Glimpse 2

Display your favorite webpages directly on your homescreen with customizable widgets. Monitor news, product availability, or data usage by selecting specific areas of a page. Open pages instantly in Safari from the widget.

Highlights
  • Add webpages as homescreen widgets
  • Select specific areas of webpages for widgets
  • Customizable refresh intervals
  • Open webpages directly from widgets
  • Add pages from Safari
Features
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With Glimpse 2 you can always add all your favourite webpages as Widgets to your Homescreen You want to see if there are news, if there is something new on your favourite webpage, if your long awaited product is available to order or check your used mobile data? You can do all of this with the right webpage inside Glimpse. Just add a page to Glimpse. Choose the right area of the page and then this page is inside the Glimpse Widget on your Homescreen. If you want to open a page quickly, you can do it from by pressing on the Widget and your page will be opened in Safari You can add multiple widgets for different webpages to your Homescreen. Press firmly on the widget choose edit widget to select your webpage and desired refresh interval. Features of Glimpse 2: - Add a page to a Homescreen widget - When adding you can scroll to a certain area of the page. The widget keeps this position, so that you are always in the right place (Note: Glimpse works best with mobile optimised webpages) - Individual refresh intervals for your widgets - You can open webpages from the widget - Add any page directly from Safari

About

Surfed

This app unifies browsing history and bookmarks across devices with smart collections, tags, and notes. It offers advanced tools for developers and researchers, including a web inspector and automations, while providing a user-friendly interface for everyday browsing.

Highlights
  • Unified multi-browser history
  • Smart bookmark collections
  • Tags, notes, and reminders
  • Web Inspector and HTML Playground
  • Web Triggers automations
  • Dedicated browsing workspaces
  • Media Viewer
Features
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Surfed is a browser and unified history + bookmark manager for iOS, macOS, and visionOS that keeps a global, multi-browser history with smart bookmark collections, tags, notes, and reminders synced across devices. Search any session with powerful filters across all the context Surfed captures, then save those queries as personal, self-updating smart bookmark lists that surface the right pages at the right moment. The browser includes a built-in Web Inspector, Network Monitor, HTML Playground, JavaScript Console, and Web Triggers automations that run as you browse and can be built from extensive actions or installed from a gallery—so casual readers, normal users, and everyday browsers get a friendly UI while researchers, students, and professionals can organize knowledge and debug complex web apps. ### A Browser for Every Workflow - Create dedicated browsing workspaces with unique profiles, search engines, and automations for each context. - Use the Media Viewer to surface every image, video, and audio asset found on the current page. - Open a split browser view to compare sources or multitask across two sites at once. - Use the enhanced download manager with Live Activities, URL clean-up tools, and Share Sheet support. - Extend Surfed’s features directly inside Safari with the Surfed Safari extension for quick history, bookmarks, and automations. ### Smart Bookmark & History Manager - Keep a complete history of all your browsers across iOS, macOS, and visionOS that is fully searchable. - Build dynamic collections, reminders, and saved searches that update automatically as you browse. - Tag everything, track time-on-page, surface statistics, and protect sensitive sessions. ### Made for Power Users & Developers - Inspect layouts, watch network calls, test snippets, or prototype ideas inside the HTML Playground without leaving the page. - Edit source code live with Web Inspector + HTML Playground to test changes. - Automate repetitive steps with Web Triggers, Shortcut Actions, and JavaScript or AI-generated code—there are actions for everything. - Build browsing automations that trigger as you surf, either by composing your own Web Triggers from the extensive action catalog or installing prebuilt recipes from the gallery. - Customize search engines, clean URLs in one tap. ### Organize Research, Work, and Study - Capture ideas with notes, website tags, and Spaces dedicated to each project. - Attach Markdown notes to individual webpages and jot down per-Space notes to track decisions and next steps. - Turn history into personalized research dashboards that stay in sync across devices. - Listen Later and Read Later queues keep long-form content accessible whether you are commuting or studying. - Capture and annotate articles with Markup Mode, then share them using tons of built-in browser actions or Shortcuts workflows. ### Optional AI Assistance - Ask questions about your current browsing session or a single webpage inside the AI Chat to extract the answers you need. - Let AI tagging classify websites automatically so your collections stay organized. - Summarize long-form articles with one tap to save time during research or study. ### Privacy-First Sync - Your browsing data lives only on your devices and is protected with Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode. - Surfed does not collect analytics or diagnostics. Sync happens via secure, native Apple services. In-app purchases unlock Surfed Pro features on iOS, macOS, and visionOS. App Privacy: All browsing history is stored locally on your device and cannot be viewed by anyone else, including us. We do not collect analytics or diagnostic data. Follow @surfedapp on X and @Surfed@indieapps.space on Mastodon for updates. Privacy Policy: http://surfed.app/privacy.html Terms of Service: http://surfed.app/terms.html

Screenshots

Glimpse 23 screens
Surfed4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Glimpse 2 at 4.2 against Surfed's 3.5. Glimpse 2 also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 6 weeks). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Glimpse 2 sells 7 one-off in-app purchases and Surfed sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Glimpse 2 holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 3.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 45 and 26 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 41% of Glimpse 2's written reviews are positive against 43% of Surfed's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Glimpse 2 ships an update every 2 weeks, Surfed every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Glimpse 2 versus Surfed: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGlimpse 2Surfed
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.2 (45 ratings) — better3.5 (26 ratings)
Positive reviews41.2% of reviews42.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings45 — better26
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS15.015.0
Further details — not scored
Size4 MB51 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperArno AppenzellerHOsy - intelligent software.

Customer experience

Glimpse 2

All ratings45 ratings
Positive80.0%
Neutral2.2%
Negative17.8%
Written reviews68 reviews
Positive41.2%
Neutral16.2%
Negative42.6%

Surfed

All ratings26 ratings
Positive65.4%
Neutral3.8%
Negative30.8%
Written reviews40 reviews
Positive42.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative45.0%

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Glimpse 2

One-time7
  • Pay what you want 0,99$0.99
  • Pay what you want 1,99$1.99
  • Pay what you want 2,99$2.99
Show 4 more
  • Pay what you want 3,99$3.99
  • Pay what you want 4,99$4.99
  • Pay what you want 5,99$5.99
  • Pay what you want 6,99$6.99
3 purchases

Surfed

Subscriptions2
  • Pro Feature Monthly$0.991 Month
  • Pro Feature Yearly$7.491 Year
One-time1
  • Pro Feature Purchase$17.99

Questions

Is Glimpse 2 free?
Glimpse 2 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Surfed free?
Surfed is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Glimpse 2 or Surfed?
Glimpse 2 is rated higher. Glimpse 2 averages 4.2 out of 5 from 45 ratings, while Surfed averages 3.5 from 26 ratings.
Do Glimpse 2 or Surfed have ads?
Neither Glimpse 2 nor Surfed shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Glimpse 2 or Surfed?
Glimpse 2 ships an update every 2 weeks, and Surfed every 6 weeks. Most recently, Glimpse 2 was updated on September 21, 2026 and Surfed on September 22, 2026.

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