Awful vs Basic Web Browser
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Awful
This app provides a streamlined browsing experience for the Something Awful forums on iOS devices. It offers access to all forums, bookmarked threads, private messages, and includes features like image uploads and a smilie keyboard.
- Browse all forums and subforums
- Access bookmarked threads
- Built-in SALR functionality
- Smilie stickers and keyboard
- Upload images and pictures
- Manage private messages
- Favorite forums
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Browse the Something Awful forums nicely on your iPhone and iPad! • Every forum and subforum! • Quickly check your bookmarked threads! • Built-in SALR! • Smilie stickers and keyboard! • Upload images and pictures! • Private messages! • Favorite forums! • Rap sheets! • Excessive exclamation marks!
Basic Web Browser
Browse the internet securely and quickly with this user-friendly application. It offers ad blocking, tab management, and customizable search engines. Sync your browsing data across Apple devices using iCloud.
- Ad Blocking
- Multiple Tabs
- Customizable Search Engines
- iCloud Sync
- Speech to Text Search
- Multi-language Support
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Basic Web Browser is fast yet easy to use app for browsing the internet Key Features: Access your browsing history, tabs and favorites across all your Apple devices securely with iCloud Supports Ad Blocking Supports Multiple Tabs Choose Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google or Yahoo as your search engine Search from the address bar or via speech to text Choose your own home page Always pickup with the last website you visited Save favorite websites for easy access In addition to English, the app now support for the following languages: ASSAMESE, DOGRI, FILIPINO, GUJARATI, KANNADA, KONKANI, HINDI, MAITHILI, MALAYALAM, MARATHI, NEPALI, ODIA (ORIYA), PUNJABI, SANSKRIT, SINDHI, TAMIL, TELUGU, URDU, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Afrikaans, Welsh, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Armenian, Arabic, Czech, Croatian, Hungarian, Irish, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Ukrainian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Basque, Belarusian This app offers in app purchases, including one-time purchases and an auto renewing subscription. Terms Of Service: https://basicwebbrowser.app/tos Privacy: https://basicwebbrowser.app/pp
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Awful at 86% against Basic Web Browser's 0%. Awful also leads on rating (4.9 vs 3.7) and in-app purchases (none vs 10). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. Basic Web Browser sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Awful asks for nothing beyond the download.
Awful holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Awful has 239 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of Awful's written reviews are positive against 0% of Basic Web Browser's.
Awful ships an update every 8 days, Basic Web Browser monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 12, 2026 and September 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Awful | Basic Web Browser |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (239 ratings) — better | 3.7 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 86.4% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 239 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 days — better | Monthly |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Vision Pro — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 14.5 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 102 MB | 259 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Dale Stonall-Mellor | APG Solutions, LLC |
Customer experience
Awful
Basic Web Browser
Bugs and requests
Awful
Reported bugs
4 issues- Crashes when opening certain forums
- Inability to load images and media
- Freezing and lagging on older devices
- Sync issues between app and website
Requested features
4 requests- Add search functionality
- Implement dark mode option
- Improve thread navigation and bookmarking
- Integrate with other social platforms
Basic Web Browser
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Awful
No in-app purchases
Basic Web Browser
- Remove all advertisements3 Days trial$0.991 Month
- Remove all advertisements3 Days trial$10.991 Year
- Remove all advertisements$0.99
- Remove all advertisements$2.99
- Remove all advertisements$3.99
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Remove all advertisements$4.99
- Remove all advertisements$19.99
- Remove all advertisements$39.99
- Remove all advertisements$49.99
- Remove all advertisements$99.99
Questions
Is Awful free?
Is Basic Web Browser free?
Which has better reviews, Awful or Basic Web Browser?
Do Awful or Basic Web Browser have ads?
Which is updated more often, Awful or Basic Web Browser?
Other comparisons
