Comparison

Cross Check Security vs Clean Links

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

Head to head
About

Cross Check Security

Analyze files, URLs, and QR codes for security threats using VirusTotal reports. Modify complex URLs and create custom QR codes. Scan QR codes to preview content before activation.

Highlights
  • File analysis via VirusTotal
  • URL reporting and modification
  • QR code scanning
  • QR code generation
  • API key integration
Read full description

Use your API key to get File and URL reports from the free online service VirusTotal (https://virustotal.com)!  Use our URL Lab to view and modify complex URLs. Our QR Code reader shows you the content of QR codes and lets you decide whether or not to activate the QR code.  Our brand new QR Factory lets you create your own arbitrary QR codes.

About

Clean Links

This utility app removes tracking parameters from URLs, reveals the true destination of QR codes before opening, and allows you to send cleaned links between your devices. It prioritizes user privacy with no accounts, subscriptions, or ads.

Highlights
  • Strips tracking parameters from URLs
  • Reveals QR code destinations before opening
  • Sends cleaned links between Apple devices
  • Unshortens shortened URLs
  • Generates QR codes
  • Safari extension for one-tap cleaning
  • Shortcuts and widget integration
Features
Read full description

That link a friend just sent you probably has a dozen tracking parameters glued to the end of it. Clean Links strips them off. It also opens up QR codes so you can read where they actually go before you commit to tapping. The app does a handful of things, and does them without an account, a subscription, or an ad: QR reader that shows you the destination URL first. Quishing scams work because nobody can read a QR code with their eyes, so you scan and hope. This one puts the real address on screen and waits. Link cleaner. Paste anything, get back the same link minus the utm tags, click IDs, and referral junk. Works on links from hundreds of shopping sites, social networks and search engines. Send to Device. Push a cleaned link from your iPhone into your Mac's browser, or over to another iPhone or iPad. If the device is asleep or offline the link waits for it. Unshorten. Feed it a bit.ly or t.co address and it follows the chain to whatever sits at the end. Useful when a shortened link turns up from someone you don't know, which is how most phishing starts. Tracker blocker covering 71+ services, running as a parameter remover across everything you paste. QR generator for making your own codes out of links you trust. Safari extension that cleans every link on a page in one tap. Shortcuts, a Control Center widget, and a share sheet action, if you want the whole thing automated. Nothing leaves your device. There's no analytics SDK in here, no crash reporter phoning home, no account to create. Privacy isn't a feature we bolted on; there was never any data to collect. ■ Send Links Between Your Devices Share a cleaned link from any iPhone, iPad or Mac and it opens where you send it: in your Mac's browser, or from a notification on iPhone and iPad. Links queue up if the device is offline. You can run Shortcuts on your other devices this way too. You'll need Clean Links on each device, iCloud turned on, and the same Apple account. ■ Coming from Hyperduck? Clean Links does the same handoff, adds tracker stripping on the way out, handles more than one Mac, and costs nothing. ■ Link Sharing FAQ ‣ Why not AirDrop? AirDrop needs both devices awake and nearby. This doesn't, and it drops the link straight into a background tab. ‣ Why not iCloud Tabs? Because iCloud Tabs only works in Safari, and the tabs are easy to lose. These open in whatever browser you actually use. ‣ Why not Reading List? Reading List is where links go to be forgotten. Yours open immediately. ‣ Why not Handoff? Handoff wants the devices in the same room. Clean Links supports Handoff anyway, for when they are. ‣ More than one device? Send to several at once. Any iPhone, iPad or Mac signed into the same Apple account with the app installed can receive. ‣ Want to leave a device out? Turn off receiving in that device's settings. ■ Spotted a tracker we don't catch yet? There's a link in Settings to tell us. We'll add them.

Screenshots

Cross Check Security4 screens
Clean Links4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Clean Links at Free against Cross Check Security's $0.99. Clean Links also leads on update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 9 months) and ratings volume (88 vs 1). On rating, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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

Clean Links is free to download; Cross Check Security costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Cross Check Security against 4.9 for Clean Links. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Clean Links has 88 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Cross Check Security's written reviews are positive against 93% of Clean Links's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Cross Check Security ships an update every 9 months, Clean Links every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Cross Check Security versus Clean Links: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCross Check SecurityClean Links
Price$0.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better4.9 (88 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better92.5% of reviews
Number of ratings188 — better
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.618.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB90 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperChristopher ShearerNumen Technologies Limited

Customer experience

Cross Check Security

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Clean Links

All ratings85 ratings
Positive98.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative1.2%
Written reviews40 reviews
Positive92.5%
Neutral5.0%
Negative2.5%

In-app purchases

None

Cross Check Security

No in-app purchases

None

Clean Links

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Cross Check Security free?
Cross Check Security costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Clean Links free?
Clean Links is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Cross Check Security or Clean Links?
Cross Check Security is rated higher. Cross Check Security averages 5.0 out of 5 from 1 ratings, while Clean Links averages 4.9 from 88 ratings.
Do Cross Check Security or Clean Links have ads?
Neither Cross Check Security nor Clean Links shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Cross Check Security or Clean Links?
Cross Check Security ships an update every 9 months, and Clean Links every 2 weeks. Most recently, Cross Check Security was updated on November 3, 2026 and Clean Links on November 5, 2026.

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