Comparison

Grain Social vs Cyd

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

Head to head
About

Grain Social

This photo-first social app allows users to post galleries with titles, descriptions, and locations, and share temporary 24-hour stories. It offers various feed options including following, curated, camera-based, and location-based browsing. Users can sign in with their existing Bluesky account.

Highlights
  • Photo galleries with titles and descriptions
  • 24-hour disappearing stories
  • Multiple feed options (following, curated, camera, location)
  • Location-based browsing with maps
  • Bluesky account integration
  • Alt text for photos
  • EXIF data preservation
Features
Read full description

Grain is a photo-first social app. Post galleries, share 24-hour stories, and browse feeds by following, For You, camera, or location. Galleries One photo or a full set. Each gallery has a title, description, and location. Add alt text on individual photos. EXIF is read from the file and kept intact. Stories Share something in the moment. Stories disappear after 24 hours. Favorite and comment the same as on galleries. Feeds Pin the ones you want: following, For You, by camera body, or by location with a map. Mentions, hashtags, links @mention people, add #hashtags, paste links. All tappable. Sign in with your Bluesky account No new password. Your Bluesky handle and followers come with you. People who follow you on Bluesky can find you on Grain, and the people you already follow are here too. Don't have a Bluesky account? Make one at bsky.app, then sign in.

About

Cyd

Features
Read full description

Most tech platforms are controlled by a tiny group of powerful billionaires. You don't OWE them your data. Even posting on Bluesky is a privacy nightmare. Why should our social media posts remain on the internet forever? With Cyd for iPhone, you can: - CREATE A LOCAL, PRIVATE BACKUP OF YOUR DATA, including Bluesky posts, reposts, likes, bookmarks, and chat messages. - CHOOSE WHAT YOU WANT TO DELETE. You can delete it all, or you can be selective, deleting most of it but keeping what went viral. - SCHEDULE AUTOMATIC DELETION, keeping your online data as ephemeral as you want over time. The Cyd developers can't access your accounts or your data. - Cyd runs directly on your device, not on our servers. - Cyd is designed so that we don't have access to your accounts, or to any of your data in those accounts. We don't even record what your username is. - When you sign into a Bluesky account in Cyd, you grant the app running locally on your phone permission to access it, not us, the developers of the app. Cyd is open source. The code is available at: https://github.com/lockdown-systems/cyd-mobile Read our privacy policy at: https://cyd.social/privacy/ Read our EULA at: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Grain Social4 screens
Cyd4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Grain Social at none against Cyd's 1. Cyd's advantage is iOS requirement (16.4 vs 26.0). On price, update cadence, ads 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. Cyd sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $39.99 per year. Grain Social asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Grain Social versus Cyd: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGrain SocialCyd
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS26.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size18 MB67 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperChad MillerLockdown Systems

In-app purchases

None

Grain Social

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Cyd

Subscriptions1
  • Cyd Premium Annual$39.991 Year

Questions

Is Grain Social free?
Grain Social is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Cyd free?
Cyd is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Grain Social or Cyd have ads?
Neither Grain Social nor Cyd shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Grain Social or Cyd?
Grain Social ships an update weekly, and Cyd weekly. Most recently, Grain Social was updated on October 25, 2026 and Cyd on October 25, 2026.

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