Emerald Browser vs Crest Browser
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Emerald Browser
Browse the web with a clean, distraction-free experience. This browser includes a built-in ad blocker and smart organization tools to help manage your online life. It's designed for professionals and students alike, offering enhanced privacy and customization.
- Ad blocker
- Smart organization
- No spyware
- Customization options
- Secure browsing
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Emerald is a browser that you can organize. Thanks to Spaces, Folders, Pinned Tabs, Tabbies and Profiles, you can organize your whole internet life. ORGANIZE YOUR WHOLE INTERNET LIFE SPACES - split your browsing into separate Spaces, each with its own name, icon, and custom theme, so different parts of your life stay visually distinct. FOLDERS - group your tabs into folders to keep related work together and your Sidebar clutter-free. PRIVATE FOLDERS - lock sensitive folders behind a password, protected by Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode. PINNED TABS - pin your most-used tabs to any Space or Folder so they're always one tap or drag away. TABBIES - keep your open tabs organized and accessible without losing track of what you're working on. PROFILES - assign shared or separate accounts and data across your Spaces, so work data stays separate from personal browsing, or shared where you want it. BROWSE WITHOUT DISTRACTIONS NO SPYWARE, NO CLUTTER - a built-in ad blocker and a clean interface keep your browsing focused on what matters. SEARCH THAT KEEPS UP WITH YOU SMART SUGGESTIONS - search across the web, your recents, pinned tabs, and open tabs all at once. SITE SEARCH - search directly within your favorite websites just like you would with a search engine, with built-in and customizable options. SWITCH TO TABS & SPACES - jump straight to an open tab or Space right from the search bar, no digging required. RENAME & EDIT URLs - access all of Emerald's search features even while editing a URL. BUILT FOR EVERY SCREEN SIDEBAR - on iPad, a dedicated sidebar keeps your Spaces, Pinned Tabs, Folders, Tabbies, and Recents within easy reach. FLOATING SEARCH PANEL - a larger search bar on bigger screens with all the same smart features as iPhone. RECENTS - quickly revisit what you were browsing, accessible as a sheet. Terms of Service: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Crest Browser
Organize your online life with distinct browsing contexts for work, personal use, and private browsing. Each context has its own tabs, history, and data, ensuring a clean separation of your digital activities.
- Isolated browsing contexts (Spaces)
- Separate tabs, history, and cookies per Space
- Customizable Space identity
- Focused sidebar for tabs and history
- Peek for temporary link previews
- Optional iCloud sync
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Work, personal life, and everything between deserve their own Space. Crest is a native browser for iPhone and iPad that keeps your accounts separate, your tabs organized, and your browsing distinctly yours. KEEP YOUR ACCOUNTS SEPARATE Each Space has its own tabs, cookies, website data, history, passwords, and site permissions. Stay signed in to different accounts on the same website. Switch from work to personal browsing without carrying the wrong session with you. GIVE EVERY TAB A PLACE Pin the sites you use every day. Save pages in folders. Keep today's tabs close and completed work in the archive. Select and move tabs, folders, and Split View groups together. On iPhone, bring in the sidebar with a gesture; on iPad, keep it beside your page. MAKE IT YOUR OWN Start with a Winter, Lion, or other crest template in Crest Studio, then change the colors, artwork, and background. Choose a crest, emoji, monogram, or symbol. Look and Feel lets you adjust the sidebar's edge, tab appearance, borders, icon colors, and default page zoom, with a live preview. KEEP RELATED PAGES TOGETHER Group two to four pages in Split View. On iPad, browse them side by side and resize the columns. On iPhone, swipe across the compact toolbar to move between pages in the group. Peek lets you check supported links without losing your place, then keep the page as a tab when you need it. TOOLS FOR EVERYDAY BROWSING Translate webpages on device with Apple's Translation framework. Read supported articles in Reader, find text on a page, adjust zoom, share links, and export pages. Content blocking and site permissions give you control over each Space. Language availability varies, and translation may require a language download. PRIVATE WHEN YOU NEED IT Private Browsing uses temporary website storage. Private tabs stay out of saved history, restoration, archive, and sync. Crest does not run an advertising SDK, collect browsing analytics, or require a Crest account. PICK UP ON ANOTHER DEVICE Optional iCloud sync keeps supported Space and tab organization available across your Apple devices through your private iCloud database. Crest is also available for Mac. Crest is free and open source, built with Apple's WebKit. Requires iOS 26.1 or iPadOS 26.1 or later. Some website features and integrations vary by device.
Screenshots
Verdict
Emerald Browser and Crest Browser both sit at 3.8 stars, but that hides the real split: 83% of Emerald Browser's written reviews are positive against 0% of Crest Browser's. Emerald Browser also leads on ratings volume (12 vs 2). On price, rating, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Crest Browser holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Emerald Browser has 12 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 83% of Emerald Browser's written reviews are positive against 0% of Crest Browser's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Emerald Browser ships an update fortnightly, Crest Browser every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Emerald Browser | Crest Browser |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.8 (12 ratings) | 4.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 12 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Vision Pro — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 — better | 26.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 218 MB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Dario Ortiz | Paul Davis |
Customer experience
Emerald Browser
Crest Browser
In-app purchases
Emerald Browser
No in-app purchases
Crest Browser
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Emerald Browser free?
Is Crest Browser free?
Which has better reviews, Emerald Browser or Crest Browser?
Do Emerald Browser or Crest Browser have ads?
Which is updated more often, Emerald Browser or Crest Browser?
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