PhoneMouse vs Dark Surf
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PhoneMouse
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REQUIRES MAC APP — Download PhoneMouse on your Mac too. One purchase covers both! Never be stuck without a mouse again. PhoneMouse turns your iPhone into a wireless mouse for your Mac — perfect for presentations, travel, or when you forget your mouse at home. TWO CONTROL MODES • Gyro Mode – Wave your phone like a magic wand to control the cursor • Trackpad Mode – Use your screen as a wireless trackpad EASY SETUP 1. Download PhoneMouse on both your iPhone and Mac 2. Select your Mac from the app 3. Start controlling instantly PERFECT FOR • Presentations and demos • Couch computing • Travel and remote work • Emergency backup No subscriptions. No ads. One purchase for iPhone + Mac.
Dark Surf
Enhance your browsing experience with a customizable dark theme for Safari. Adjust shade, contrast, saturation, and image settings. Schedule dark mode or set it per-site.
- Customizable dark theme
- Adjustable shade and contrast
- Saturation and image handling
- Scheduling for dark mode
- Per-site theme controls
- Preset themes (Midnight, Warm, AMOLED, Gray)
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Dark Surf gives Safari a thoughtful dark mode for every website. Instead of painting over pages, Dark Surf reads each site’s own design and rebuilds it in the dark. Backgrounds and cards turn deep and calm, text stays crisp, and the colors that carry meaning, like buttons, links, warnings and highlights, keep their character. Photos stay natural. SMART BY DEFAULT • Leaves websites that already have a dark design alone • Keeps dark logos, icons and formulas visible • Keeps text on top of photos readable • Handles modern websites built with CSS variables, Tailwind, Bootstrap and web components MAKE IT YOURS • Six themes: Midnight, Ocean, Dim, Warm, Graphite and true-black AMOLED • Build your own palette from any colors • Fine-tune brightness and contrast, and choose how images look • See every change instantly in a live preview that runs Safari’s own Dark Surf engine YOUR RULES • Switch any website between Dark, Invert and Off right from Safari • Keep lists of websites that are always dark, inverted or never themed • Follow a schedule or your device’s Dark Mode, or pause for an hour PRIVATE BY DESIGN Pages are recolored on your device. Dark Surf has no account, no analytics, no ads and no tracking, and never sends the pages you visit to anyone. Dark Surf is a Safari extension. After installing, turn it on in Settings › Apps › Safari › Extensions. The app shows you how.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: PhoneMouse at every 4 days against Dark Surf's every 4 months. Dark Surf's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
PhoneMouse ships an update every 4 days, Dark Surf every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PhoneMouse | Dark Surf |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 3.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Number of ratings | — | 2 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 days — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Benjamin Nærø | Vali Mikayilov |
In-app purchases
PhoneMouse
No in-app purchases
Dark Surf
No in-app purchases
