Comparison

Vanilla vs Lens

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

Head to head
About

Vanilla

A privacy-focused mobile browser designed for quick searches and sensitive websites. It blocks trackers and ads by default, offering customizable settings for search engines and data clearing.

Highlights
  • Blocks trackers and ads by default
  • Customizable blocking per website
  • Tab management via address bar swipe
  • Choice of search engine and history suggestions
  • Selective browsing data clearing
  • Automatic data clearing option
Features
Read full description

Vanilla is a privacy-focused browser for iPhone, designed to stay separate from your everyday browser. Use it for quick searches and websites you don't want mixed into your main browser. Features: • Block known trackers and ads by default • Adjust blocking for individual websites • Swipe between tabs from the address bar • Choose your search engine and control history suggestions • Choose which browsing data to clear and when • Clear all local browsing data from Settings Tabs, history, cookies, and site data can remain on your device between sessions until you clear them. Automatic clearing is off by default and can be enabled in Settings. Vanilla does not collect personal data or use third-party analytics. Browsing sends requests to websites. Search suggestions come from DuckDuckGo; searches use your selected provider.

About

Lens

A private web browser focused on speed and simplicity. It blocks ads and trackers by default, offers customizable search engine options, and features automatic tab archiving. Enhanced privacy controls include Face ID protection for private tabs.

Highlights
  • Search-first interface
  • Ad and tracker blocking
  • Customizable search engines
  • Automatic tab archiving
  • Face ID protected private tabs
  • Link preview and translation
Features
Read full description

Lens is a web browser that stays out of your way. Open it and type: search comes first, your favourite sites are one tap away, and there's nothing else to learn. No ads, no trackers, no account, and nothing collected about you. Free. SEARCH FIRST • Lens opens straight to search, with your pinned sites one tap away. • Pick your search engine: DuckDuckGo, Brave, Kagi, Ecosia, Google or Bing. THE WEB, WITHOUT THE NOISE • Ads, trackers and most cookie pop-ups don't load. • Hide anything that bothers you on a page, and it stays hidden next time. PRIVATE ON ITS OWN • No account, no analytics, no tracking. Lens doesn't know who you are. • Lock private tabs with Face ID. • Forget This Website clears everything a site saved. • Secure connections everywhere, and tracking codes are cleaned from links. TABS THAT TIDY THEMSELVES • Tabs you haven't opened in a day move to the Archive. Nothing is lost. • A tab with a half-filled form stays open until you send it. • Pinch a page to see your tabs, swipe along the bar to switch, flick a tab up to close it. SMALL THINGS THAT HELP • Mini Player: keep listening while you browse, with Picture in Picture. • Downloads that keep going in the background. • Reader, in seven soft colours. • Translate pages right on your iPhone. • Press and hold a link to preview it, and scroll it, before you open it. • Buttons for Reader, Translate, video and Downloads show up only when you need them. • Zoom, fullscreen, desktop site and blocking, set for each site. • Swipe anywhere on a page to go back or forward. • Copy an article as clean Markdown. MADE FOR iPHONE DUO • Open, the page gets the whole big screen, with the bar down the side. • Half-fold it in landscape, and Reader becomes a book you turn page by page. • Closed, it's the same Lens you know from iPhone. WORKS WITH YOUR iPHONE • Make Lens your default browser. • iCloud Passwords, passkeys, one-time codes, Apple Pay and Wallet passes. • iCloud sync for pins, history and tabs, end-to-end encrypted. • Buttons for Control Center and the Lock Screen, and Siri and Shortcuts. FOR DESIGNERS AND DEVELOPERS Select any text to see which font draws it. Tap anything to see its box, colours and contrast, measure the gap between two elements, or pause the page to look at a menu. Turn on Developer Tools in Settings. LENS FOR MAC A free menu bar app with your pins, your iPhone's tabs and the pages you send from your iPhone. No feeds, no clutter, no AI you didn't ask for. If you like Lens, you can leave a tip and unlock extra app icons.

Screenshots

Vanilla4 screens
Lens4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Vanilla at none against Lens's 4. Lens's advantage is ratings volume (54 vs 3) and device support (3 vs 1). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Lens sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. Vanilla asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Vanilla against 4.9 for Lens. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Lens has 54 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Vanilla ships an update daily, Lens every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Vanilla versus Lens: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterVanillaLens
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better4.9 (54 ratings)
Positive reviews—100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings354 — better
Update frequencyDaily — betterEvery 2 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size25 MB67 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperNo Type Studio B.V.Maximos Angelakis

Customer experience

Vanilla

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Lens

All ratings54 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews21 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Vanilla

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Lens

One-time4
  • Coffee$3.99
  • Coffee & Snack$6.99
  • Lunch$14.99
Show 1 more
  • Big Thank-You$29.99

Questions

Is Vanilla free?
Vanilla is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Lens free?
Lens is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Vanilla or Lens?
Vanilla is rated higher. Vanilla averages 5.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while Lens averages 4.9 from 54 ratings.
Do Vanilla or Lens have ads?
Neither Vanilla nor Lens shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Vanilla or Lens?
Vanilla ships an update daily, and Lens every 2 days. Most recently, Vanilla was updated on November 9, 2026 and Lens on November 12, 2026.

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