Comparison

Dark Surf vs Shorts Coast

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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)
Features
Read full description

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.

About

Shorts Coast

Features
Read full description

Shorts Coast plays short videos hands-free. When one Short ends, the next begins on its own — no swiping, no tapping. A small floating button turns it on and off, and you can drag it anywhere on the screen. Made for watching with your hands busy — cooking, eating, working out — and for anyone who finds constant swiping tiring or hard. WHAT YOU CAN DO • Auto-advance — real end-of-video detection moves you to the next Short. Not a timer. • Focus Mode — quietly hide the parts you don't need: likes, comments, share, sound, channel, subscribe, title, captions, product links. Keep any of them visible with nine simple toggles. Off, On, or Auto. • Playback speed — 0.25× to 2×, including slow motion. Long-press to choose. • Sleep timer — stops auto-advance after 15, 30, or 60 minutes with no touch, so a late-night session won't run all night. Whether the screen then turns off follows your device's Auto-Lock setting. • Seek bar — a draggable play/pause bar. Grab it anywhere and move it where you like. • Show full video — letterbox the frame to bring back edges the mobile player crops off. • Keep screen awake — stay on while auto-advance is running. ACCESSIBILITY Swiping all day is hard for some people. Shorts Coast was built for motor impairments and for hands-busy moments, so you can keep watching without touching the screen. PRIVACY Free. No ads, no tracking. Nothing leaves your device. Shorts Coast makes no network calls of its own and collects no data. Your few settings are saved on your device only. SETUP Shorts Coast is a Safari extension, so you turn it on once in Safari. The app includes a short, step-by-step guide that walks you through it. GOOD TO KNOW Shorts Coast works with YouTube Shorts in Safari on iPhone. It doesn't block ads, download videos, or play in the background — it just keeps the Shorts you're already watching moving, hands-free.

Screenshots

Dark Surf4 screens
Shorts Coast4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Shorts Coast at every 4 days against Dark Surf's every 4 months. Shorts Coast also leads on iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Dark Surf ships an update every 4 months, Shorts Coast every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Dark Surf versus Shorts Coast: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterDark SurfShorts Coast
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 4 monthsEvery 4 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size6 MB2 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperVali MikayilovHIDEKAZU YAMAOKA

In-app purchases

None

Dark Surf

No in-app purchases

None

Shorts Coast

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Dark Surf free?
Dark Surf is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Shorts Coast free?
Shorts Coast is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Dark Surf or Shorts Coast have ads?
Neither Dark Surf nor Shorts Coast shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Dark Surf or Shorts Coast?
Dark Surf ships an update every 4 months, and Shorts Coast every 4 days. Most recently, Dark Surf was updated on October 13, 2026 and Shorts Coast on October 12, 2026.

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