Dark Surf vs Onyx
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
Onyx
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Onyx is a Safari extension for iOS that brings Dark Mode to every website while blocking ads, reducing blue light, and automatically enabling on your schedule. Features • Force Dark Mode on all websites • 7 built-in themes plus custom color creation • Built-in ad blocker for faster, cleaner browsing • Blue light reduction filter • Schedule mode: Automatically enables Dark Mode at the times you set • Per-site settings: Always On, Always Off, or Default • Sync your settings across devices with iCloud Comfortable Browsing at Night Reduce eye strain from nighttime screen use. Set your preferred hours and Onyx automatically turns on Dark Mode for a more comfortable browsing experience. How to Use 1. Install the app. 2. Go to Settings → Safari → Extensions and enable Onyx. 3. Tap the Onyx icon in Safari's toolbar to customize your settings.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Onyx at every 3 weeks against Dark Surf's every 4 months. Dark Surf's advantage is iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.2). 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.
Dark Surf ships an update every 4 months, Onyx every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dark Surf | Onyx |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 — better | 26.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Vali Mikayilov | Takaki Takemura |
In-app purchases
Dark Surf
No in-app purchases
Onyx
No in-app purchases









