Dark Surf vs PointerDeck
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.
PointerDeck
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PointerDeck turns your iPhone or iPad into a focused wireless trackpad for your Mac. The free PointerDeck Receiver for Mac is required, and both devices must be on the same local network. SET UP ONCE Open Add Device on the Mac and create an 8–12 digit Connection PIN. PointerDeck rejects repeated or sequential patterns; use at least five different digits. Then select that Mac on your iPhone or iPad and enter the PIN. After pairing, PointerDeck remembers the trusted connection and reconnects when both apps are open and reachable. TRACKPAD CONTROLS • Move the pointer with one finger • Scroll with two fingers • Tap or use the dedicated Left Click button • Two-finger tap or use the dedicated Right Click button • Use Drag Lock for click-and-drag TUNE THE FEEL • Adjust pointer sensitivity and scrolling speed • Choose Natural or Reversed scrolling • Turn tap-to-click on or off • Switch to a left-handed button layout DIRECT BY DESIGN PointerDeck does not stream or display your Mac screen. The release has no account, advertisements, subscription, analytics SDK, or cloud service. Controller traffic travels directly between your devices and is encrypted on the local network. REQUIREMENTS • iPhone or iPad running iOS/iPadOS 17 or later • Apple silicon or Intel Mac running macOS 14 or later • Free PointerDeck Receiver from the Mac download page • Both devices on the same local network • Accessibility permission enabled for PointerDeck Receiver on the Mac Guest, corporate, public, or client-isolated networks may prevent devices from discovering each other.
Screenshots
Verdict
Dark Surf and PointerDeck are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.
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.
| Parameter | Dark Surf | PointerDeck |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (2 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 2 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Vali Mikayilov | Eliyahu Mechtcheriakov |
In-app purchases
Dark Surf
No in-app purchases
PointerDeck
No in-app purchases









