Rún vs SilentX
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Rún
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Rún is a secure messenger built for people who refuse to compromise on privacy. Every message is end-to-end encrypted before it leaves your device, and the keys ratchet forward as you chat — so even if one key were ever exposed, the rest of the conversation stays sealed. No server, no company, and no government can read your conversations. Rún requires no account, no phone number, and no email address. There is nothing to link back to your identity. Contacts are added in person by scanning QR codes, or through a vouched introduction from someone you already trust — no central directory, no contact discovery, no social graph. All traffic is routed through the Tor network, hiding your IP address and location even from Rún's own relay. An observer monitoring your network sees only encrypted Tor traffic — they cannot tell who you are talking to or what you are saying. Messages are padded to fixed sizes, so not even the length of a message leaks. Messages live in memory only — they are never written to disk. Leave a chat or close the app, and they are gone. There is no message history to scroll through, no archive to subpoena, and no backup to leak. The relay stores only temporary encrypted blobs it cannot read, in inboxes that expire on their own. Your vault is encrypted at rest with AES-256 via SQLCipher, its key derived with Argon2id and protected by the device keychain, tied to this device only. You choose how hard it is to reach: • Decent — quick PIN unlock, with relaxed auto-lock and self-wipe timers. • Secure — the vault key is also bound to the Secure Enclave, behind Face ID or Touch ID. A seized phone strongly resists offline attacks. • Maximum — the PIN is replaced by a strong passphrase and the timers are at their tightest. Even a fully imaged phone stays shut. At every level Rún locks itself when idle, wipes after too many wrong unlock attempts, and self-destructs after a long stretch of inactivity — how strict is set by the level you choose. A wipe erases the encryption keys themselves, leaving nothing recoverable. Group chats live only on their members' phones — no group account, no member list. Each message goes privately to every member: the relay sees one message reach several inboxes, never who they are or a word of it. No analytics. No tracking. No advertising. No crash reporting. No cloud backups. By default it stays silent — no notifications — and you simply see your messages when you open the app. You can optionally turn notifications on; if you do, a content-free wake-up signal routes through Apple's push servers, which learn only that something arrived and when — never who it is from or what it says — and Rún tells you exactly this before you enable it. Rún is built for journalists, activists, whistleblowers, and anyone who believes private conversation is a fundamental right. Key features: - End-to-end encryption with forward secrecy (AES-256-GCM + Double Ratchet) - All traffic over Tor — your IP and location stay hidden - No account, phone number, or email required - In-person QR contact exchange and vouched introductions - Group chats with no group account or member list - Messages held in memory only — never stored on disk - Encrypted local vault (SQLCipher, Argon2id, device keychain) - Three protection levels: Decent, Secure, Maximum - Secure Enclave-bound vault key behind Face ID or Touch ID (Secure) - Passphrase instead of PIN (Maximum) - Auto-lock, wipe on repeated wrong attempts, self-destruct on inactivity - Message padding hides even message sizes - No analytics, tracking, ads, or crash reporting - Move phones with a sealed transfer, never a cloud backup - Available in 13 languages
SilentX
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SilentX is a private communication and personal organization workspace. It is not merely another chat app: secure communication is combined with practical everyday tools in one coherent interface. PRIVATE COMMUNICATION • End-to-end encrypted messages. • One-to-one and group audio/video calls. • Send photos, videos, voice messages and documents. • Optional Smoke mode: selected content disappears after it is viewed. • Profile photos appear in contacts, conversations and calls. MANAGED GROUPS • Group logo and description. • Owner and administrator roles. • Add, remove, reinstate and manage members. BUILT-IN ORGANIZATION • Calendar appointments with reminders and secure sharing in conversations. • Tasks with due dates and local reminders. • Private notes organized by category and priority, shareable through SilentX or iOS. • Document scanner with automatic edge detection, local filing and controlled sharing. YOUR DATA, YOUR CONTROL Notes, tasks, appointments, scans and imported address-book details remain on the device. SilentX does not retain readable conversation history on its relay server. A password-encrypted backup can be exported to On My iPhone or to a cloud provider connected through the iOS Files app. SilentX never requests the provider password. FREE AND PREMIUM Free includes essential private communication plus monthly calendar and scanner allowances. Premium raises limits for groups, calls and files, makes calendar and scanning unlimited, and unlocks encrypted backup/restore and access to cloud locations through Files. The interface is available in English, French, Spanish, German and Brazilian Portuguese. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
Rún and SilentX are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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. Rún sells 4 one-off in-app purchases and SilentX sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Rún ships an update daily, SilentX every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 25, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Rún | SilentX |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Daily — better | Every 2 days |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 31 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Vikstrom Group AB | christophe JACQUES |
In-app purchases
Rún
- Buy me a coffee$0.99
- Tip$3.99
- Generous tip$7.99
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- God like tip$79.99
SilentX
- SilentX Premium Monthly$4.991 Month
- SilentX Premium Yearly$39.991 Year









