Blackout vs Simmerdial
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Blackout
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Share documents, not your details. Sooner or later someone asks for a bank statement, a pay stub, a passport, a medical record. They need the document; they do not need everything on it. Blackout finds the details a stranger shouldn't get, removes them from a copy, strips the data hiding inside the file, labels every page with who it's for — and never sends it anywhere. FINDS WHAT YOU'D MISS Open a PDF, a photo or a scan. Blackout reads it on your device and flags Social Security and account numbers, routing and card numbers, IBANs, phone numbers, email and postal addresses, dates of birth, passport and ID numbers, faces, barcodes and QR codes. Names are found too and left in by default, because they are usually the point. REMOVES, DOESN'T COVER Drawing a black box over a number is not redaction — the number is still in the file, one copy-and-paste away. Blackout deletes the characters from the page itself, erases the pixels from scanned images, and drops any note that overlapped. The box you see is the last step, not the whole job, and a test suite reopens every prepared copy with two independent extractors to prove it. STRIPS THE HIDDEN DATA — AND SHOWS YOU WHERE IT WAS A PDF carries more than what it shows: author, creation tool and dates, the editing history some apps tuck inside, every comment's author, attached files, scripts, and the camera model and GPS position inside embedded photos. Blackout removes all of it and, with Pro, lists it by where it was hiding — your name in the document properties, a colleague's in a comment on page 2, your home address in a photo's GPS tag on page 3. LABELS THE COPY Every page gets a watermark — "For Landlord · September 2026" — so a copy that turns up elsewhere says where it came from. Stamp it COPY or CONFIDENTIAL, add a header, number the pages, sign it. SEAL IT, AND KNOW IF IT COMES BACK CHANGED Seal a copy before you send it. The seal is invisible — nothing on the page. If that copy comes back, open it in Blackout and it tells you whether the content still matches, and which pages do not. It compares what the pages say, not the file's bytes, so an innocent re-save does not cry wolf. A PDF carries no identity that cannot be forged, so a name or date in a changed file is shown as a claim the file makes, never as proof of who changed it. KEEPS A LOG Who got which document, when, with what hidden. The log lives on your device and never holds the file. Or skip sending altogether: put the prepared copy on your screen for the person in the room, or have it read back to you first. PREPARE IT PROPERLY Send only some pages. Combine three pay stubs, or split one apart. Shrink it for email. Make a photographed page searchable. Correct a typo, replace a photo, remove tracking links, fill in the form. Send as PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint or images — conversions run after the details are gone, never before. NOTHING LEAVES YOUR DEVICE There is no server, no account and no code that uploads anything. Detection, text recognition and face detection all run on the device using Apple's own frameworks. Native on iPhone, iPad and Mac, with Dark Mode, Dynamic Type and VoiceOver throughout. FREE AND PRO The whole job — find, review, remove, strip, watermark, share — is free for your first copy, and the built-in sample is always free to try. Blackout Pro removes the limit and adds password protection, the itemised hidden-data report and every optional preparation step, for a single payment of $19.99. ONE PAYMENT, NOT A SUBSCRIPTION Blackout Pro is a one-time purchase of $19.99, charged once. It does not renew, there is nothing to cancel, and you will not be charged again. It stays unlocked on every device signed in to the same Apple Account, and Restore Purchase brings it back after a reinstall. Terms of Use: https://markbullock111.github.io/pdf_editor_privacy/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://markbullock111.github.io/pdf_editor_privacy/privacy.html
Simmerdial
A simple kitchen timer app that uses a familiar dial interface for setting and managing cooking times. It offers visual and auditory cues for remaining time and alerts, with customization options for appearance and sound.
- Dial-based time setting
- Visual countdown ring
- Adjustable timer while running
- Lock screen and Dynamic Island countdown
- Customizable appearance and sound
- Offline functionality
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Simmerdial brings a familiar kitchen timer to your iPhone. Turn the dial clockwise to set a time. Release to start. From eggs and tea to baking, set your timer and get back to the task at hand. A short illustrated guide walks you through the basics on first launch. TURN TO SET Choose up to 60 minutes in 15-second steps. Mechanical clicks and haptic feedback make each turn feel familiar. Mute the dial sound whenever you like. SEE WHAT IS LEFT The orange ring shows time remaining at a glance. Adjust the dial while the timer runs, tap to add five minutes, or reset to start over. HEAR WHEN IT IS READY Allow system alerts and, once the alarm is scheduled, it can ring when your iPhone is locked or the app is closed. Check the live countdown on your Lock Screen or in the Dynamic Island on supported iPhones. MAKE IT YOURS Choose light, dark, or your system appearance. Open iOS Settings from the app menu to change the app language. Available in English, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese. KEEP IT SIMPLE No account, ads, or tracking SDKs. Timer state, sound settings, and appearance preferences stay on your device. Timing works offline. VoiceOver lets you adjust the time, and Reduce Motion is supported. For iPhone with iOS 26 or later. System alerts require permission. If permission is off or an alarm cannot be scheduled, keep the app open to hear the alert. Dynamic Island features require a supported iPhone.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Simmerdial at none against Blackout's 1. Blackout's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (18.0 vs 26.0). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Blackout sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Simmerdial asks for nothing beyond the download.
Blackout ships an update every 2 weeks, Simmerdial every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | Blackout | Simmerdial |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 3.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 1 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | — | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 4 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mark Bullock | 凯 邢 |
In-app purchases
Blackout
- Blackout — Share Safely Pro$19.99
Simmerdial
No in-app purchases







