Comparison

Private Message Box vs Cerberus

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

Head to head
About

Private Message Box

Secure your private conversations with password protection. Send unlimited texts, photos, and location details to other users for free. Enhance your privacy with a virtual number option.

Highlights
  • Password protected conversations
  • Free texting between users
  • Send unlimited text, photo, and location
  • Full emoji support
  • Virtual number for hidden communication
  • Privacy Guard
Features
Read full description

Do you want to hide your private conversations? Worried on messages from one friend checked by others, then Private Message Box is for you. It saves messages of secret contacts behind PIN pad. Its easy to use and keeps user conversation secret. Your conversation with PSB contacts is 100% SECRET and secure. It also provides free texting between App Users. Just Sign-In with your number. Send unlimited text, photo and location details to another user. You can do conversations only with users who have enabled Free messaging. 
Full of emoji characters (300 emoji support), useful to represent emotions. Features
- Free text & Multimedia Messaging between Users
- Image/Location sharing
- Password protection: Cannot be opened by other people
- Privacy Guard Pro version feature: -No Advertise - Remove ads from the application. Pro version subscriptions Options: -Duration of the subscription is 1 Year with a charge of $4.99 every year. Buy Virtual Number: - Hide your private conversation from your personal cell phone bill. - Keep your personal phone number hidden from some contacts. - Send or receive messages from anywhere in the world. Buy Virtual Number Options: - 58.99$/year for countries like USA, Canada etc. - 102.99$/year for countries like Estonia, Latvia etc. Please note :- All subscriptions are auto renewable. Subscription will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once activated. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period. You can cancel your subscription any time by turning off auto-renewal in your iTunes Account Settings. You can manage your subscription in iTunes Account settings after purchase. -Find more information in our privacy policy, click on this link http://privatesmsbox.com/legal.html - For terms of use, click on this link http://privatesmsbox.com/termsofuse.html Excited to receive feedbacks or queries at: info@privatesmsbox.com

About

Cerberus

Features
Read full description

Cerberus is a messenger for conversations that are nobody else's business. Every message, voice note and file is encrypted on your phone and opened only on the phone of the person you are talking to. The server in between carries sealed data and holds no key to any of it — not as a promise not to look, but as a matter of what it has. NO ACCOUNT, NO PHONE NUMBER, NO DIRECTORY There is nothing to sign up for: no email, no SMS, no profile, no password. Nobody can look you up and nobody can add you. A conversation begins when two people are in the same room and one of them scans a code from the other's screen. That is the only way in, and it is the point. WHAT IT PROTECTS • End-to-end encryption with standard cryptography. Keys are generated on the device and stored in the Keychain — they never travel. • The code you show is good once and for a few minutes. The two phones shake hands and move the conversation to a key that was never on any screen, so a code somebody photographed is worth nothing. • A PIN or Face ID on the app itself. • A second PIN for the situation nobody plans for: enter it and the app opens with every conversation hidden, or erases what is on the device, whichever you chose. It shows no error and no sign that another code exists. • Screenshots do not pass silently: the other side is told. • Messages delete themselves on a schedule you set — on both devices and on the server. • A chat list that can show names only, for the moments when your screen is not only yours. AND IT IS STILL A MESSENGER Swipe a message to reply, hold one to react, send photos, videos, files and voice notes, delete anything on your phone or on both phones at once. Everything is where you expect it to be. FREE, AND PRO Two conversations, messages and reactions are free forever — a working messenger, not a trial. Pro is a single payment with no subscription and nothing to cancel: unlimited conversations, voice notes, photos and files, and deleting on both phones. Whatever Pro gains later is included at no extra cost. WHAT WE CANNOT DO We cannot read your messages, recover them, or reset anything for you. Delete the app and every conversation goes with it: there is no backup, by design, and no way back. To destroy the keys as well, erase from inside the app first — Settings, Security, "Erase everything now". That is the trade this app makes, and it is written here rather than buried in a settings screen.

Screenshots

Private Message Box4 screens
Cerberus4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Cerberus at none against Private Message Box's shown. Cerberus also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly). Private Message Box's advantage is device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.4). On price and in-app purchases 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. Private Message Box sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year and Cerberus sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Private Message Box ships an update monthly, Cerberus every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 1, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Private Message Box versus Cerberus: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPrivate Message BoxCerberus
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.9 (20 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews6.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings20 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 5 days — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size50 MB59 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperVartit Technology Private LimitedShahen Grigoryan

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Private Message Box

Subscriptions4
  • Proversion$4.991 Year
  • Buy Number - Zone1 Yearly$21.991 Year
  • Buy Number - Zone2 Yearly$58.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Buy Number - Zone3 Yearly$102.991 Year
One-time1
  • Get SMS Balance$6.99
1 purchases

Cerberus

One-time1
  • AirPact: Private Secure Chat$19.99

Questions

Is Private Message Box free?
Private Message Box is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Cerberus free?
Cerberus is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Private Message Box or Cerberus have ads?
Private Message Box shows ads; Cerberus does not.
Which is updated more often, Private Message Box or Cerberus?
Private Message Box ships an update monthly, and Cerberus every 5 days. Most recently, Private Message Box was updated on October 1, 2026 and Cerberus on October 13, 2026.

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