Safari and Chrome are both capable browsers, and for most people they work well. Vanilla is built for a narrower purpose: a separate browser of its own that you run alongside Safari or Chrome. It starts private by default, keeps that browsing apart from your everyday browser, blocks ads and trackers, and collects nothing about you. If that is exactly what you want, here is how the three compare on iPhone.
 Vanilla |
 Safari |
 Chrome |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Private by default | Yes, every tab | Optional Private Browsing mode | Incognito mode only, and Google's own disclaimer notes it doesn't stop sites or Google from collecting your data |
| Separate from your main browser | Yes, a browser of its own; nothing mixes with the browser you use day to day | Private Browsing lives inside Safari, next to your normal tabs and history | Incognito lives inside Chrome, next to your normal tabs and history |
| Data collected about you | None. No analytics, no servers, no account | Minimal; designed to process data on your device | Extensive. Its App Store privacy label lists location, browsing history, search history, and identifiers linked to you, used for analytics and advertising |
| Blocks ads and trackers | Yes, by default | Blocks cross-site trackers by default; does not block ads | Not by default |
| Account required | No account system at all | Optional Apple account for iCloud sync | Optional Google account for sync |
| Choose your search engine | Yes, DuckDuckGo by default | Yes, Google by default | Yes, Google by default |
| Simple and easy to use | Yes, minimal and focused | Full-featured | Feature-heavy |
If you use Safari
Safari is genuinely strong on privacy. It blocks cross-site trackers by default, is designed to process data on your device, and integrates deeply with iCloud and the rest of Apple's ecosystem. If you rely on that integration, Safari is hard to beat. Vanilla takes a more minimal path: it blocks ads as well as trackers, collects nothing at all, and has no accounts or sync, so there is simply nothing for anyone to gather.
If you use Chrome
Chrome is fast and cross-platform, which is convenient if you live in Google's ecosystem and want your browsing to follow you across devices. The trade-off is that it is made by an advertising company: Chrome's own App Store privacy label discloses that it collects data such as your location, browsing history, and search history and links it to you. Incognito mode does not change that, as Google's updated disclaimer now makes clear. Vanilla has no servers, no account, and no ad business, so your browsing stays on your iPhone and goes nowhere else.
A browser that stays separate
In Safari and Chrome, private browsing happens inside the same app you use for everything else, alongside your normal tabs, history, and signed-in accounts. Vanilla is a separate browser instead. There is no regular mode for your private browsing to mix with, nothing syncs, and nothing carries over. Keep using Safari or Chrome as your everyday browser, and open Vanilla whenever you want browsing that stays on its own.
Why Vanilla
Vanilla does nothing with your data. It runs no analytics, no ads, and no tracking SDKs, and it has no account system. Every tab is private by default, ads and trackers are blocked, you can pick your own search engine, and "Clear All Data" wipes your local browsing data whenever you want. Best of all, it is simple and easy to use, a browser that just loads websites, quickly and quietly, without asking for anything in return.