How we test, and why you can trust the list
A privacy review desk is only worth reading if it is honest about its own incentives. So here is exactly how we work — including the part most sites would hide.
What this site is
iPhone Privacy Hub is an independent review desk covering privacy and security apps for iOS. We install the apps, use them for real tasks, and rank them on how well they protect your data rather than how loudly they market it. The goal is a list a friend who happens to know this stuff would give you.
How we score
Every app is judged on the same criteria: the strength and type of its encryption (end-to-end, at-rest, or merely a lock screen), how much data the maker collects, whether there is an independent audit, the price model, and how usable it actually is day to day. We weight "nothing to breach" highly — an app with no account and no server cannot leak what it never holds, so local-only and zero-knowledge designs earn credit.
We check claims against behaviour. "Bank-level encryption" with no named algorithm gets no credit; "AES-256-GCM, keys never leave the device" that matches how the app behaves does. Where a claim cannot be verified, we say so.
Our disclosure
Here is the part that matters. Two of the apps we review — Shell Notes (encrypted notes) and AdLocker (Safari ad and tracker blocking) — are built by the independent developer who also funds this site. We could pretend otherwise; instead we label them clearly on every card and page where they appear, and we rank them against competitors on the same published criteria as everything else.
The categories where we do not make an app — password managers, private browsers — are won by third parties such as Bitwarden and Brave, because they are genuinely the best in those slots. If our apps ever stopped leading their categories on merit, they would move down the list. That is the test of an honest ranking.
How we make money
The site is reader-supported. Some outbound App Store links may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and the two in-house apps are free downloads. No company pays us for placement, a higher rank, or a better review — there is no rate card, because that option does not exist here.
Corrections
Apps change. If a review here is out of date or wrong, we want to fix it — an app that improves its encryption or adds a tracker should see that reflected. We re-check the rankings periodically and date every page so you know how fresh it is.