Bramble vs Covenant Eyes
Covenant Eyes, now sold as Victory, is built on someone seeing what you see: a screenshot of your screen at least once a minute, rated by AI, blurred and sent to an ally you choose. Bramble is built on the opposite bet. It blocks on your phone, and no one gets a list or a picture of what you looked at.
Both are Christian. One costs $198 a year and the other is free. And if what you want is a person who can see your screen, Covenant Eyes has done that longer and more thoroughly than anyone. Every Covenant Eyes figure below comes from its own site, help centre or App Store listing, read on October 4, 2026.
| Bramble | Covenant Eyes | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, for good. No paid tier and no ads. | $18 a month, $198 a year, or $950 once, on the web. In-app prices are higher. A plan covers up to ten people in a family. |
| Without paying | Everything. | The Victory app’s community and mini-courses. Screenshots and blocking need a plan. |
| Devices | iPhone, Chrome (also Edge, Brave and ChromeOS) and Mac. | iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows. Not Chromebooks. |
| How it works | Four layers on the phone: a DNS proxy, a URL content filter, an app shield and an image check in Safari. | A screenshot at least once a minute, rated by AI, blurred and sent to an ally. A filter with three levels and enforced SafeSearch. |
| What someone else sees | Your witnesses see only what you choose to share. A Keyholder is told when protection comes down. No one is told what you looked at. | Your ally gets a feed of blurred screenshots and a daily check-in. Explicit ones go at once, under a cover the ally can lift. |
| On an iPhone | All four layers, across Safari and the apps you name in the shield. | Screenshots in Safari only. Elsewhere it reports root domains, and it cannot see inside apps or block them. |
| If you delete it from an iPhone | In Keyholder mode, deleting it needs the Screen Time passcode someone else holds. | It cannot detect that, and its help centre points you to Screen Time. |
| What is kept | Your browsing history never leaves the phone unhashed. | Screenshots and activity for 30 days. Names, billing details and IP addresses indefinitely. |
| Faith | Christ-centered, informed by Patrick Carnes. | Christian. The name comes from Job 31:1. |
Covenant Eyes’ column was read on its own pages on October 4, 2026. Prices and features change; if one has moved, tell me at hello@getbramble.app and I will fix it the same day.
What Covenant Eyes does well
It has been at this since 2000, it is employee-owned, and it is openly Christian, down to the verse it is named for. If you want another person to see what is on your screen, nothing else does it as completely. A plan covers up to ten people in a family. On a Mac or a Windows PC, uninstalling it needs a code your account admin can keep from you, which is real friction at the moment it matters. It runs on Android and Windows, which Bramble does not.
It also does a lot for churches: a church programme called Five Stones, and STRIVE, a free 21-day course for men. If your church already runs those, that is worth weighing.
The difference is who sees your screen
Covenant Eyes’ own help centre describes the model plainly. A screenshot is taken at least once a minute and checked by AI on your device. It is then shrunk, blurred and scrambled before it travels. Your ally sees ordinary screenshots in a recap, suggestive ones highlighted, and explicit ones straight away, under a cover they can lift for a less blurred look.
That is careful engineering around a single idea: that being seen is what keeps a man from going back. For some men it is exactly what they need. In 2022, Wired investigated what it called “shameware” apps, and Google suspended Covenant Eyes from the Play Store from September 21, 2022 to March 1, 2023. Covenant Eyes’ own account says Google cited its general malware policy, and it is worth reading both.
Bramble does not watch. Nearly all of its blocking happens on the phone, and nobody, not your witnesses and not us, gets a list of what you looked at. What other people see is what you choose to tell them: that you are struggling, that you checked in, and good news. A Keyholder, if you ask someone to be one, is told when your protection comes down, never why.
On an iPhone, the gap is smaller than it sounds
An iPhone does not let any app watch another app. Covenant Eyes’ own help centre says so: on iOS it takes screenshots only in Safari, through a Safari extension, and elsewhere it reports root domains. It cannot see inside apps and cannot block them. If you delete it, it cannot tell, and its own advice is to pair it with Screen Time.
That last piece is the one that does the work, and it is the one Bramble is built around. In Keyholder mode someone you trust sets a Screen Time passcode you never see, and turning protection off or deleting Bramble runs through them. So on the phone most men carry, the real difference is not how much each one can see. It is whether a person receives pictures of your screen.
The difference in price
Covenant Eyes is $198 a year on the web, more through the App Store, with a 30-day money-back guarantee for first-time buyers. Bramble is free, and will stay free. Porn does not leave the internet the month a card expires, and I would rather a man keep this for the rest of his life than lose it to a renewal.
Which one fits
- Choose Covenant Eyes if you want an ally to see your screen, if your household is on Android or Windows, or if your church already uses its programmes.
- Choose Bramble if you are on an iPhone, Chrome or a Mac, want blocking that runs on the phone, and want accountability that is about what you say rather than what someone sees.
Either way, a blocker only buys you time. What you do with the time is the work, and that part is free to read.
If free, private and nobody watching your screen is what you were looking for, you can stop comparing here.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bramble a Covenant Eyes alternative?
Yes, if what you want an alternative to is the screenshot model. Bramble blocks adult content on your phone and sends no one a list or a picture of what you looked at. Your witnesses see only what you choose to share, and a Keyholder is told when protection comes down. It is also free, where Covenant Eyes is $198 a year on the web.
How much does Covenant Eyes cost?
On its own pricing page, $18 a month, $198 a year, or $950 once for a lifetime plan, each covering up to ten people in a family. Buying through the App Store costs more. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee for first-time buyers. The Victory app is free to download, but screenshots and blocking need a plan.
Does Covenant Eyes take screenshots on iPhone?
Only in Safari, through a Safari extension, according to its own help centre. Elsewhere on an iPhone it reports the root domains you visit, and it cannot see inside apps or block them. It also cannot detect being deleted from an iPhone, and recommends pairing it with Screen Time.
Is there a free alternative to Covenant Eyes?
Bramble is free, with no paid tier, no ads and no trial clock. It runs on iPhone, Chrome and Mac. It does not take screenshots or send reports of your activity. If you need Android or Windows, it does not cover those yet.
Sources
- Covenant Eyes, pricing and how it works, read October 4, 2026.
- Covenant Eyes help centre: how screenshots are captured and protected; what allies see; how it works on iPhone; uninstalling on iPhone.
- Covenant Eyes end user licence agreement, §5 (refunds) and §8 (retention), last updated October 20, 2025.
- Covenant Eyes, corporate history.
- Mehrotra, D. and Rogers, R. “The Ungodly Surveillance of Anti-Porn ‘Shameware’ Apps.” Wired, September 22, 2022.
- Covenant Eyes on its Play Store suspension (September 21, 2022 to March 1, 2023).
- Victory Shield on the App Store.
Keep reading
- How Bramble compares The wider view: Covenant Eyes, QUITTR and Migiri side by side.
- The best adult content blockers and recovery apps, honestly The full list, including where Bramble is the wrong choice.
- How Bramble blocks adult content The four layers, and what each one actually does.
- Keyholder mode How someone you trust holds the Screen Time passcode, step by step.
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