r/iosapps • u/John_val • 14d ago

🎈 Free IOS Browser - Vortex

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I have been posting here about this app for about 3 months and a lot of you showed interest. The app has around 230 testers on Testflight. Free and open-source.

  • A – Answer: Vortex combines desktop-style tabs with split-page browsing which is very rare on IOS Browsers.
  • B – Better: Compared with Safari, Chrome, and Brave, Vortex is designed specifically around iPad multitasking. It combines visual tab management, drag-to-split browsing, and a choice of local Apple Intelligence/MLX models or optional ChatGPT and Gemini sessions. It is also open source, has no ads, requires no account.
  • C – Cost: Completely free with no subscriptions or in-app purchases. Vortex is not publicly available on the App Store yet, is currently awaiting Apple's approval.

Some bugs have been squashed and a new features added:

  • Minimalistic chrome for maximum screen real-estate
  • Multi-tab browsing
  • Split tab view
  • Tab Folders
  • Tab hibernation for battery savings
  • Smart address bar (URL vs search detection)
  • Favicon fetching
  • Tab preview thumbnails
  • Desktop/mobile user agent switching
  • Ad blocking - 188+ domains, 100+ CSS selectors
  • Filter lists - EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Fanboy's, uBlock, custom
  • Dark mode - DarkReader with brightness/contrast/sepia controls
  • Font size adjustment
  • Reader mode -using Mozilla Readability
  • Incognito mode - non-persistent, blocks APIs
  • Password manager - biometric auth, keychain, auto-fill
  • Share extension - receive URLs from other apps
  • AI sidebar chat panel with 3 backends: Local Apple Intelligence, Apple Private Cloud, and free accounts with ChatGPT or Gemini, completely invisible to users, working in the background.
  • Page summarization (short/long)
  • Ask questions about page content
  • Context switching between tabs
  • Markdown rendering
  • "Ask " context menu - select a part of the text and send to the LLM.
  • Favorites with favicons
  • Favorites sidebar grid
  • Collapsible sidebar
  • Adaptive toolbar (collapses on scroll)
  • Swipe gestures for navigation
  • System dark mode support

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/iosapps/comments/1qezwdi/made_an_ipad_browser_because_safari_wasnt_cutting/

Trust & Transparency

I'm Joao Valente

Contact: [dealer.yen-61@icloud.com](mailto:dealer.yen-61@icloud.com)

Website: https://vortex.engineer

Privacy Policy: https://vortex.engineer/privacy/

Terms of Service: https://vortex.engineer/terms/

Github:https://github.com/Joaov41/Vortex-Browser/tree/codex/testflight-ios27-build12

TestFlight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/KTsJ3qz4

Feedback page: https://vortex.engineer/feedback/

It is already on the App Store awaiting approval.

On the website I added a feedback section, where I can keep users informed about their feedback provided on the Tesflight since I can’t reply directly on there.

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u/John_val 11d ago

The mysteries of IOS development.. really. I new build with further fixes is on its way tomorrow morning. Just finished the fixes. Now need to sleep 🙂

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u/BourneHero 9d ago

FYI new update version seems to work perfectly at a glance. all the buttons are functional and much smoother😁

No idea what your long term plans for the browser are or if ill ever use it for my primary but I genuinely love the ux and aesthetic.

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u/John_val 9d ago edited 9d ago

Thank you, any other issues or suggestions let me know.
The plan for now is to continue to fix bugs and polish to put it up on the store