LensLens is a web browser for iPhone and iPad, with a menu bar companion for Mac. It’s built so that what you do in it stays yours: there’s no account, no analytics, no ads and no tracking. I (the developer) don’t run any server that receives your browsing, and I can’t see anything you do in Lens.
This page explains exactly what Lens keeps, where it goes, and how to remove it.
What stays on your device
Lens keeps these on your iPhone or iPad only:
- History, open tabs, pinned sites and closed tabs, so you can find and reopen pages.
- Website data such as cookies, logins and cached pages, stored by Apple’s WebKit the way Safari stores them.
- Site icons, fetched from the sites you visit, so history and pins look familiar.
- Downloads you haven’t saved yet. Unsaved downloads are deleted automatically after the period you choose in Settings.
- Your settings and per-site choices, such as zoom, Reader, fullscreen and things you’ve hidden on a page.
- A count of pages loaded and days used (not which pages), only to decide when to ask for an App Store rating, and when to mention tips or Lens for Mac, once each. Lens asks for a rating with Apple’s own prompt, at most every few months, and never over a private tab. Private tabs aren’t counted.
- Whether you’ve used AirDrop from Lens (not what or to whom), as a hint you may have a Mac, so Lens for Mac can be mentioned sooner.
You can clear history, website data and downloads at any time in Settings, or forget everything about one site with Forget This Website in the page menu.
Private tabs
Private tabs are never written to disk. They don’t add to history, aren’t synced, and don’t save site icons. Their cookies and website data live in memory and are erased, along with their downloads, when you close your last private tab. You can lock private tabs with Face ID, and lock your history, closed tabs and other devices’ tabs too.
iCloud sync
If you’re signed in to iCloud, Lens can keep your pins, settings, history and open tabs in step across your devices, and send links to your Mac. You can turn sync off, or turn off only history sync, in Settings.
- Sync uses your own private iCloud database. It is not a Lens server, and I can’t access it.
- What’s stored there, including the addresses and titles of pages, your pins, your settings, when you visited and each device’s model name (like “iPhone 17 Pro”), is end-to-end encrypted with keys only your devices have.
- Send to Mac saves the link, its title, when you sent it and your device’s model name there, encrypted the same way. Your Mac deletes it once you open it, or after a week if you don’t.
- Apple handles iCloud under Apple’s Privacy Policy. Apple can see that encrypted records exist, how big they are and when they changed, but not what’s in them.
- Private tabs are never synced.
Lens for Mac
Lens for Mac lives in your menu bar and shows your pins, links you’ve sent to your Mac and the tabs open on your iPhone and iPad. It reads them from your own iCloud, as above, and opens pages in the browser you choose.
- It reads only your pins, your devices’ open tabs and links you’ve sent. It doesn’t read your history or settings.
- It writes only two things: it deletes sent links once you open them (or after a week), and it saves one small encrypted record saying a Mac uses Lens, so your iPhone knows to offer Send to Mac.
- It keeps a copy of the last menu it showed on your Mac, so the menu appears at once.
- Site icons: to show a site’s icon, Lens for Mac asks that site directly for its home page and icon, without cookies, only for sites shown in the menu. Icons are kept on your Mac for two weeks. Each site sees a request from your Mac, as it would when you visit it. No third-party icon service is used.
- Open at Login is up to you, and you can change it in the menu or in System Settings.
Search and suggestions
When you search, your search goes to the search engine you picked in Settings (DuckDuckGo, Google, Brave, Kagi, Ecosia or Bing), and that engine’s privacy policy applies. Kagi needs your own Kagi account. Settings shows a short summary of each engine’s practices.
With Search Suggestions on, what you type in the search field is sent to the same engine as you type, so it can suggest searches. Lens never sends web addresses for suggestions, and never fetches suggestions in private search. You can turn suggestions off in Settings.
Content blocking
Lens blocks known ads and trackers using EasyList, EasyPrivacy and the EasyList Cookie List, and, if you turn on Hide Annoyances, Fanboy’s Annoyance List. About once a day it checks lists.angelakismax.com for updated lists. That request contains nothing about you or your browsing: it only asks for the latest files. The files are hosted on GitHub Pages and delivered through Cloudflare. Like any web host, they see the IP address a request comes from and may keep standard server logs under their own privacy policies (GitHub, Cloudflare). I don’t receive those logs, and there are no analytics, cookies or tracking on these files.
Features that work on your device
- Translation uses Apple’s on-device Translation. Page text is never sent anywhere to be translated; iOS may download language files from Apple the first time.
- Reader prepares articles on your device.
- Handoff offers the page you’re on to your own nearby Apple devices, through Apple. Private tabs are never offered.
- Spotlight: your pinned sites are added to your iPhone’s own search, on your device, so typing a pin’s name finds it. History and private tabs are never added.
- Siri and Shortcuts can open pages in Lens, and a shortcut you run can ask for the address of the page you’re on. Private tabs are never shared.
Tips
You can leave a tip in Settings › Support Lens. Tips are in-app purchases handled entirely by Apple under Apple’s Privacy Policy: I never see your name, Apple Account or payment details, only Apple’s sales reports, which don’t identify you. Lens remembers on your device that you’ve tipped, so the extra app icons stay unlocked, and can restore that from your App Store purchase history.
Permissions
Lens asks for access only when you use something that needs it:
- Camera, microphone and location are only for websites that ask, and only after you allow it. iOS asks you first, and you can change this anytime in the Settings app.
- Photos (add only) is used to save an image you choose to your library.
- Face ID locks private tabs, and your history if you choose. It’s handled entirely by iOS, and Lens never receives your face data.
Websites you visit
Websites have their own privacy policies, and they can see what any browser shows them. Lens reduces tracking by blocking known trackers, removing tracking codes from links, upgrading connections to HTTPS and keeping private tabs separate, but it can’t control what a site itself collects.
Children
Lens doesn’t collect personal information from anyone, including children.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new effective date.
Contact
Questions? Email made@angelakismax.com.