Covenant Eyes: Quit Porn Now Reviews

So with the recent update that uses a VPN to track everything on the phone, I thought “what a great idea”. It was just another way to keep everyone more accountable. Well my happiness was quickly turned into sadness when I could not longer text, use my apps, or call people. Yes for a whole day my phone was completely useless. The only app that worked was the Covenant Eyes app. (I am the type of person that closes an app out, once I’m finished using it. I don’t like to have a bunch of apps running in the background) So at one point I didn’t close out Covenant Eyes and I let it stay open in the background. It was at this point I started to receive texts that hadn’t been coming through, and I noticed that my other apps started working. Basically the VPN connected to Covenant Eyes blocks my phone from connecting to my cellular network unless I keep the browser app open at all times. This is not okay!!!!!

On top of all of that, CovenantEyes is buggy. It constantly asks me to sign in, it constantly deletes all of my open tabs, and it constantly crashes. Sometimes it crashes and I don’t realize it and then if people have been texting me, I don’t receive anything. CovenantEyes has really become a problem. The use of a VPN was a great idea, but it has never been perfected. It’s almost like they released it without testing it first. If they don’t fix this soon, I’m going to have to cancel my subscription.

CovenantEyes was working fairly well for a while, but it zooms in on some pages with video players for some reason, and good luck getting it to load more than one video in a row. The UI is clunky, it has slow load times every once in a while, the safe search seems to be permanently on, and it does not catch some things. It seems like incognito modes in other browsers don’t set off accountability as much. Haven’t tested it on porn sites, but it will usually flag Reddit or other pages when not using the mode, and as far as I can tell will not if in private browsing.

CovenantEyes will catch things like Instagram-linked questionable sites, which is much appreciated, and it has definitely improved over time. It is a valuable tool for fighting porn addiction, but the bugs and the clumsiness can be absolutely maddening. Safesearch all of a sudden being an enforced thing across apps is also not something I want, but it isn’t necessarily bad. I would recommend its use, but make sure your accountability partner asks you specific and uncomfortable questions often, because there are still plenty of ways around this accountability software.

I’ve been on a long journey of fighting porn addiction. I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs, but one of the biggest game-changers in this ordeal has been downloading covenant eyes. I’ve now had Covenant Eyes installed on my laptop and phone for over a year and a half, and I can’t imagine walking in purity without it. Thanks to this service, the support of my friends and wife, and the Grace of God, I’ve been clean for over a year now.

This service isn’t perfect, but it’s so much better than just keeping an unrestricted browser and expecting yourself to deny any temptations.

I once heard a man criticize the commonly thrown around phrase “struggling with porn.” He responded to it by asking “well, what are you doing to struggle?” If you don’t change any of your habits or restrain your access to porn, then you’re not struggling at all. You’re really just rolling over and letting it win. One of the most important steps is getting in the game and fighting to win. Covenant eyes is helping me win, and I’m very grateful to have this resource on my side.

Works great on my Mac, absolutely no problems.

Thing is, I use my iPhone far more than my Mac. My iPhone is now useless on wifi. The VPN or whatever has caused nothing to load. Random apps - Facebook, the game Among Us, and maybe something else random - will still load. The majority of the things I use will not. I have chewed through so much data because of this and it is going to cost me more money because I will have to pay for more data. My options are no accountability but have a phone that works, or have accountability but no phone. Even pictures, videos, links on iMessage won’t load until I turn off wifi. Contacted support and they tried one thing which didn’t work, then I was asked to submit a report, which I did. Haven’t heard anything since that time and based on the interval between app updates throughout their existence, I’m not expecting a fix any time soon. My last hope is that the WiFi I am on is causing my problems. If that’s it, then okay, the problem is on my end. If it’s not the WiFi, I’m going to have to delete the program.

Overall, CE has been a great experience. It does the work to limit/restrict access to adult websites, but it will not set you free. Remember, this is meant to supplement your conversations, provide accountability, but ultimately you have to want freedom more than you want porn. CE played a pivotal role in my freedom from porn, so I recommend it for whoever is looking to get free. You combine CE with an invested friend, some hard conversations, brutal self-honesty & self-examination — if you’re a faith-based individual, involve God too.

CovenantEyes itself works great for the most part, but some future updates could include more cohesiveness with iOS. For example, adding bookmarks to the home screen, importing calendar events from a website/email into your calendar, opening email attachments, using Face ID to auto fill passwords directly from iCloud Keychain bypassing the extra step of finding the website login, etc. keep up the great work!

CovenantEyes does exactly what it says it does which is helpful and also refreshing considering how many apps don't deliver. That said, my issue lies with the unreliability and poor speed coming from the VPN. Basically any time I have a signal strength change or a bird flies by (I really don't know what causes it sometimes) the VPN loses connection and can't re-establish it til I reset the settings in CovenantEyes . When the VPN actually is connected, data loading speeds take a significant hit across the phone in the browser and in other apps. I like the accountability this software brings but the negative affects of the VPN almost outweigh the positive of CovenantEyes .

To the developers: I respect your work and I understand there are bugs but please put some focus on the VPN so it stays consistently connected and loading speeds don't drop off a cliff all time. Unfortunately if the VPN issues aren't fixed soon, I'll have to use something else.

As a parent, I appreciate the mission and work of Covenant Eyes. CE generally works beautifully on all our computers (Mac and other). However, the CE app on iPhone slows almost every other app to a snail’s pace—even the CE browser is slow. Many apps take forever and ever to load!
My spouse and I decided to do a test: I’d remove CE for a week from my iPhone and go back to Safari as the browser. Sure enough, my phone’s performance was SO much faster—so much better (all apps)!
I reinstalled CE today because we want accountability and filtering on all our devices. Now, I’m back to very S L O W speeds on almost every app.
It’s frustrating considering we pay about $180 a year for CE. I’m thinking there must be something near this price point that works better without a massive slow down on your phone OR maybe something that slows your phone down as much as CE does but doesn’t cost as much. I’m conflicted about what my next step will be, but I’m planning to set aside time to research other apps.

I will start by saying that I love this concept, and the older version was great. My family uses the filtering and accountability on all our devices. However, the latest upgrade has made the browser completely useless. It constantly freezes when you go to use the browser...and by constantly I mean constantly. I cannot even do a simple google search with the browser. After typing a few letters in the search box, it stops and you can type not more. It just freezes until you close out CovenantEyes and start over again...and again...and again. The older version browser would periodically freeze and then respond after about 10-15 seconds. I thought maybe I needed to update so I checked and sure enough there was an update. That was a huge mistake. I should have never upgraded. I’m now paying for a browser on multiple devices and it’s a completely useless. I can not recommend CovenantEyes to anyone anymore. I will give the developer a little bit of time to fix the issue before I cancel my paid subscription.

(Downgrading my review because I’ve had more issues with this VPN. It makes Uber and lyft and Google maps all break and so I continually have to remove this app from my phone making it useless – Covenant eyes people – please go back to a having a non-VPN option at least before I need to cancel my subscription)

This is a great concept but the new version has some issues. It uses a VPN connection to this app servers. The result is that you are going to get certificate errors in some applications such as Google maps or Google email. I’ve had Google maps sometimes not work until I uninstalled this app. I’ve also had continual certificate errors when using Google mail. I’ve also noticed some slow down and performance impacts when this app was enabled they go away soon as I delete it. From time to time I find websites that don’t work in the this app browser but they do work in Google Chrome. Overall this is a great product but they need to work on the new VPN Based version as it’s a bit clunky in its first release

Taskbar at the top and bottom often lock up and won't scroll away, making the top and bottom of the screen unusable; Freezes or crashes seemingly at random, even with only one tab and no other apps open; markedly slower than other browsers on this computer. Filtering is usually great, though, so it's generally worth these (usually uncommon) bugs, so I would consider CovenantEyes worth it, except for one oversight- my phone's memory is full of caches, and I can't clear my Safari cache without my accountability partner's help to briefly unblock Safari, but I can't meet with my accountability partner until after quarantine, because of their immune-compromised family members. If it was possible to clear all caches from within the Covenant Eyes app, this might come up to a 4 star rating. All in all worthwhile, but once I'm in a better place, I intend to move back to an ordinary browser.

To be clear here, I’m reviewing only CovenantEyes and not the covenant eyes service in general. I’m a huge proponent of what covenant eyes is providing with there screen accountability services. The PC version of their service has very few issues and gives the protection I want for my family. That being said, CovenantEyes is almost not usable for me. It’s slow, glitchy, and often freezes or crashes doing simple tasks. Furthermore the user interface is just clunky. It makes me feel like I’m using an old iPhone 3 iOS or something. I really like the direction they are going with the vpn monitoring activity over the entire phone, but I’m not sure how much I can trust it at this point. It is crucial for someone like me to have a responsive and reliable browser, and this just doesn’t make the cut so I’m often having to fall back to less protected browsers which kinda defeats the point of paying for this service... CovenantEyes needs a massive overhaul in efficiency and user interface.

The fact that CovenantEyes monitors my entire iPhone is a big step forward. I really wish iOS devices were more friendly with apps like Covenant Eyes that keep people accountable for their device usage. I’ve experienced some bugs and glitches that needed to be worked out. For example, occasionally my Internet connection will disconnect entirely for a brief period time. I can delete CovenantEyes and reinstall it to fix it, or I can wait a little bit for it to sort itself out. Also, CovenantEyes seems to affect my location services. My Apple Maps seems to struggle to find where I’m at while using cellular data and driving. If that could be sorted out then great. Overall this is a big step forward for iPhone accountability. I’m looking forward to future improvements.

So I want to preface this review by saying that this is a great concept and actually works pretty well! I don’t have any complaints with the functionality itself. My gripe with the company is that if you want to cancel, they have no ways to do this except over the phone. Almost all companies have modern way to just cancel on the website or send and email. With this, you had to call. What made this even more uncomfortable is that when I called, I spoke with a woman who was asking me if canceling would be a good idea and asking to think about if I needed the accountability. Thanks, but a random woman I’ve never met is the last person I would ever want to have a conversation with about this stuff… I understand they want to help and keep people in their program, but in my opinion it is extremely uncomfortable and super cringy the way it is set up. Please make this change! Someone should not feel uncomfortable or pressured to not cancel or change a subscription, that should be the accountability partners job, not the companies.

DO NOT UPGRADE TO THE VPN VERSION IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY. It’s not ready for prime time.

So this update snuck thru while I was updating other apps. Not anyone at Covenant Eyes fault- BUT now I HAVE to set up a VPN to even use the browser? That's not great- and I don't want and I'm sure my employer doesn't want my work email getting sifted thru some VPN they're not familiar with. I'm sure this is great for those that want/need it- but give us the option. Don't force it. May consider canceling my subscription. More recently server connection issues block apps, thus making them useless. Again- bring a non VPN option back.

I know it hasn’t been long since I edited this, but it also slows down and blocks my voice mail when it cannot connect to the covenant eyes server. I’m getting close to canceling my services. The biggest reason I went to CE was the convenience of setting filters and things all in one place and having it work cross platform. That’s fine, that still works, but blocking essential functions of what a phone is supposed to do is unacceptable.

The browser itself works fine. My only complaint - and big complaint - is that on iPhone the Covenant Eyes browser isn’t presented as an option when opening a website from an email. Only Safari and Chrome pop up as options (and if you have restrictions set up so that CE is your only browser, you have no options). The only way to open items in CE from email is to push and hold the hyperlink in the email, copy the web address, open the CE browser, then paste the address into the CE browser. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is really frustrating and can be time consuming. How come Chrome is able to be an option as a non-native browser on iPhone, but CE is unable to be a default browser?

My son was in trouble for looking up two sites. While he was grounded he lost his phone privilege. He had told me twice he didn’t look up anything and I did not believe him. He didn’t have his phone for nearly two weeks. After about one week I received a notice to check his report. It showed he had looked up sites that were inappropriate, even though I had his phone and it had been turned off. I contacted Covenant Eyes because I wanted a refund. Did they care that this caused my son to be grounded or could have caused a huge fight with my husband? No. They said there was glitches and that they were working on them. Then they said they couldn’t reimburse me because it was past 7 days since the day I was billed. This is not a Christian application that will help. Their integrity is not shown in their customer service. I don’t know about you but I believe God will show me when there is anything going on in my household. I trusted this site and it could have cost me a divorce and also not trusting my son.

I love the idea of CovenantEyes. For all intents and purposes, CovenantEyes does what I need it to do, and does a fantastic job at blocking stuff I shouldn’t be seeing.
That being said, CovenantEyes does a terrible job at the second piece, which is creating a reliable web browser, especially for the hefty price. Often times, CovenantEyes just doesn’t respond. Clicking on a URL on another app will bring me to Covenant Eyes, but it won’t search anything. It just leaves me there waiting. Often times, if I need an answer quickly, I will know that Covenant Eyes doesn’t work, and go to my laptop to search something, since CovenantEyes is just so slow and unresponsive. On top of that, there is no way for me to automatically save passwords.
While I love CovenantEyes for what it does, it is nearly unbearable when it is basically me paying $16 per month to have no web browser at all. Perhaps I’ll just delete my web browsers all together and save a bunch of money. : )

CovenantEyes was excellent at doing what was supposed to do. Holding people’s online behaviors accountable. It has been passable, but never robust as a browser, but the lack of features was worth it.

Then came this version. Great idea to have a VPN layer riding above everything, but now I am asked to sign in every time I use it, and the sign in button doesn’t work. And it doesn’t connect with intended website unless I re-enter it. I also get expired certificate, insecure website alerts constantly.

I have contacted the company and keep getting told the developers are working on it. Unacceptable. This is such a major failure that should’ve been disclosed to users, with a solution date, not left them to discover it and wonder what’s happening. Do not buy CovenantEyes until they fix it.

Long story short, my mentor and I chose to buy covenant eyes for my computer and phone. Great reviews, people have loved it, etc. the issue I’ve found at least on the phone is this: 1. CovenantEyes itself is a browser but I have no way of transferring all my saved websites and tabs over to use it instead. Also this doesn’t fully hinder me from just downloading another browser in the night- for those more stubborn- and using that instead, but maybe that’s why; nonetheless I don’t want to use CovenantEyes browser as I have important websites saved that would take me hours to transfer. 2. In the moment I found a way to get past the VPN. Your VPN only hinders google I found. This meant that I was able to just use a different search engine to still see and get to the bad websites AND the program didn’t even register I went to them; this is a BIG problem for what y’all are advertising. Pleaseeee fix this.

Overall, I applaud CE in terms of functionality and accountability. I understand that it’s pretty unique how they have to go about it with iOS. However, the replacement browser leaves much to be desired. Functioning as strictly a browser, it’s not too bad. But whenever it opens up as an “authentication” pop up or what have you for a game etc., it’s rarely if ever works. I have to get my accountability partner to temporarily “unlock” safari to update my games and such. Now, let me be clear, while this is a big headache, it’s possible that it’s as good as it can be trying to work with iOS. And, it beats the alternative (no accountability), at least for me. So the low rating is for the browser alone. I stand behind the service as the best option for internet accountability available for iOS.

I have had covenant eyes installed on my phone for quite a while but was super disappointed with the fact that it didn’t work for the iPhone. This new version fixed all of that and I’m very happy with it. There are some kinks and rough spots here and there, but overall it has worked well. It’s a wonderful experience to be free to not have to think about the temptation and to know that if anything pops up on my report my buddies will ask me about it.

All of that said I can’t wait until the day that the CE browser can be fully integrated into the iPhone system. It would be awesome if it would function seamlessly alongside things like keychain, wallet, and the rest of the IOS. I know that this is as much Apple needing to allow these things as it is CE working on their end. So thank you for your work and ministry.