Honest Comparison
Remain Faithful vs Covenant Eyes
Both Remain Faithful and Covenant Eyes exist to help Christians pursue purity through accountability. They take fundamentally different approaches. This page is an honest comparison so you can choose the right tool for your situation.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Pricing as of June 2026. Check each provider's website for current pricing.
| Feature | Remain Faithful | Covenant Eyes |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free forever | $16.99/mo per user |
| Annual cost (1 user) | $0 | ~$204 |
| Annual cost (family of 4) | $0 | ~$816 |
| Platform | iOS 17+ (Android Fall 2026) | iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Chromebook |
| Monitoring approach | On-device AI classification | Screen capture + cloud AI analysis |
| Screenshots shared with partners? | Never. Category + severity only. | Yes. Screenshots sent to partner. |
| Where AI runs | Entirely on your device | Cloud servers |
| Open source | Yes, full codebase on GitHub | No |
| Accountability model | Covenant-based partnership or small group | Ally-based reports |
| Church/group tools | Built-in group mode (up to 12) | Available with enterprise plan |
| Content blocking | Yes, always-on app blocking via Screen Time | Yes, customizable filtering |
| DRM streaming monitoring | No (iOS limitation) | No (iOS limitation) |
| Established since | 2026 | 2000 |
| User base | New (beta) | 1.5M+ users |
Where Covenant Eyes Is Stronger
Platform coverage
Covenant Eyes supports 5 platforms: iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Chromebook. Remain Faithful is iOS only right now. If you or your partners use non-Apple devices, CE has the clear advantage.
Track record
Covenant Eyes has been in operation since 2000 with over 1.5 million users. That is 25 years of proven history. Remain Faithful launched in 2026 and is still in beta. Maturity matters for trust.
Content filtering
Covenant Eyes offers robust website and app blocking with granular category controls. Remain Faithful also blocks apps via Screen Time integration, but CE has a more mature filtering system overall.
Enterprise and church administration
Covenant Eyes has mature organizational management tools designed for large-scale church or ministry deployments. For denominations or large organizations with IT requirements, CE has purpose-built infrastructure.
Where Remain Faithful Is Stronger
Price
Remain Faithful is free. Covenant Eyes costs approximately $204 per year for one person. For a family of four, that is $816 per year. There is no version of Covenant Eyes that is free; Remain Faithful is free without limitations.
Privacy: no screenshots ever leave your device
Covenant Eyes sends screenshots of your screen to cloud servers for AI analysis. Remain Faithful does all classification on your device using Apple's Neural Engine. No screen content, no screenshots, and no OCR text is ever transmitted. Your screen stays on your phone.
Partner protection
Covenant Eyes partners receive actual screenshots of flagged content, which means partners are exposed to the harmful material. Remain Faithful partners receive only a category label and severity level. Partners never see the content that triggered the alert.
Open source transparency
Anyone can read every line of Remain Faithful's code on GitHub and verify exactly what is and is not transmitted. Covenant Eyes is proprietary. For an app handling sensitive behavioral data, open source is a meaningful trust advantage.
Covenant model
The covenant framework grounds accountability in a biblical understanding of relationship rather than a surveillance model. Partners agree to respond with grace before they gain any access. This shapes how alerts are received and processed.
Who Should Choose Covenant Eyes
- Need Windows, Mac, or Android coverage today
- Organizations with mature IT admin requirements
- Families who want a proven 25-year track record
- Users whose partners prefer to see screenshots
- Large ministries needing enterprise management
Who Should Choose Remain Faithful
- iPhone users who want privacy-first accountability at zero cost
- Anyone who believes partners should not see harmful content
- Those who value open-source code transparency
- Churches and small groups needing free tools
- People who want a covenant-based theological framework
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Remain Faithful as effective as Covenant Eyes?
Remain Faithful and Covenant Eyes take different approaches. Covenant Eyes has 25 years of proven history and broad multi-platform coverage. Remain Faithful is newer but introduces on-device AI that keeps screen content entirely private, a covenant-based accountability model, and costs nothing. Effectiveness depends on what your situation requires.
Can I switch from Covenant Eyes to Remain Faithful?
Yes. Switching is straightforward: cancel your Covenant Eyes subscription, download Remain Faithful, and invite your accountability partners. Setup takes about 15 minutes. Note that Remain Faithful is currently iOS only; if your partners use Android, Windows, or Mac, Covenant Eyes may be the better fit for now.
Does Remain Faithful work on the same devices as Covenant Eyes?
No. Covenant Eyes supports iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Chromebook. Remain Faithful currently supports iPhone (iOS 17+). Android support is planned for Fall 2026. If you need multi-platform coverage today, Covenant Eyes has the advantage.