Perplexity is bringing its AI-focused browser, Comet, to the iPhone. After a limited rollout on desktop last year, Comet is now available for free on the App Store.
Comet’s main feature is the integrated Comet Assistant, which can jump into your active tabs to summarize long emails or compare product prices across multiple shopping sites. It also includes a Deep Research mode that pulls data from various web sources to create more comprehensive answers. Summarizing web pages with AI has been a big trend in the tech industry lately, and Perplexity is making sure to bring its own contender now and provide users with yet another option.
The iOS version of Comet works differently from its desktop counterpart. While the desktop version aggressively pushes its own AI search, the iOS app has Google as its default search engine. So, if you search for something, you’ll still end up on Google.
The only difference from a “non-AI” browser is that Comet has an embedded Assistant button on top of the Google search interface and other sites. You can use the assistant to summarize those results or have it "read" one of the websites you clicked on to give you a quick bulleted breakdown. Given that Google Search already has its own AI mode, the two assistants will probably compete with each other for user attention.
The browser is free out of the box, but that comes with an important privacy cost. Perplexity collects browsing and search history to build personalized profiles of users, which it plans to use for creating personalized ads. Still, much of the data is initially stored locally, and users can opt out of some data-sharing settings.
Comet is now available for iOS.
— Perplexity (@perplexity_ai) March 18, 2026
Download on the App Store: https://t.co/JCfCIO3Fdw pic.twitter.com/DitCKlmg65
The company offers Pro and Max subscriptions starting at $20 per month, but subscribing doesn’t stop the data collection, as Perplexity does this across all tiers. Buying a Pro or Max subscription does unlock a few advanced features, like more credits for Deep Research, selecting pro AI models from providers like OpenAI and Anthropic, and the ability to upload files for analysis.
The app supports cross-device continuity so you can pick up your research where you left off on a Mac or PC. However, you cannot install extensions like you can in the desktop version.
Perplexity also launched Personal Computer, its own tool for turning your computer into an AI agent, last week.
You can download the Comet browser on your iPhone from the App Store right now.