DuckDuckGo announces a desktop app with high privacy protection

In a statement, the CEO of the company, Gabriel Weinberg, has announced that the DuckDuckGo browser so far only available in its mobile version and through its website, will go to the desktop with the same features that characterize the browser in its mobile app, such as the ‘Fire’ button.

According to Weinberg, DuckDuckGo for desktop “will redefine user expectations for everyday privacy online” and has warned that it does not have “complicated settings, misleading warnings, or levels of privacy protection. Just strong privacy protection. privacy that works by default.”

In the tests that have been carried out to verify the operation of the web version, the company has verified that compared to Chrome it has a “cleaner and much more private” appearance and its performance is “significantly faster”.

Security in the use of e-mail and apps

With the mobile version, DuckDuckGo is testing new features such as email privacy protection to “bypass inbox trackers” and in app tracking. At the moment, it has not revealed if it will move this function to the web browser.

In July of this year, it introduced the Email Protection tool, in charge of monitoring and eliminating hidden trackers in order to protect the privacy of the email address. At the moment, it is only available in beta version and has a waiting list.

Also, in November it launched the so-called App Tracking Protection, also in beta. This is responsible for blocking third-party trackers (such as Google or Facebook) that can compromise other applications on the device.

According to data provided by the company, DuckDuckGo is the most downloaded application on Android phones and the second on iOS after Chrome in its main market, the United States. 27 million users are concentrated there (9 percent of the total).

What’s new for 2022

For 2022, DuckDuckGo has also announced more news and will introduce a renewed design of its interface “simpler and more modern” in the words of the manager, with which it promises to improve the results of local searches as well as maps and directions.

Among these new features are the filtering of personalized date ranges for searches, greater precision in advanced search and an instant response to translations, among others.

In addition, it has indicated that it will enhance the tracking protection of the main browsers by blocking hidden trackers before they load, a differentiating point with respect to other search engines, which restrict them once they have been entered into the system (what that allows them to access information more easily).

To do this, it has implemented an extension that identifies this content and blocks them pending the user’s consent to upload the blocked content if they so wish. According to the statement, it plans to expand this feature to bring it to the mobile app in 2022.

Source: dpa