DuckDuckGo started as a simple idea: A search engine site that respects your privacy. It doesn’t remember your searches, store information about you, embed trackers, or in any other way violate your privacy.
It works well and has become quite popular, so the company wanted to go further. First, it built a mobile browser for iOS and Android that’s just as privacy-minded as the search engine with has a nifty Fire Button that instantly “burns” all your data and local history. It enforces encryption, blocks hidden trackers, and more.
In a blog post summing up the company’s accomplishments through 2021, the company revealed that a desktop browser is also on the way for multiple platforms, starting with macOS.
The announcement is light on details, but DuckDuckGo says the browser is built around “OS-provided rendering engines,” (which means WebKit on macOS) rather than creating a new Chromium fork or something similar. There are no privacy levels or warnings, just always-on protection from various forms of tracking and fingerprinting. It’s intended to be a light, simple, clean everyday browser.
If you’re interested in trying it out, the Senior Product Director has tweeted that they are looking for some beta testers.
The blog post claims that, “Compared to Chrome, the DuckDuckGo app for desktop is cleaner, way more private, and early tests have found it significantly faster too!” It’s been a while since a new exciting web browser came around for the Mac, so we’re definitely excited to give it a try.
I have written professionally about technology for my entire adult professional life – over 20 years. I like to figure out how complicated technology works and explain it in a way anyone can understand.
