What Is DuckDuckGo? Everything To Know About The Private Search Engine
What is DuckDuckGo? Everything to know about the private search engine
If you've ever searched for a pair of shoes only to have advertisements for those same shoes appear on seemingly every website you visited for the next month, you've experienced the obnoxious side of online tracking. Enter DuckDuckGo, a search engine that makes a commitment to not tracking you and to keeping your search activity private.
Other private browsers, such as Brave, block trackers and third-party cookies that monitor your web browsing activity. However, DuckDuckGo – which has recently ramped up its advertising – views itself as a direct competitor to Google Search, complete with a mobile app and browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and other browsers.
Following high-profile incidents such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, people have become more aware of the amount of personal information available to tech companies and advertisers – and are opting out when possible, as Apple's iOS 14.5 enables. While DuckDuckGo does not track users, its app has been downloaded more than 50 million times in the last year alone – more than in the previous 13 years combined.
Here's everything you need to know about DuckDuckGo and how it works to ensure the security of your searches.
What is DuckDuckGo?
DuckDuckGo is a search engine that includes a mobile browser app and a desktop extension aimed at ensuring that you can browse the internet without fear of companies snatching up your personal information. It promises to keep your searches private and anonymous, as well as to include built-in tracker blocking, which makes it more difficult for websites to collect information about you.
What is the mechanism by which DuckDuckGo operates?
For starters, DuckDuckGo does not track searches made through its browser extension or mobile app. Other browsers, including Chrome, allow you to use private or incognito windows that don't track your search history, but their default windows do. Rather than redirecting you to a different version of the app, DuckDuckGo never stores your search history.
DuckDuckGo searches connect you to encrypted versions of websites whenever possible, making it more difficult for others to see what you're doing online. This is another scenario in which other search engines provide both encrypted and unencrypted options, but the default is not always the most privacy-friendly option. DuckDuckGo eliminates the need for additional steps such as manually navigating to encrypted connections.
DuckDuckGo actively blocks external trackers from following you online. To learn more about DuckDuckGo's privacy features in greater detail, visit DuckDuckGo's blog.
What distinguishes DuckDuckGo from Google Search? What about private browsing and incognito mode?
DuckDuckGo takes a fundamentally different approach than other large technology companies such as Google and Facebook, which have historically made money by targeting advertisements based on your browsing history and personal data. While Google has stated that it will discontinue this practice, the platform continues to collect a plethora of data about you, including your location and search activity – yes, even when you are in incognito mode.
Incognito mode purges your computer of all information associated with your browsing session: your history, cookies, and any information you've entered into fields. Notably, it does so only after you have completed your session by closing all your tabs. Thus, if you leave your incognito tabs open for hours or even days at a time, that data will continue to accumulate. And regardless of whether you use incognito mode or not, Google can save your searches – and businesses, internet service providers, and governments can still track you across the internet.
DuckDuckGo is unique in that it does not store any of your browsing data and blocks trackers while you browse.
How do I get started with DuckDuckGo?
Simply open your app store on your mobile device and search for "DuckDuckGo." You'll be able to download and use the DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser in the same way that you would Chrome or Safari. You'll notice a fire icon in the bottom center of your app, which you can press at any time to close all your tabs and clear all personal data.
On a desktop computer, navigate to duckduckgo.com and click the button to add DuckDuckGo to your browser. On Chrome, you'll be directed to the extension's page in the Chrome webstore, where you can download it for free. On Safari, you'll be instructed on how to make DuckDuckGo your default search engine or how to manually launch a DuckDuckGo search.
