DuckDuckGo Private Browser
Privacy-oriented web browser
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
DuckDuckGo Private Browser are web browsers created by DuckDuckGo Inc.[4] They are privacy-oriented browsers available for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows.[5]
| DuckDuckGo Private Browser | |
|---|---|
| Engines | Blink (Android, Windows)[1] WebKit (iOS, macOS)[1] |
| Operating system | Android, iOS, macOS, Windows |
| License | Freeware (the underlying WebView components provided by the operating systems) though DuckDuckGo's custom code for Android and iOS is shared with an Apache-2.0 license[2][3] |
| Website | |
The core browser functionality is the WebView component provided by the operating system.[1] This means the browser engine is Blink on Android and Windows, and WebKit on iOS and macOS.
Features
- The browsers do not support extensions for Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android.
- Automatically blocks web trackers, and upgrades insecure HTTP connections to HTTPS when possible.[6][7]
- Has a special "Duck Player" that allows users to watch YouTube videos without being targeted with advertisements and tracking cookies.[8]
- Has an automatic cookie consent tool and supports the Global Privacy Control option.[9]
History
DuckDuckGo Private Browser was first released for Android and iOS in 2018.[13] Desktop support began in 2022, with the beta version for macOS.[14][15] The beta version for Windows was released in 2023.[1][16]
Controversies
In May 2022, an independent researcher discovered that Microsoft products, like Bing and LinkedIn, contained tracking scripts that were not blocked by the browser.[17] DuckDuckGo's founder and CEO explained the company was "currently contractually restricted by Microsoft" due to their use of Bing's data to power the DuckDuckGo search engine.[18] In August 2022, however, the company announced that they would block Microsoft trackers.[19]