DuckDuckGo Private Browser

DuckDuckGo Private Browser is a web browser created by DuckDuckGo Inc.^[4] It is a privacy-oriented browser 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	https://duckduckgo.com/app

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

• 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]

• The Android version has a feature called App Tracking Protection, which when enabled blocks trackers in other Android applications.^[10][11]

History

DuckDuckGo Private Browser was first released for Android and iOS in 2018.^[12] Desktop support began in 2022, with the beta version for macOS.^[13][14] The beta version for Windows was released in 2023.^[1][15]

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.^[16] 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.^[17] In August 2022, however, the company announced that they would block Microsoft trackers.^[18]