DuckDuckGo Creating Desktop Browser For Privacy Conscious Users

DuckDuckGo, the famous, privacy-centric search engine is creating a desktop web browser. Considered the antithesis to Google, DuckDuckGo protects users web browsing data and activities from marketeers or establishments like the Search giant itself, Facebook and the like. Similar to the mobile version (available on Android and iOS), the PC based app aims to bring better protection tools for the masses.

Instead of building on an existing platform like Chromium, which both Google and Microsoft have done with their Chrome and Edge browsers, DuckDuckGo has taken a different approach. The desktop app is built around the OS-provided rendering engine, which allows the company use only what’s important.

It has a clean and simple user interface that incorporates some of the features of the mobile which include the Fire Button. In case you didn’t know, when enabled, this feature helps to clear all your tabs and browsing history. A fiery animation rushes across the screen as this happens, but with the new update you can choose to have a flushing style data purge instead.

The mobile app also has a “fireproofing” feature that keeps certain site data from being wiped away when the fire button is pressed. This could prove useful for websites that you visit often, which require login information.

Besides this, this is what DuckDuckGo’s mobile app has:

Tracker Blocking: unlike most modern web browsers, all visible and hidden trackers are blocked. These include ones embedded on pages, like posts, comments and similar actions on Facebook. But users have the option to allow these things to load if needed.

App Tracking Protection (Beta): Available for Android, it blocks third-party trackers like Google and Facebook from lurking in other apps.

Email Protection (Beta): It’s a free email forwarding service that removes trackers in your email and protects the privacy of your personal email address. This means that you can continue using the same email providers but they won’t be able to keep tabs on you.

DuckDuckGo’s privacy-centric approach is winning many people over. The company says that its app has been downloaded 150 million times since 2018. It is now the most downloaded app on Android and the second most download on iOS after Chrome. The desktop app aims to be just as useful for PC and Mac users when it is eventually released to the general public.

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