DuckDuckGo is the world’s leading Internet search engine, launched in 2008. DuckDuckGo emphasizes protecting the privacy of searchers by not collecting user data or tracking users during searches and by not displaying personalized advertisements like Google searches. DuckDuckGo also offers a browser extension that provides users with privacy protection services such as anti-tracking and encryption protection.
Although DuckDuckGo has made a lot of efforts to protect privacy, it has never mastered the most important portal of the Internet - the browser. So DuckDuckGo’s privacy efforts are somewhat threatened by the onslaught of Google Manifest v3 or FLoC.
For this reason, DuckDuckGo announced that they are developing a privacy-first desktop web browser that focuses on privacy and simplicity.
DuckDuckGo said in the announcement that the browser will “redefine users’ expectations of everyday online privacy” and that the browser will offer the strongest privacy protections by default and will not have settings like the privacy protection levels that come with other browsers.
It’s an everyday browsing app that respects your privacy and stops other companies from spying on your search and browsing history will never get old. Compared to Chrome, the DuckDuckGo desktop app is cleaner, more privacy conscious, and early tests show it to be significantly faster . The desktop browser will come with a “Fire” button to clear all browsing history, stored data and tags with one click.
Most importantly, unlike a host of Chromium-based browsers like Chrome, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi and Brave, DuckDuckGo is not based on Chromium; DuckDuckGo’s desktop browser will be built around the rendering engine provided by the operating system.
The browser is currently in closed beta and only a preview image of the browser has been officially released to the public. While the image is a screenshot of the macOS version, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg has confirmed that a Windows version is also in development.
According to Statcounter , Chrome is currently in first place with 64% share; Safari at 19 percent; and Edge at 4.19 percent, in third place. While the privacy-first nature of the browser may be of particular concern to some users, it’s hard to tell how DuckDuckGo’s browser will perform in the market in the face of these industry giants and this highly competitive market.