This is another scenario where both options (encrypted and unencrypted) exist on other search engines, but the default isn't always the privacy-friendly option. Searches made through DuckDuckGo also automatically connect you to the encrypted versions of websites wherever possible, making it harder for anyone else to see what you're looking at online. (That's the basis of every ' embarrassing search history' joke.) Instead of making you navigate to a different version of its app, DuckDuckGo never tracks your search history. Other browsers, including Chrome, allow you to use private or incognito windows that don't track your search history, but their default windows do. Read more: Best VPNs of 2021 How does DuckDuckGo work?įor starters, DuckDuckGo does not track searches made through its browser extension or mobile app. Here's what you need to know about DuckDuckGo and how it works to keep your searches more secure. While it doesn't track users, DuckDuckGo's app has been downloaded more than 50 million times in the last year alone - more than all other years combined since its launch 13 years ago.

But DuckDuckGo - which has recently had a heavy advertising campaign - sees itself as a direct competitor to Google Search, complete with a mobile app and extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and other browsers.Īfter major incidents like the Cambridge Analytica scandal, people have become more aware of how much personal information is available to tech companies and advertisers - and are opting out of being tracked when they can, as Apple's iOS 14.5 allows you to do. There are other private browsers, such as Brave, that block trackers and third-party cookies monitoring your activity as you search the web. Enter DuckDuckGo: a search engine that pledges not to track you and also keep your search activity anonymous. If you've ever searched for a pair of shoes, only to have ads for those same shoes pop up on seemingly every site you visited for the next month, you've seen the obnoxious side of online tracking. DuckDuckGo wants to put your digital privacy front and center.ĭuckDuckGo illustration by Stephen Shankland/CNET

Google search engine apps