DuckDuckGo says new desktop browser will help you ditch Chrome in 2022
The privacy-focused search company DuckDuckGo is bringing its well-regarded web browser app to desktop devices.
The company reckons that early tests reveal a browser that’s faster than Google Chrome with the significant bonuses of being both safer and more private. Like the iOS and Android mobile app, it’ll have the Fire button that clears all tabs and browsing data in just one tab.
In a blog post, DuckDuckGo says it’ll be built on the same infrastructure as its mobile browser and will redefine user expectations of everyday online privacy.
The company promises there’ll be: “No complicated settings, no misleading warnings, no “levels” of privacy protection – just robust privacy protection that works by default, across search, browsing, email, and more. It’s not a “privacy browser”; it’s an everyday browsing app that respects your privacy because there’s never a bad time to stop companies from spying on your search and browsing history.”
In the post, the company’s founder Gabriel Weinberg continues: “Instead of forking Chromium or anything else, we’re building our desktop app around the OS-provided rendering engines (like on mobile), allowing us to strip away a lot of the unnecessary cruft and clutter that’s accumulated over the years in major browsers.”
Just last month, DuckDuck go announced it was giving Android users the app tracking protection Google won’t.
The new Android feature seeks to prevent third-party companies tracking users within Android apps that aren’t their own. Available in private beta for users of the DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser, the company says it’s the “the easiest way to block trackers lurking in your apps.”
While it exists within the browser app, it can still manage to police tracking activity across other apps installed upon your phone. Users opting into the beta will regularly be informed of how many tracking requests have been wiped out.
When it comes to browsing the web, will 2022 be the year of the duck?