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DuckDuckGo Privacy App & Extension — Privacy, simplified. Available on all major platforms.
DuckDuckGo’s fully revamped browser extension and mobile app now offers built-in tracker network blocking, smarter encryption, and private search in one package – all designed to operate seamlessly as you search and browse the web. The updated app and extension are available across all major platforms – Firefox, Safari, Chrome, iOS, and Android.
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Cheng Qian
It’s very similar to Firefox Focus on iOS but the approach to displaying trackers is different. It also has more detailed info on TLS of each side. I’m curious to know how would it be possible for DDG to review every website’s privacy policy and assign it a rating?
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@chiancheng we are working with Terms of Service Didn't Read (TOSDR) to rate website privacy policies. You are right that it isn't possible to rate all, and not many have been rated to date. We are going to work with them to dramatically increase the number rated, and start with the most trafficked sites, and also prioritize other sites that participate in the system.
I see more of my users coming from DDG, and it’s exciting to see the growth, and then this release. I’ll start using it more regularly instead of only using it to see cleaner search results for marketing purposes. **Curious: would DDG ever consider creating an extension eco-system, or an email app?**
@nassaraf thanks for checking it out. We hope that this is the main extension needed to get privacy essentials. We have no immediate plans for other complementary private services like email though they aren’t off the table either.
As this is more focused on privacy, rather than blocking advertising, would you consider this extension, paired with AdGuard would be a great solution for privacy + adblocking? Or would you say this extension is unnecessary if you are already running AdGuard, as by the time the extension runs, AdGuard would have already done the same plus more blocking.
Thanks for the hunt, @rrhoover! Over the years, DuckDuckGo has offered millions of people a private alternative to Google, serving over 16 billion anonymous searches. Today we're excited to launch this fully revamped version of our browser extension and mobile app, extending DuckDuckGo's protection beyond the search box to wherever the Internet takes you.
It's now available across all major platforms so that you can easily get the privacy essentials you need on any device with just one download, including tracker network blocking, smarter encryption, and private search.
DuckDuckGo will also now show you a Privacy Grade rating (A-F) when you visit a website. This rating lets you see at a glance how protected you are, dig into the details to see who we caught trying to track you, and learn how we enhanced the underlying website's privacy measures.
For everyone who doesn't like the feeling of being watched, or doesn't like the idea of companies making money off your personal information, this product should be for you.
Give it a try and let us know what you think - your feedback goes a long way toward making our products better, and achieving our mission of raising the standard of trust online!
@rrhoover @richjdsmith We're trying to put all the privacy essentials we can make seamless -- tracker blocking, upgraded encryption, private search and more to come -- all in one package, across all major browsers and platforms. In this respect, on any major mobile device or desktop browser, you should be able to look up DuckDuckGo and with one download get seamless privacy protection as you search and browse the web.
While there are many great privacy solutions out there, they all lack one of these pieces, i.e. don't include all essentials (e.g. no encryption, private search), not available on all platforms, or not entirely seamless (e.g. break the web).
With regards to tracker blocking in particular, there are more nuanced UX differences. In the UI we're trying to move away from 'x trackers blocked' and instead group trackers from networks together, trying to identify the umbrella company and purposes.
Second, we're grading each site based on its privacy measures (including privacy policies with help from TOSDR), and telling you at a glance how protected you are on an A-F scale, based on what we could do (e.g. block trackers and upgrade encryption).
I love DuckDuckGo. Have been using it for a few years and this is the first time I've heard about the app. Can't wait to download it later today!
Update: the app is 🔥🔥🔥 so far. I only wish I can open new tabs, but I'm loving the app too much to care. Thanks for making an incredible product @yegg!
@lamaalrajih thanks! That’s already available on iOS will be soon on Android.
I recently moved to DDG as my everyday search engine, as a dev I feel more happy in using that with good macro, widget. It only lacks for fresh news for my country, but it only meant to catch the right sources.
I like the app, pretty easy to use, the only big lack is the missing continuity sync between desktop and mobile, a feature that I love on Safari. But this makes necessary to add a kind of sync using an user account (dunno if it is in scope as a feature).
Ps. Is this widget available for desktop safari too? I use that on Firefox, but on safari seems more like a common search bar
@ghego20 that's right, we don't have user accounts though duly noted. As for widget, what do you mean exactly? The same toolbar icon should be present on the desktop Safari version.
@yegg I tried to check if was running an old version, but on safari I'm seeing this after tapping DDG icon in the toolbar 
@yegg @ghego20 Updates to existing Safari users are rolling out slowly... If you want the new one right now, the easiest thing to do is uninstall, and then navigate to https://duckduckgo.com and reinstall the new one.
@bsstoner @arunsathiya thanks for the suggestion. It’s not immediately in the works though not off the table either.
?makers you did an amazing job at trying to compete with Google. Privacy is the 21st Century's biggest challenges and we will only see more privacy focused products over the next decade because as we become more enriched by different experiences within our homes and outside we will realise the downside of it all-- the lack of privacy, the lack of control and the lack of security. that's where these products will shine, expect I do fear that because these big tech companies like Google, FB and so forth (expect Apple since they are privacy focused) has such a large role in ur lives and disciplined our behaviours in such as way that even if we step away from these products we will find it hard to do so and revert back to them because its as James clear says a Behavioural Habit.
I think education plays the largest role here, we need to market to educate people so that they know "GOOGLE STEALS YOUR DATA!" or "FB Follows you everywhere" etc and so that they have a reason to want to wanna switch. It's similar issue with Climate change or gun control or race. Many people just don't understand why this stuff matters and what they they should do now.
Excited to see this. Much needed.
I believe users give up their privacy either because of unawareness or usability. This product enables user to take smarter decisions. Which is huge. Why?
With only private search it always had been a conflict whether to give up usability or privacy. I used duck duck a lot only to realize that I have switched back to google within an year.
This product may not seem to be a "whole product" or a magical solution that we all need today but this will make path and a framework for all amazing things that DuckDuck can bring in future to help users protect their privacy without giving up usability, without giving much thoughts.
Much needed in 2018 and upcoming years.
Awesome new release - previously my search of choice on my MacBook Pro, now I am looking forward to trying out the Android app
The bangs like "!m Bangkok" leading to Google maps or "!inwx mydomain.com" leading you to the result pages of different searches or services are awesome
Pros:!bangs are awesome, privacy for the win
Cons:Results sometimes are a little outdated or not 100% relevant.
DuckDuckGo continues to make strides in the privacy space. They do a phenomenal job of educating users as well through their nurture tracks in regard to tangential best privacy practices such as VPNs and passwords.
Pros:Simple, easy to use, no friction in setting up, less cluttered results page.
Cons:Search algorithm is still catching up to Google.
@scotty_bowler Yes, definitely, we plan to release an update with the search bar widget in the next day or two.
Im using DuckduckGo for a long time. Lately I started to see many ads on Quora and Reddit against google and when you click you see some information about Duckduckgo.
I must say that i love the product but I don't like the marketing strategy.
Your product is good and by only speaking against Google, you won't grow in the right direction
DuckDuckgo has created a great product. However, I think the solution to online privacy is a greater adoption of privacy practices by the top websites.
Pros:Makes me more conscious of data privacy online
Cons:I wouldn't call the user experience great...yet.
Seriously, the !bang syntax alone makes it worth switching. Google's site:something.com syntax is somewhat equivalent, but man oh man is it inconvinient in comparision. Code results are excellent - often it's given me a more direct answer than Google.
Pros:Very simple, fun name, extremely useful !bang syntax, built-in themes, fairly reliable, good for developers
Cons:Privacy claims are somewhat exaggerated, search algorithm kind of sucks