In a blog post on Monday, DuckDuckGo recapped some of the progress that the search engine made in 2021, and also gave a first look at its upcoming desktop app touted to be a privacy-focused alternative for browsers like Google Chrome and Firefox.
According to DuckDuckGo, its desktop browser will redefine user expectations of everyday online privacy. It promises “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,” reads the blog post.
DuckDuckGo says it is building its desktop app around the OS-provided rendering engines (like on mobile) instead of Chromium, which allows them to “strip away a lot of the unnecessary cruft and clutter that’s accumulated over the years in major browsers.”
The app will feature a “clean and simple interface” combined with the beloved Fire Button from its mobile app, the company said. DuckDuckGo also claims that early tests indicate that its desktop browser will be significantly faster compared to Chrome, as well as cleaner and more private.
Currently, the DuckDuckGo desktop browser is in a closed beta test on macOS and will be available sometime in 2022 at the earliest. The Windows version is also expected to be unveiled soon.
The company noted that DuckDuckGo browser has seen over 150 million downloads of its all-in-one privacy apps and extensions since they moved beyond just private search in 2018.
Besides the desktop browser, the blog post also provides information from improvements to search, tracker blocking, and DuckDuckGo’s mobile app, to new features like Email Protection and App Tracking Protection.
