DuckDuckGo Is Building a Desktop Browser: Here's What We Know So Far

MakeUseOf

By Ian Buckley

Published Dec 22, 2021

The privacy-focused team is bringing their anti-tracking ethos to desktop computers sometime soon.

DuckDuckGo is working on a privacy-focused desktop browser. The team behind the search engine, browser extension, and smartphone app is putting its anti-tracking and privacy-focused ethos into a dedicated piece of software that currently has no set release date.

What Can You Expect From the DuckDuckGo Browser?

DuckDuckGo for desktop is currently in closed beta testing on macOS, but it will also be coming to Windows according to a tweet from DDG CEO, Gabriel Weinberg:

Linux support is so far unannounced, but it seems very likely that it will be a priority given the strong link between Linux users and online privacy and security.

There isn't much information on the new browser at this early stage other than its clear focus on its users' privacy and that it'll work much like the already existing mobile app.

It's also likely that the email protection features rolled out in early 2021 will be a part of the new browser, along with web versions of the App Tracking Protection offered on mobile.

What we do know is that the Fire button will still be there, allowing you to erase all local data in one click and that all security features come "on as default." It's also pretty safe to assume that !bangs—the ability to search other websites directly without having to navigate to them—will feature heavily, too.

Do We Really Need Another Browser?

Given the number of web browsers already available, it's a fair question to ask: Do we really need a new one? A few years back, it might have been a different story, but in a time where more people than ever are concerned about their online privacy, the DuckDuckGo browser has the potential to be very popular indeed.

Many people use DuckDuckGo as an alternative to Google already, so the switch to a dedicated privacy browser isn't too big of a jump.

Public trust in big tech companies has never been lower, and DuckDuckGo has something most other companies do not: Years of trust from a large userbase. Currently, Brave rules the roost as the browser for the privacy-conscious. Perhaps that is about to change.