The DuckDuckGo browser is supposed to block trackers, helping keep users’ data secure. DuckDuckGo MobileĪ bit more troubling is news about the company’s most recent venture: its browser built for Android and iOS. No website, app, or piece of software can do that. DuckDuckGo can’t keep you from clicking unsafe links, downloading suspicious files, or falling prey to phishing schemes. That doesn’t mean you can simply use the search engine - or any of DuckDuckGo’s other products - to surf the web worry-free. No one is recording data about us, no one is tracking our online movements, and no one is bombarding us with endless ads. The very nature of the DuckDuckGo search engine guarantees all our searches are safe and anonymous. We’re big fans of privacy, so we’ve been using DuckDuckGo since way back.

Does DuckDuckGo actually do all it claims? Are there any hidden dangers to using it? What should you do to make sure you’re protected? You don’t have the time to methodically test DuckDuckGo for the answers to these questions, but we do! Keep reading to discover whether DuckDuckGo is right for you or if you need to keep searching to find the right search engine.

It’s one thing to say you protect users’ anonymity, but it’s another to deliver on that promise. According to DuckDuckGo’s own figures, traffic at the search site has grown from 16.4 million searches in 2010 to over 35 billion in 2021. Apparently, a lot of other internet users feel the same way. As digital privacy and security advocates, we’re always on the lookout for tools that make web browsing safer. That’s a lot of promises, all of which sound pretty good. And the company’s browsers for Android and iOS devices promise to force sites to use encrypted connections whenever they’re available. Its Chrome extension promises to identify and block any trackers on the websites you visit. The DuckDuckGo search engine, for example, promises it doesn’t record any search queries.

DuckDuckGo built its reputation on its privacy claims.

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