Popular privacy-centric search firm DuckDuckGo is developing a dedicated desktop browser that will be available for macOS and Windows PC. The company made the announcement today in a year-end wrap-up article.
The private search firm already offers a browser for mobile devices, iOS and iPadOS included. The desktop browser is said to offer an experience similar to the mobile version.
DuckDuckGo’s mobile browser is the most downloaded browsing app on Android and #2 on iOS behind Chrome. The service handles more than 100 million searches a day, and 27 million Americans (9%) use DuckDuckGo.
Like we’ve done on mobile, DuckDuckGo for desktop will redefine user expectations of everyday online privacy. 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.
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. With our clean and simple interface combined with the beloved Fire Button from our mobile app, DuckDuckGo for desktop will be ready to become your new everyday browsing app. Compared to Chrome, the DuckDuckGo app for desktop is cleaner, way more private, and early tests have found it significantly faster too!
The desktop browser is currently in closed beta testing for the Mac and a PC version is planned in the new future. DuckDuckGo is currently asking for beta testers for the Mac version.