DuckDuckGo for Mac has entered public beta, available to anyone who wants a more private web browsing experience.
DuckDuckGo has long provided a search app and browser on mobile platforms and browser extensions on the desktop. The company as been working to expand its offerings, building a full-fledged web browser for macOS and Windows. The company first announced its plans in December 2021, followed by an invite-only beta.
The company’s web browser is now available in open beta for macOS, bringing new features and the ability to import settings and data from other browsers.
Forget going “incognito” with other browsers that don’t actually deliver substantive web tracking protection; you deserve privacy all the time, with built-in protections that make the Internet less creepy and less cluttered. Equipped with new and improved features for everyday use, DuckDuckGo for Mac is here to clean up the web as you browse. (And yes, you can import all your passwords and bookmarks from other browsers and password managers – so switching is quick and easy!)
DuckDuckGo says its browser uses 60% less data than Chrome. It also includes features designed to reduce ads and tracking. For example, its new Duck Player feature limits tracking and ads while watching YouTube videos and implements YouTube’s strictest privacy settings.
“We built DuckDuckGo for Mac with privacy, security, and simplicity in mind,” reads the blog post. “Our default privacy settings are stronger than what most other browsers offer, and you don’t need to sift through obscure menus to turn them on. DuckDuckGo for Mac is not a “fork” of Chromium, or any other browser code. All the app code – tab and bookmark management, our new tab page, our password manager, etc. – is written by our own engineers. For rendering, it uses a public macOS API, making it super compatible with Mac devices. DuckDuckGo believes in open sourcing our apps and extensions whenever possible, and we plan to do so for DuckDuckGo for Mac before it moves out of beta.”
The announcement is good news for privacy-conscious users from a company that is one of the few working to protect users’ privacy online. Windows users will have to wait a bit longer, but a Windows version is on its way in the coming months.