DuckDuckGo is a privacy-focused web browser that previously operated on mobile devices. Today, the company launched a beta version of DuckDuckGo for Mac — meaning macOS users will have a new player outside of Safari/Chrome/Firefox.
DuckDuckGo browser is known to offer a high level of security, fast performance, and default privacy features, which is more than just a replacement for stealth mode.
The macOS version of the DuckDuckGo browser was launched after the success of the mobile app. The company says the Windows version will also be coming soon, but now if you want to try the beta version you’ll have to join a waiting list.
DuckDuckGo for Mac has three basic features:
DuckDuckGo for Mac offers private browsing by default. With just one download, you get a built-in private search engine, a powerful tracker blocker, active cookie protection for about 50% of websites (a percentage that grew significantly throughout the testing period), Fire Button (one-click data cleanup), email protection, and more – all for free. There are no complicated privacy settings, only simple privacy protection that works by default.
DuckDuckGo for Mac is very fast! By using your computer’s built-in website rendering engine (the same as Safari’s) and blocking trackers before the engine loads (this is different from all major browsers), the actual measurement is already faster than Chrome in some graphics performance (using Motion Mark 1.2. benchmarks), and as an added bonus, DuckDuckGo uses about 60% less data than Chrome by blocking trackers!
DuckDuckGo for Mac is built for security. The built-in Smarter Encryption ensures that users navigate more often to an encrypted (HTTPS) version of a website, while tracker blocking means less exposure to third-party scripts that may be trying to access your data. Enables in-app data, such as history, bookmarks, and passwords, to be stored locally on the device by default and not accessed by DuckDuckGo.
In announcing a beta version of DuckDuckGo for Mac, the company explained that anyone interested in trying the browser will need to wait in line. It shares the following instructions for joining the private waiting list.
- Download the DuckDuckGo mobile app (or update to the latest version)
- Open settings > desktop version of DuckDuckGo (in the Privacy section).
- Click “join private waitlist”.
- When you are granted an invitation code, you will get a notification from the app. The notification will take you to an invitation code and a link to a download page, which will be open on your desktop/notebook computer.
More information can be found here: