DuckDuckGo Private Browser

DuckDuckGo Private Browser is a web browser created by DuckDuckGo Inc. It is a privacy-oriented browser available for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows.
The core browser functionality is the WebView component provided by the operating system. This means the browser engine is Blink on Android and Windows, and WebKit on iOS and macOS.

Features

Automatically blocks web trackers, and upgrades insecure HTTP connections to HTTPS when possible.
Has a special "Duck Player" that allows users to watch YouTube videos without being targeted with advertisements and tracking cookies.
Has an automatic cookie consent tool and supports the Global [Privacy Control] option.
The Android version has a feature called App Tracking Protection, which when enabled blocks trackers in other Android applications.

History

DuckDuckGo Private Browser was first released for Android and iOS in 2018. Desktop support began in 2022, with the beta version for macOS. The beta version for Windows was released in 2023.

Controversies

In May 2022, an independent researcher discovered that Microsoft products, like Bing and LinkedIn, contained tracking scripts that were not blocked by the browser. DuckDuckGo's founder and CEO explained the company was "currently contractually restricted by Microsoft" due to their use of Bing's data to power the DuckDuckGo search engine. In August 2022, however, the company announced that they would block Microsoft trackers.