The popular privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo announced a web browser for desktops late last year. Now, the web browser has been released for Mac, coming with various privacy-centric features like automatic web-tracker blocking, a new cookie pop-up protection feature, and more. Let’s dig into the details right away!
DuckDuckGo Web Browser for Mac Releases in Beta
DuckDuckGo, via an official blog post, says that its web browser app for Mac is an “all-in-one privacy solution for everyday browsing with no complicated settings” and offers an array of privacy features, including a powerful tracker blocker, email protection, password manager, and its famous “Fire” button that lets users clear their browsing history and tabs with a single click.
The DuckDuckGo browser comes with a new cookie pop-up protection feature that blocks those annoying cookie consent pop-ups that appear on websites when you open them for the first time. The company says that the feature will automatically select the option that blocks or minimizes the cookies that might track users. It will be live for 50% of websites during the beta phase with more websites being added as the testing progresses.
The users will also be able to access a privacy feed on the browser’s homepage, which is much like the Privacy Report on Safari’s homepage. However, unlike the latter, the DuckDuckGo privacy feed will let users manage their data and clear them more easily. Plus, it will block certain content on websites like Facebook that uses embedded trackers and will show users a notification to grant access (image above).
As for the speed, DuckDuckGo says that its new browser uses the same rendering engine as Safari and offers faster graphics performance than Chrome, which is currently one of the fastest browsers for Macs. Another thing highlighted by the company is the fact that the latest DuckDuckGo browser uses 60% lesser data than Chrome.
Other than these, there is support for a built-in Smarter Encryption technology that allows users to browse encrypted versions of a website more often than not. Plus, the web browser comes with all the “features you expect from a browser like password management, tab management, bookmarks, and more.”
Coming to the availability, users can join the private waitlist to get access to the new DuckDuckGo browser for Mac. To do that, users need to download the DuckDuckGo mobile app and tap the “Join the Private Waitlist” button from the in-app settings. The company says that a Windows version is also on the way.
