Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo announced its browser app for Mac devices. The browser is still in beta stage, but the company has revealed all the features it is bringing on board. DuckDuckGo for Mac, according to the company, is an all-in-one privacy solution for everyday browsing without complicated settings and designed to provide a seamless private experience. Here are some of the main features of the new DuckDuckGo Browser for Mac:
Privacy is enabled by default in DuckDuckGo for Mac
DuckDuckGo says users will benefit from its built-in private search engine, powerful tracking blocker and new cookie protection on about 50% of sites. Not only that, there is a fire button that will enable one-click data wipe, email protection and more.
Faster than Chromium on some parameters
DuckDuckGo for Mac used the same built-in website rendering engine – the one used by Safari – which can block trackers before they actually load. DuckDuckGo also claims that its browser is faster than Chrome on certain graphics performance. Plus, by blocking trackers, DuckDuckGo uses around 60% less data than Chrome.
Security functions
DuckDuckGo claims that its smarter built-in encryption ensures that users access the encrypted (HTTPS) version of a website more often. Additionally, blocking DuckDuckGo’s trackers would be less exposed to third-party scripts that might try to access user data. All in-app data such as history, bookmarks and passwords, by default, is only stored locally on the device and is not accessible to DuckDuckGo.
How to access the beta version of DuckDuckGo for Mac
In a blog post, DuckDuckGo said there is a private waitlist and today they are excluding new people from the waitlist. DuckDuckGo will invite people in waves and improve the app as feedback comes in.
Users will not need to share any personal information to register. Instead, they will secure their spot based on a date and time that only exists on their device. DuckDuckGo will notify you when it is ready to join you.
Here’s how you can join the private waitlist:
- Download the DuckDuckGo mobile app (or update to the latest version)
- Open Settings > DuckDuckGo for Desktop (in the “More DuckDuckGo” section).
- Click “Join Private Waitlist”.
- When you receive an invite code, you receive a notification from the app. The notification will take you to an invite code and a link to the download page to open on your desktop/laptop computer.