After months of individual genus Beta examination , the DuckDuckGo web browser for Mac genus Beta is now available to anyone ( snap up it atduckduckgo.com/macif you ’re concerned in check it out ) . The company embark on as a privacy - oriented search locomotive and now offers roving apps and web web browser extensions , all purpose at abridge the ability of company to track your every move online .
The next logical step is for the ship’s company to make its own web web web browser , so that ’s exactly what it ’s doing . I spent a few days with the DuckDuckGo beta and , while I like what I see so far , it ’s not quite quick to be my everyday web browser just yet . It ’s clean , simple , and performs well , but miss a few feature that are board stake in modern desktop browsers such as extension support and synchronise bookmark and passwords across devices .
Not just another Chromium browser!
You ’d be dotty to endeavor to write an intact WWW rendering engine from boodle these days , so DuckDuckGo , relies on the WKWebView API to fork out pages . Meaning , pages are fork out with Apple ’s WebKit execution . But all the rest of the web internet browser – tabs , bookmarker , password direction , etc.–is custom codification write by DuckDuckGo . That has the reward of not taking a quite a little of cruft along with it and stay laser - focused on the ship’s company ’s mission of enhancing privacy on the web , but it also means a want of compatibility with important third - party feature like web internet browser extensions or hooks into apps like password managers .
DuckDuckGo ’s web browser run for on WebKit and has built - in tracking
Foundry
DuckDuckGo’s browser runs on WebKit and has built-in trackingblockers.
Those sorts of things are finally coming ( in a mode that “ meets our high standards of privacy and quality ” , the company says ) , but it could make the first variation of the internet browser a non - starter for some exploiter , depending on which other apps they use that are meant to work with your internet browser .
A identification number of features have been tote up since theinvite - only betabegan earlier this twelvemonth , including pin tabs and a bookmarker streak . Since DuckDuckGo never saves your browse history online , they implemented a web browser chronicle that is just a list preserve to your local simple machine . Some of these thing still need a bit of polish . For example , I ’m a sullen bookmarks bar drug user , and I middle - fall into place to open data link in a new check quite often . That influence on entanglement pages as carry , but middle - fall into place bookmarks ( from the menu or bar ) does nothing .
Blocking trackers, ads, and more
The main conceit of DuckDuckGo is that it helps prevent you from being tail online . It block what the companionship calls “ invading tracker ” before they even lade , which can save a lot of data point transmission and make pages adulterate faster and maneuver more swimmingly . That does n’t meaneverythingis block – there are less - invasive trackers used for thing like auditing web dealings , and non - tracking plugins that do things like loading font are permit through .
This means that while DuckDuckGo does n’t specifically have an “ ad blocking agent ” built in per se , it ends up blockingmostads by default because most advertizement and ad net are just load with trackers . The secret genus Beta had empty placeholders where advertising should be , but the unresolved beta version now removes them to make Thomas Nelson Page attend better .
The desktop web browser carries the “ Fire Button ” over from the party ’s mobile browsers . This is a one - fall into place button to micro-cook all your browsing history and data . Unlike the mobile version , the Mac web internet browser present you the option of clearing only data from site visited in the current tab or current window . Since so many land site use cookie to save logins , you ’ll be asked when you sign in to situation if you desire to “ fireproof ” the login – so the Fire Button removes everything but the cooky that keep you sign in .
DuckDuckGo’s browser runs on WebKit and has built-in trackingblockers.
DuckDuckGo has some other dainty blockers that you ’ll probably appreciate . Those cookie consent forms that bug out up on every site ? By nonremittal , the browser app will detect them and automatically position preferences to maximize privateness , then shut the pop - up . And Global Privacy Control automatically set up those CCPA and GDPR options to prevent the transfer or cut-rate sale of your data , but only for sites that respect GPC scene ( 100 of thousands do , but many do not yet ) . The web browser also forces HTTPS where available .
These options are enable by default , but if you run into problem where website are n’t working properly , you may always turn them off . click the little carapace button in the URL bar will lease you see exactly what has been blocked on the web site , disable protections for that web site
The genius of Duck Player
Perhaps my preferent newfangled feature of the DuckDuckGo desktop web browser app is something the companionship calls “ Duck Player . ” It open YouTube video in a nice prominent distraction - devoid aspect , and while it still uses the YouTube instrumentalist , most of the trailing and designation codification is blocked . It strip out all the targeted ad code and cooky . you could still get ads , they just wo n’t be direct atyoubased on your vane role , but rather simply ad that paid to be on videos that cope with certain criteria . You bed , the room advertising used to be on the World Wide Web – ads pay to be on certain content , not to arrive at targeted individual .
Because so many YouTube ads rely on mysterious individual targeting , you ’ll get a lot fewer advertising . You ’ll also not get recommend videos that are base on your view story , so you wo n’t fall down a rabbit pickle of crazy conspiracy theory and other sensationalist nonsense . To be clear , your eyeshot are still count and show up in your YouTube watch history , they just do n’t contribute to your individualized advertising profile and personalized recommendations are blocked .
You ’ll get a popup asking if you desire to utilise Duck Player any time you tap a YouTube link , but you may incapacitate it entirely or set it to always play all YouTube video . It really is a much more pleasant YouTube wake experience .
DuckDuckGo can handle those cookie consent pop-ups for you, which takes a lot of aggravation out of the web.
DuckDuckGo beta performance
All the privateness features in the world do n’t stand for a lot if a browser app is slow and unresponsive . Though it ’s just a genus Beta , I run DuckDuckGo through all three web pep pill test atbrowserbench.orgto compare it to Chrome 106 , Firefox 106 , and Safari 16.1 . I used an M2 MacBook Air running macOS Ventura for these psychometric test .
While it ’s based on Apple ’s WebKit API , DuckDuckGo is not almost as tight as Safari 16.1 – it ’s not uncommon for WKWebView to lag behind the latest WebKit rendering optimizations you ’ll find in Safari . But in these tests , DuckDuckGo is quite a bit faster than FireFox 106 and about on equality with Chrome 106 , which is an fantabulous result . Coupled with all the tracker and such that are stop before they are adulterate , DuckDuckGo feel very fast .
Still in the awkward adolescent phase
As much as I love Duck Player and the way DuckDuckGo ’s internet browser automatically handles all those biscuit popups for me , I find it hard to recommend just yet . I did n’t find a lot of fully broken sites , but the tracker blocking is so aggressive that it whole blocks aboriginal video thespian and other useful thing on some sites . you may always disable protections , but it ’s hard to bed what you require to if you do n’t have a go at it which site lineament are lose .
More importantly , the web browser app simply does n’t operate with plugins at all yet . It has its own password coach , but that does n’t sync between devices yet . It will soon have integrated compatibility with Bitwarden , but if you do n’t apply that watchword handler you ’re out of luck . The universal autofill function of 1Password works , but that only fills in passwords , it does n’t write or suggest Modern ones . And while you could spell passwords from other internet browser , that ’s a one - way street .
Even bookmarker do not yet synchronise between devices . Until we get multi - equipment sync and a way to play with the most popular password managers , I ca n’t see myself doing more than dunk my toe in DuckDuckGo ’s water . The lack of support for other sort of plugins is less ill-chosen – advertising and hand blockers are the most coarse , and DuckDuckGo ’s integrate privateness protection take upkeep of most of that on their own .
You can open any video in “Duck Player” for a less obnoxious experience.
As this is only version 0.30 , we can expect DuckDuckGo to be in a beta State Department for perhaps another year or so . Given what I see at this early state , I ’m promising for the eventual full release .
