DuckDuckGo is developing a desktop browser that privacy-focused

DuckDuckGo, the company best known for its privacy-focused search engine of the same name, is developing on a desktop browser that will focus on avoiding tracking across your whole browsing experience. DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg gives a sneak peek at the future browser in a post on the company’s blog, noting that it will behave similarly to the company’s mobile browsing app.

According to Weinberg, the desktop browser will come with “robust privacy protection” by default, meaning you won’t have to enable any hidden security options. The desktop version will have the same “Fire” button as the mobile app, which will delete all of your browsing history, stored data, and tabs in one click. It’s also based on “OS-provided rendering engines” — as it is on mobile — according to Weinberg, which will result in a cleaner UI with less clutter than traditional browsers. Early testing of the browser, he claims, show that it is “significantly faster” than Google Chrome.

DuckDuckGo is constructing the app utilising OS-provided rendering engines rather than projects like Chromium, as it did on mobile. This aided the development team in “strip away a lot of the unnecessary cruft and clutter that’s accumulated over the years in major browsers”.

DuckDuckGo has improved its search and tracker blocking tools in the recent year, according to Weinberg. DuckDuckGo’s mobile version, according to him, is currently the most popular Android browser in key markets. The company said in July that it would offer a free email forwarding service that would erase tracking pixels from messages.