DuckDuckGo's Safari Privacy Browser Extension Now Available for macOS Catalina

Thursday November 7, 2019 5:00 AM PST by Tim Hardwick
Privacy oriented search engine DuckDuckGo today released an updated version of its browser extension for desktop Safari users running macOS Catalina.


The launch comes after DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials had to be removed from the Safari extensions gallery following major changes introduced in Safari 12 that made the extension incompatible. From the DuckDuckGo website:
As you may be aware, major structural changes in Safari 12 meant that we had to remove DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials from the Safari extensions gallery. With Safari 13, new functionality was thankfully added that enabled us to put it back. Consequently, you'll need Safari 13+ on macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or newer to install the updated version.
DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials blocks hidden third-party trackers on websites and features a Privacy Dashboard, which generates a Privacy Grade rating (A-F) information card whenever a user visits a site. The rating aims to let them see at a glance how protected they are, while providing additional options to dig deeper into the details of blocked tracking attempts.

While the extension doesn't include private search, DuckDuckGo Search is built into Safari as a default search option, and they work together to help users search and browse privately.

DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials is only available for desktop browsers, however DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser is available for iOS and uses the same privacy protection technology.

Tags: Safari, privacy, DuckDuckGo
25 comments

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Classie
2 weeks ago
DuckDuckGo is still quite a bit behind google when it comes to search results. I still use it as my primary engine, but sometimes have to switch to google...
Rating: 12 Votes
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Weaselboy
2 weeks ago


Does the Safari browser extension and/or iOS app block ads, too?


I installed and did a test at cnn.com and it only blocks trackers and not ads.


DuckDuckGo is still quite a bit behind google when it comes to search results. I still use it as my primary engine, but sometimes have to switch to google...


[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.startpage.com[/URL]

Same here, but I uses StartPage for when I need Google results. You get Google results without going to the Google web page and being tracked.
Rating: 9 Votes
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Weaselboy
2 weeks ago


So these extensions still work like this..?

Yep... exactly. It uses the Safari content blocker API in the background, but you just cannot see what it is doing like how many ads blocked and that sort of thing.
Rating: 5 Votes
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pojo1806
2 weeks ago
Is this not a bit suspect..? ?

Rating: 3 Votes
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Weaselboy
2 weeks ago


Is this not a bit suspect..?

Not at all... any extension that has an end user accessible GUI like this needs access to your data like that to work. You can uncheck the dashboard part of the extension and the extension will still work, but you just won't see the widget up top showing what was blocked.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Weaselboy
2 weeks ago


I see, I don't have any extensions so it was a bit of a shock. I see Adblock also says the same thing, how is it not dodgy them having access to passwords and CC details?

It is just not possible to have that GUI without the extension seeing that data. If you don't want them to have the data, just disable the GUI. For example the adblocker Wipr does not have that warning because they have no GUI to see what is blocked. 1Blocker on the other hand does have a GUI, so they do have the warning.

I guess you have to decide if you trust the company to see your data or not, but it is not something they are doing for no reason.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Villarrealadrian
2 weeks ago
Great search engine! Best for searching torrents
Rating: 3 Votes
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luvbug
2 weeks ago
I've been using the Brave browser with great success. No ads, no tracking, stats if you want them, and very fast. I am using DuckDuckGo as my search engine, which also allows you to '!s' a search to use Start Page.

Marketing folks don't seem to get the concept that some people, by choice, are *never* going to respond to an ad, where they see it or not.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Weaselboy
2 weeks ago


That is a very big "If". There has never been a public audit of DDG, so in fact we have no idea how much data they are really collecting.

I think the same could be said about any company. Bottom line is there is an element of trust here, and if you don't trust them, disable the feature or don't use their software or services.
Rating: 2 Votes
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anthonymoody
2 weeks ago


Yep... exactly. It uses the Safari content blocker API in the background, but you just cannot see what it is doing like how many ads blocked and that sort of thing.


My concern then becomes: how likely is DuckDuckGo to be hacked somehow and this data gotten from them?
Rating: 2 Votes
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