DuckDuckGo Working on Privacy-Focused Desktop Browser for Mac

Tuesday December 21, 2021 12:17 pm PST by Juli Clover

Popular privacy-first web browser DuckDuckGo is developing a dedicated desktop browser that will be available on the Mac, the company announced today in a year-end wrap-up article.

duckduckgobrowser
DuckDuckGo already offers a browser option that's available on mobile devices, and when it launches, the desktop browser will offer a similar experience.

The DuckDuckGo desktop browser will have "robust privacy protection" that works by default, without requiring users to adjust privacy settings or deal with different levels of privacy protection.

The app will "redefine user expectations of everyday online privacy, according to DuckDuckGo," and it will work across search, browsing, email, and more. The app is described as cleaner, more private, and faster than Chrome.

DuckDuckGo for desktop is being built around OS-provided rendering engines, which is similar to how the DuckDuckGo mobile apps work, and it will not use a Chromium fork like other browser offerings.

The desktop browser is in closed beta testing for the Mac right now, with a PC version also planned in the future. There's no word on a release date just yet, but DuckDuckGo is currently soliciting beta testers.

Tag: DuckDuckGo

Popular Stories

Crackgate? iPhone Duo Owners Report Screens Breaking Along the Hinge

Friday October 23, 2026 11:05 am PDT by Juli Clover

Some iPhone Duos are already experiencing hinge issues that cause display cracks, based on photos shared on Reddit and the MacRumors forums. Almost all of the display faults are right along the hinge, and most result in a line of bright pixels across one side of the screen. An iPhone Duo owner in Australia said his device cracked after being opened fewer than 20 times, and there was no...

• 635 comments

Apple Music Has a Hidden iPod You Can Play With

Friday October 23, 2026 7:11 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple Music has a 404 page easter egg on the web: a functional iPod that appears when you load a page that does not exist, such as music.apple.com/macrumors. "Page Not Found," says Apple. "Give this a spin instead." Apple is clever with this. If you navigate to music.apple.com/ipod instead, the page says "Looking for something?" instead of "Page Not Found." The easter egg is only...

• 82 comments

iPhone Duo Fails JerryRigEverything's Dusty Durability Test

Saturday October 24, 2026 11:27 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Apple's iPhone Duo has failed JerryRigEverything's latest durability test. Despite its IP68 dust-resistance rating, dust entered the hinge through several ingress points, overwhelming the magnets that hold the phone shut. The bend test then left a permanent green line across the inner display, before the screen became unresponsive. The outer screen with Ceramic Shield 2 scratched at level 7...

• 203 comments

Top Rated Comments

TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️

63 months ago

Thank god. We need this. Privacy- the top priority. Duck is a great browser when it comes to privacy.

Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)

B4U

63 months ago

This is going to be big!
Can't wait to get it on the mac!

Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)

B4U

63 months ago

In the meantime, I'm loving their "email protection" feature. Got my @duck.com email address that forwards to my real email address. Good to see that they are removing the email trackers. I look forward to this browser. For compatibility, I hope that it's Chromium based.

"DuckDuckGo for desktop is being built around OS-provided rendering engines, which is similar to how the DuckDuckGo mobile apps work, and it will not use a Chromium fork like other browser offerings."

According to the article.
So, not Chromium based.

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

sudo-sandwich

63 months ago

Not to hijack the duckduckgo thread, but any recommendations on chrome extensions for privacy?

AdNauseam is the nuclear option. Simulates clicks on all ads to throw off their metrics. Google banned it from their store, but I think you can still install it, or it's also available for Firefox.

Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

sw1tcher

63 months ago

Knowing nothing about it, why is Brave a scam?

Seconding this question?

How is brave a scam?

'Scam' is a big word, any evidence for your claim? source? otherwise fake news!

I think it may be this from last year

https://www.zdnet.com/article/privacy-browser-brave-busted-for-autocompleting-urls-to-versions-it-profits-from/

https://www.pcmag.com/news/brave-browser-caught-redirecting-users-through-affiliate-links

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)