The Pros and Cons of DuckDuckGo’s Privacy-Friendly Desktop Browser

DuckDuckGo’s browser promises to solve your privacy concerns and minor annoyances. But despite its privacy-first approach, using DuckDuckGo isn’t all rainbows and sunshine – there are pros and cons to using DuckDuckGo’s privacy browser.

Pros: DuckDuckGo’s browser is private by default

If you are a privacy person, your first impressions of a new browser can be frustrating. All major browsers have Google as their search engine. This is either because the browser is owned and distributed by Google, as with Chrome, or because the project accepts large amounts of money for the privilege, as with Firefox. According to ZDNetthe deal was worth about $400 million a year.

After manually setting the search engine to another option, you should find extensions like uBlock Origin for prevent internet tracking sites.

With the DuckDuckGo browser, you don’t have to do this, as you will find most of what you need pre-configured and ready to go. If you do a search from the URL bar, it’s performed by DuckDuckGo (as you’d expect), and both tracking and advertising scripts are blocked. This privacy-first approach is why you should consider DuckDuckGo as your search engine in other browsers too.

Pros: No Gimmicky Reward Schemes

Brave is one of the best privacy friendly browsersand while based on the Chromium engine, it is effective in protecting against advertisements, trackers and pop-ups.

One of Brave’s most touted options is its Basic Attention Tokens (BAT), which allow you to “support content creators and earn tokens for the ads you see on Brave.” In return, you can use your tokens to buy gift cards.

This cryptocurrency-based gimmick has several problems. Few creators have signed up for the scheme, so essentially, you’re running an adblock while feeling an unjustified sense of moral justification. And you still see ads. And you enter crypto.

The DuckDuckGo browser has no such scheme.

Pros: The DuckDuckGo browser has a private YouTube viewer

If you’re privacy-conscious enough to install a privacy-focused browser, it’s unlikely you want Google’s YouTube video platform to keep records of what you watch and when you watch it.

While you can watch YouTube without going to YouTube visiting through an alternative privacy-friendly front-end such as Safeshare, the browser has built-in anonymity. When you first click on a YouTube video, the browser asks if you want to view the video with Duck Player.

Duck Player hides your viewing activity from YouTube and provides a clean ad-free viewing experience.

Pros: DuckDuckGo’s browser hides annoying Web Clutter

Pop-ups are a scourge of the modern internet, and almost every page you visit will have pop-ups asking you to sign in with your Google account or agree or refuse cookies. It’s irritating and can ruin your browsing experience. While there are methods to block cookie consent pop-ups in your browserthese rely on extensions.

While you still can configure your Google account to block login requestsThis approach relies on you being signed into your Google account while visiting websites – anathema to any privacy-conscious web user.

The DuckDuckGo browser automatically handles Google consent and pop-ups, so you never have to worry about it again.

Pros: DuckDuckGo includes email protection

Every modern website wants your email address for different reasons. But you don’t need to share your email address while using DuckDuckGo’s email protection service. The Service is a free email forwarding product that helps you hide your current email address from the Services without changing email providers. It gives you a free @duck.com email address for this purpose.

In addition to hiding your current email address, it automatically removes various types of trackers from emails. So, if you are worried about the proliferation of email trackers, this service takes care of it automatically.

Con: DuckDuckGo has not always been honest with users

The effort of DuckDuckGo 2023 is not his first browser. U DuckDuckGo Browser for Android launched to much fanfare in 2021.

In May 2022, DuckDuckGo has recognized it that far from blocking the trackers as it should, the company had an agreement that prohibited them from blocking the trackers from Microsoft.

This was widely seen as shady behavior.

We think it is unlikely that DuckDuckGo will indulge in such business deals again; it is not impossible. Whether you trust them is up to you.

Con: The DuckDuckGo browser does not support extensions

Most mainstream browsers allow you to install add-ons and extensions. In addition to protecting your privacy, these can help you customize your browsing experience, manage downloads, view different types of files, and more. There are hundreds of great browser extensions available

Currently, DuckDuckGo doesn’t support extensions, so if you’re used to browsing the web a certain way, you’re out of luck.

Overall, DuckDuckGo’s browser offers useful features if you’re concerned about privacy while browsing the web. Of course, it has its drawbacks, but it’s a solid browser for the privacy-conscious.