DuckDuckGo makes its Mac browser beta available to everyone.
DuckDuckGo’s browser and built-in privacy safeguards are now available to all Mac users. The business originally showed off its desktop web browser in December of last year, before releasing it as a closed beta in April. The beta browser is now available to the public and may be downloaded from DuckDuckGo’s website (clicking this link will immediately load its DMG file). The business has also integrated additional capabilities into the browser, some of which were requested by testers who have been using it for a few months. The Duck Player, a YouTube player that blocks the website from providing the viewer tailored adverts, is one new feature.
While YouTube will continue to track a user’s views, the videos they watch will not contribute any data to their advertising profile. According to the business, this stopped most advertising from appearing in films during testing, but any ad that does appear for viewers will not be tailored. Integration with Bitwarden, an open-source password manager, on top of DuckDuckGo’s own manager, and support for 1Password’s autofill capability are also new features.
When enabled, DuckDuckGo’s Email Protection can protect the user’s inbox by preventing email trackers. The business has also improved its Cookie Consent Pop-Up Manager so that it can now restrict cookies on more websites. Other enhancements requested by testers include a bookmarks bar, pinned tabs, and the ability to examine locally saved browser history.
It’s worth noting that DuckDuckGo hasn’t forgotten about its Windows users. Its Windows browser is still in early friends and family beta, but the business plans to make it available to more people in the coming months via a private waitlist test launch.
