DuckDuckGo (DDG) is an internet search engine that emphasizes protecting searchers' privacy and avoiding the filter bubble of personalized search results.[4] DuckDuckGo distinguishes itself from other search engines by not profiling its users and by showing all users the same search results for a given search term.
DuckDuckGo was self-funded until Union Square Ventures and angel investors invested in DuckDuckGo in October 2011. Union Square partner Brad Burnham stated, "We invested in DuckDuckGo because we became convinced that it was not only possible to change the basis of competition in search, it was time to do it."[27][37] In addition, Trisquel, Linux Mint, and the Midori web browser switched to use DuckDuckGo as their default search engine.[38]
At its keynote speech at WWDC 2014 on September 18, 2014, Apple announced that DuckDuckGo would be included as an option for search on both iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite in its Safari browser.[45][46][47] On March 10, the Pale Moon web browser, starting with version 24.4.0, included DuckDuckGo as its default search engine, as well as listed it on the browser's homepage.[48] In May 2014, DuckDuckGo released a redesigned version to beta testers through DuckDuckHack.[49] On May 21, 2014, DuckDuckGo officially released the redesigned version that focused on smarter answers and a more refined look. The new version added many new features such as images, local search, auto-suggest, weather, recipes, and more.[50]
On November 10, 2014, Mozilla added DuckDuckGo as a search option to Firefox 33.1.[51] On May 30, 2016, The Tor Project, Inc made DuckDuckGo the default search engine for Tor Browser 6.0.[52][53][54]
In July 2016, DuckDuckGo officially announced the extension of its partnership with Yahoo! that brought new features to all users of the search engine, including date filtering of results and additional site links. It also partners with Bing, Yandex, and Wikipedia to produce results or make use of features offered. The company also confirmed that it does not share user information with partner companies, as has always been its policy.[55][56]
On January 23, 2018, DuckDuckGo revamped its browser extension and mobile app in an effort to keep internet users safe “beyond the search box”. The revamped extension and app include a tool for rating websites based on their use of encryption and ad-tracking networks as well as the ability to block ad-tracking networks. The extension also provides Terms of service summaries from Terms of Service; Didn't Read.[57]
In December 2018, it was reported that Google transferred ownership of the domain name Duck.com to DuckDuckGo. It is not known what price, if any, DuckDuckGo paid for the domain name.[14]
On January 15, 2019, DuckDuckGo announced that all map and address-related searches would be powered by Apple Maps, both on Desktop and Mobile devices.[58]
In March 2019, Google added DuckDuckGo to the default search engine list in Chrome 73.[59]
