DuckDuckGo is working on a privacy-focused desktop browser

Good read Lone Ranger! I am sure many will be pleased and relieved with this new development from them.

 

DuckDuckGo lost my trust awhile back. I will not be going back.

 

Well, what puts me off is that they still haven't released the Windows version of their desktop webbrowser, what's taking so long? I mean this can't be good.

 

Has anyone tried the new DuckDuckGo macOS desktop browser yet? It has been been launched as a public beta. From what I've read it offers a password manager and uses less RAM than Chrome.

It also offers some kind of privacy friendly YouTube player, not sure how this works in practice. And it's based on the WebKit engine, I'm not sure what engine they are going to use on Windows, obviously it's not Firefox's Gecko or Chromium's Blink.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/19/duckduckgo_macos_browser_beta/
https://9to5mac.com/2022/10/18/duckduckgo-for-mac-public-beta/

 

More info about DDG macOS-browser: https://spreadprivacy.com/duckduckgo-for-mac-open-beta/

 

Thanks, forgot to post this link. Has any macOS user already took it for a testdrive? I did see a video months ago on YouTube and it looked incredibly bare bones, but I'm sure it's better right now.

 

Would love to know myself. Where is the Windows version?

 

Apparently it takes a very longtime to develop since they won't be using Chromium. They say they will make use of some browser engine that's already built into the Windows OS, and I suppose they are building a GUI around this engine. So it won't be some Firefox or Chrome clone. But I don't expect I will like it since I can't live without poweruser features found in Vivaldi.

 

I ran the beta, long time ago, but, since it did not have a 1Password extension, I quickly returned to Safari (and Firefox).

 

That would make sense. I am looking forward to checking it out myself. Yeah if you are a Vivaldi user then this is not the browser you are looking for lol. Thanks man.

 

Actually, now that I think of it, I wonder which browser engine they will be using on Windows because there are only a couple of options, see link. I haven't got a clue what they mean with ''browser engine that's already built into the OS''. Because on macOS they chose to use the WebKit engine which is also used by Safari.

So are they perhaps planning to use EdgeHTML? Probably not since it's not being developed anymore. So I'm guessing they will use Blink, but I don't know if you can use this engine without the Chromium framework running on top. It's more likely they will use WebKit since it's not tied to Chromium. But WebKit isn't built into Windows, so very weird.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_browser_engines

 

just another niche browser - i would say a dead horse.webview2 is in simple words the Edge (based on Chromium) engine. either it is installed, or gets installed. and its not compatible to windows 7/8.1 or older. dont count on it. based on webview2 user can use GPO rules for edge webview2, which are really poor in comparison to Edge itself.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/deployedge/configure-microsoft-edge

seriously, any other browser has more benefit when using DDG for search than this browser.

 

OK cool, to people who have checked it out, let me know if it's really that good. I don't really use my mobile phone, so I'm not going to bother to sign up. Weird that they don't let you register via the website, it's dumb as hell.

 

"DuckDuckGo Windows browser now available in public beta..."

https://spreadprivacy.com/windows-browser-open-beta/

Auto download page:

https://duckduckgo.com/windows?ref=spreadprivacy.com

 

Has some "cool" features:

"Standard features include tracker blocking, including hidden trackers, encryption to ensure the links you click are always encrypted, automatic cookie pop-up management, and a Fire button which 'burns recent browsing data in one click.'

It's also possible to hide your real email address behind an @duck.com address, and the browser includes Duck Player, which allows you to watch YouTube videos without ads. The player also stops viewed videos impacting what YouTube recommends you watch next..."

https://www.pcmag.com/news/duckduckgos-privacy-focused-web-browser-now-available-for-windows

 

Anyone check it out yet?

 

Public beta.

DuckDuckGo’s privacy-focused browser is available for Windows now

 

I don't think I'd want that. I'd rather have recommendations based on what I have watched rather than what everyone else is watching.

 

for me i cannot use "appinstaller" files nor msix on this windows. too bad ^^
The msixbundle file has 760megabytes, holy *** seriously ddg?

contains x64 and x86 msix (is zip file)
each msix contains webview2

BTW i am not sure if it will install webview2 if not present because not wanted.

oki, msix installations run virtual, thats what i had in mind. uninstalling is like emptying a box from sandbox.

 

just tested this browser on https://d3ward.github.io/toolz/adblock.html
is not made to test webview2 or edge. but 4% is more than lousy to not present.
or checkout canyoublockit.com or adblock-tester.com

 

I don't get it, why isn't this a regular .exe file, are these guys dumb or what? I can't install this .appinstaller file, probably because I disabled some service, fair enough, but it's still dumb as hell, do these guys want to become successful or not?

 

you do not really use the MS Store? store only offers msix and appinstaller, thats it, ddg decided this way.

 

Nope, the MS Store has been broken on my sytem after installing some OS update a year ago. I'm guessing this is another reason why .appinstaller files don't work on my system. I don't see why they didn't simply chose to offer a normal .exe file.

It's like they try everything to make the DDG browser a flop. I mean, it already took ridiculous long to develop a working Windows version. I wanted to check it out to see if this new browser engine is really that fast.

 

so the store problem is only on your side. case closed, not relevant for this topic.