DuckDuckGo has announced its new desktop "browsing app," which it describes as a privacy-focused search engine offering default privacy settings.
In a blog post reviewing DuckDuckGo's achievements for 2021, CEO Gabriel Weinberg described the company's desktop browser, boasting off over 150 million downloads of its all-in-one privacy apps for Android and iOS, as well as Chromium extensions.
Weinberg, unlike other browser developers, chose not to fork an established project like Chromium (like Microsoft did for the Edge browser). Instead, each operating system's rendering engine will be used by the desktop app, which should include Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Weinberg claims that by doing so, the DuckDuckGo browser can remove a lot of the superfluous cruft and clutter that has accumulated in major browsers over time.
It's questionable which desktop OS-provided rendering engines he's talking about, but developing a desktop browser without Chromium's Blink rendering engine is challenging. Apple, on the other hand, utilizes WebKit for Safari on the desktop and requires WebKit for iOS in all non-Safari browsers on iOS, including Chrome.
It's the same strategy used in the DuckDuckGo mobile app, which promises to provide a smooth user experience while also ensuring that users' privacy is maintained. A "Fire Button," which has been popular on mobile devices as a speedy (and animated) way to erase all of your tabs and browsing data with a single tap or click, will also be available.
In terms of performance, the desktop web browser is still in the early stages of development, but Weinberg claims it is already "significantly faster" than Chrome.
The app has no release date, and the browser is now in closed beta for macOS (as seen in the screenshot), with a Windows version in development. There's no mention of a Linux version as of writing, but we're betting an announcement soon.
Only time will tell whether DuckDuckGo's desktop browser can compete in a market dominated by Edge, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Vivaldi, and Brave.
Microsoft Edge's invasive methods must be addressed, thus having another option will likely persuade consumers to move from it and Chrome, but the same could be said for other privacy-friendly browsers such as Firefox, Vivaldi, Waterfox, and others.
We'll have to wait and see if the DuckDuckGo desktop browser supports extensions and add-on stores. Although having a built-in tracker blocker is convenient, having the ability to add third-party plugins would be a nice touch.
