Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo released its mobile app for iOS and Android in 2018. Since then, the company has added a number of new privacy features to its apps to refine the mobile browsing experience for users. Now DuckDuckGo is all set to launch its desktop app in 2022, giving us an early look at the upcoming desktop browser. Check out the details below.

DuckDuckGo Desktop Browser Revealed

The company recently shared an extensive blog post written by CEO Gabriel Weinberg showing the features and design changes of the DuckDuckGo mobile app in 2021. Apart from bragging about the new App Tracking Protection feature on Android and the Tracker Blocking feature for Facebook content on DuckDuckGo mobile, the CEO announced that the company is currently developing a desktop app.

DuckDuckGo for desktop, according to Weinberg, “will redefine users’ expectations of everyday online privacy.” The desktop app offers similar privacy features as its mobile counterpart and they are enabled by default for search, browsing, email and more. The CEO says the DuckDuckGo desktop app is not a “privacy browser”, but a web browser that “Respects your privacy, because there’s never a bad time to stop companies from spying on your search and browsing history.”

Like its mobile version, the DuckDuckGo desktop browser will be based on OS-provided rendering engines rather than relying on Chromium or other OS forks. It provides users with a clean and simple interface, including: the fire button of the mobile app which allows users to clear all their tabs and browsing data “with one fiery tap.” In addition, early testing of the desktop app has shown that it is faster than Google Chrome.

In addition, it has been found that DuckDuckGo is now the most downloaded app in the Google Play Store and is in second place in the App Store (the first is Google Chrome). It has also generated approximately 150 million downloads worldwide.

It is not yet known when the new DuckDuckGo desktop browser app will be released. However, we can expect the company to release it for Windows and Mac sometime in early 2022. We’ll keep you posted, so stay tuned for further updates.