DuckDuckGo can now block trackers from the apps on your phone
DuckDuckGo will protect users against apps that collect information about them. App Tracking Protection, as the feature is called, is now available to all users of the DuckDuckGo browser. It protects against app trackers, even if they work in the background.
DuckDuckGo against app trackers
Without users noticing, apps can collect information about them through data trackers. Apps search your age, location, and interests, among other things. This information is then used by advertising providers such as Google and Facebook to create a personal profile of the smartphone user. A new function of DuckDuckGo should put a stop to that.
You may know DuckDuckGo as the privacy-friendly search engine that doesn’t keep any information about its users’ search results. But DuckDuckGo is even more than that. On Android phones, there is a privacy-friendly browser from the company that now also includes a feature that allows it to counter app trackers. App Tracking Protection blocks app trackers, even if they run in the background when you’re not using the apps in question.
DuckDuckGo’s App Tracking Protection
In the DuckDuckGo browser you can track exactly how many trackers have been blocked in this way, and according to the developers, users will also be shocked by those numbers. According to DuckDuckGo’s own research, smartphone users have an average of 35 apps on their phones. During one day, there are an average of 1,000 to 2,000 attempts to collect data about the user and those trackers come from more than 70 different companies.
Apple does better
DuckDuckGo states that Apple has long had a setting in iOS that disables targeted advertising for all third-party apps in one fell swoop. But because Android has the most users worldwide, according to DuckDuckGo there was a need for an alternative to Android.
Related articles
Google is working on a similar feature that should put an end to app trackers, but it is already clear that there will be an alternative instead. We recently wrote on Androidworld about five big tech companies and which ones respect your privacy. It was part of our recent themed week on privacy and you can find all the articles that were published here.
