DuckDuckGo's app to block trackers

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DuckDuckGo, The Search engine alternative to Google most famous in the world, has for some time decided to expand and take new paths. To do this, it is slowly modifying and expanding its main application, adding new features from time to time. So let's see how does the DuckDuckGo app work to block i tracers.

In reality, as mentioned, this is not a new application but a update of their app. A few months ago they had already made a similar update: the possibility of create an @duck.com address to be used to automatically forward all emails to your address, also deleting the tracking pixels.

However, reading the comments here and there, it didn't seem to us that that feature was particularly appreciated, especially because not everyone loves the idea of forwarding their emails to DuckDuckGo (with the possibility of reading and/or analyzing them) and then receiving them without tracking pixels. There are already reliable and safe realities like AnonAddy or SimpleLogin to hide your email address, which allow many more options than @duck.com. Furthermore, all you need to do to block tracking pixels is disable automatic loading of external images. Which is something that almost all mailboxes now allow you to do.

DuckDuckGo's app to block i tracers

However, it was announced a few days ago ¹ an interesting new innovation. It is indeed a VPN for block i tracers present on other applications. Also in this case it is something already seen: TrackerControl it does exactly this and does it very well or even other applications such as Blokada.

However, the fact that it is done by a large and important company such as DuckDuckGo it's definitely important. Why DuckDuckGo has a huge following and is continually growing ². His application on the Play Store has over a million downloads so if it will also allow you to block i tracers of other applications is certainly excellent news in our opinion.

However, a doubt arises: the TrackerControl application was forced to create a "slim" version in order to be on the Play Store where it is explicitly said that: FOLLOWING GOOGLE'S PLAY STORE POLICIES, THIS VERSION OF TRACKERCONTROL DOES NOT BLOCK TRACKING ³ That is: due to the rules of the Google Play Store this version of TrackerControl, unlike the one present above F-Droid, Not block i tracers.

So How do those at DuckDuckGo plan to overcome this obstacle? Perhaps they are aiming to be able to better counter any requests from Google than TrackerControl?

The application is also present on F-Droid

It just so happens that the DuckDuckGo it is also present on F-Droid even if at the time of writing the article there is not yet a version that allows the use of the block tracers because she was a little behind. But F-Droid it's not the Play Store and the users who would use it would be many, many fewer, should they be forced to remove it from the Play Store.

However, this is something we will only discover with time.

Also in this case, as with emails, it has been decided that to try out the new functionality, a temporary subscription to a booking list is required. We, obviously, jumped in immediately and we have already been approved as beta testers. For this reason we are able to write a review of it.

This is how the app looked as soon as the confirmation of registration arrived:

The presentations, narrative and graphics of DuckDuckGo they are always beautiful and try to hit users in this way too. We particularly appreciate it because they make the topic more understandable for everyone and less niche.

DuckDuckGo's app to block i tracers: the VPN

The application works exactly like many others already seen: you will have to activate a VPN to be able to control all the connections that are made. Connecting to a VPN normally means, to put it simply, that all your traffic goes through someone else's server. This type of VPN however, as well as for TrackerControl, carries out everything locally.

In fact, it is exploited slots Android VPN to control and block connections but there is no connection to external servers. It is not, so to speak, how to use ProtonVPN or NordVPN. So no connection and no personal data will be sent to DuckDuckGo, at least according to them.

The application is very simple and intuitive and offers, for now, only automatic protection tracers known without the possibility of any customization. The only setting you can control is whether or not to activate image control tracers on a given application.

Whenever an application tries to make a connection you will be able to see it in recent activities. The most beautiful and curious thing about these control applications tracers it's seeing how many apps on your smartphone continually connect to external servers without you even opening them!

THE tracers blocked

In the screenshots you can see that they have been blocked tracers from Newsblur And Kiwi Browsers: These are not applications that contain tracers but simply the sites that are contacted are blocked. Newsblur it is indeed feed reader RSS hey tracers found are the various sites used. Kiwi Browsers it's a Browsers Open source and also in this case i tracers they are sites we have browsed.

Apart from this DuckDuckGo To simplify the life of users who want to try this application, it has some applications that are not activated by default for now. Among those that we installed, the various versions of Firefox (Fennec, Focus And Firefox) And Whatsapp. Evidently bugs have been reported which, we hope, will be resolved soon.

To conclude

DuckDuckGo's app to block i tracers it's in its infancy. It is also still in beta, does not work well with some applications and does not allow any customization. However, this can be a good thing if the user they are aiming for has a medium-low knowledge of technology and just wants a tool that works, does not give errors and does not need to fiddle around too much.

It can therefore be one good alternative to TrackerControl to be installed by relatives and friends who are not interested in technology: being able to see with your own eyes how many companies are contacted even without ever opening certain applications could be enlightening for many people.

Alternatives for iOS

If you have iOS you can try the application Open source ⁴ Lockdown Privacy. Thanks for report.

1. Introducing App Tracking Protection for Android: The easiest way to block trackers lurking in your apps[↩]
2. DuckDuckGo Traffic[↩]
3. TrackerControl on the Play Store[↩]
4. Lockdown Privacy on GitHub[↩]

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