How to install DuckDuckGo

Browsing the web, you’ve heard of a search engine called DuckDuckGo, which caught your eye. The reason for your interest is due to the fact that this service starts with the premise of providing greater protection of your privacy while browsing the Web than the most popular search engines. You are then inquiring about how to use it and set it as the default search engine on your devices.

Well, if that’s the case, then you’ll be happy to know that you’ve come across the right tutorial. In the following chapters, you will find all the instructions you need to find out how to install DuckDuckGo and use it as the default search engine on your PC, smartphone and/or tablet, regardless of the operating system or browser used.

If you’re ready to get started, feel free to make yourself comfortable and take a few minutes to put into practice the steps I’m about to show you. I assure you that you will be able to reach your goal in no time. Happy reading and good luck for everything!

Index

• Preliminary information
• How to install DuckDuckGo on PC
• How to install DuckDuckGo on smartphones and tablets
  • How to install DuckDuckGo on Android
  • How to install DuckDuckGo on iPhone and iPad

Preliminary information

Before explaining how to install DuckDuckGo, I think it is worth doing a little introduction to this search engine.

As I mentioned earlier, DuckDuckGo was born with the idea of ​​providing greater privacy to its users than the most popular search engines. The methods that DuckDuckGo applies to protect the privacy of users are innumerable: first of all, the search engine does not memorize the IP of the user who is using it. This way the location will no longer be tracked, making searches more private.

Beyond that, DuckDuckGo doesn’t even track some of the most privacy-critical elements, such as history or cookies. The collection of this data, in fact, could lead to a user profiling process, which is often used for marketing purposes.

Thanks to everything I have listed above and various other more complicated processes, such as encryption algorithms aimed at protecting privacy, DuckDuckGo is, therefore, able to offer private and secure browsing for users.

I also take this opportunity to dispel a myth: incognito mode does not provide 100% secure privacy. What this function does is delete various temporary data from your system at the end of your sessions, such as the history and cookies, but this mode will still leave your IP “discovered”. Furthermore, deleting the data from your system does not guarantee that these will not be collected by the sites that are visited during the incognito session. In a nutshell, it is unable to provide private and secure browsing in the use of less privacy-conscious search engines than DuckDuckGo.

Basically, as you have seen, DuckDuckGo is among the most valid search engines if you are trying to keep your privacy under control without spending money, because yes, the service does not require payments and is supported by advertising, which, however, can be deactivated and are not shown by profiling users. Read more here.

In any case, if you want to learn more about the way in which DuckDuckGo manages privacy, I invite you to consult the official documentation of the site (available only in English).

How to install DuckDuckGo on PC

So if you want to know how to install DuckDuckGo on PC, therefore how to use it as the default search engine in your browser, know that the procedure is very simple and will not require more than a handful of clicks. You simply have to open your browser settings and act from there. In this guide, I’ll show you how to do it using Chrome, but the steps on other browsers are very similar to the ones I’m about to show you.

You can get to the Chrome settings by clicking on the three dots icon located at the top of the screen and selecting the Settings item from the menu that appears.

On the page that opens, you must click on the item Bot and in the panel that appears, display all available search engines as the default search engine under the category of default search engines.

To set DuckDuckGo as Chrome’s default search engine, you have to press on the three dots icon located to the right of the DuckDuckGo icon and, in the drop-down menu that appears, select the item Set as default.

At this point you can immediately see the results: just open a new tab by clicking on the + icon located at the top of the screen and you will see that this, together with all subsequent ones, will have DuckDuckGo as a search engine.

Another method to install DuckDuckGo is to use the dedicated extension. This offers greater protection and is just as quick to apply to your browser.

The DuckDuckGo extension can be installed on most browsers, including the aforementioned Chrome, other Chromium-based browsers (eg Edge ) and Firefox. To download it, all you have to do is go to the store corresponding to the browser you use (eg Chrome Web Store ) and click on the Add button. If, on the other hand, you have a Mac and use the Safari browser, you can take advantage of the DuckDuckGo extension by downloading the related application from the Mac App Store.

In case you want to go back to your default search engine, if you have second thoughts, just go back to your browser settings menu and change your search engine from there. If, on the other hand, you want to uninstall the DuckDuckGo extension from your browser, you can follow the instructions in my guides on how to remove extensions from Chrome and Firefox.

How to install DuckDuckGo on smartphones and tablets

DuckDuckGo was not designed only for PC, and it is in fact possible to set it as a search engine or even use it as a real browser on smartphones and tablets. Here are all the details.

How to install DuckDuckGo on Android

If you want to install DuckDuckGo on Android, then use the browser made by the company, you have to go to the Play Store (or to an alternative store, if your phone does not have the Play Store) and type DuckDuckGo in the search field. At this point, press the Go button, then select the DuckDuckGo application and finally press the Install button.

After doing this, you just have to open DuckDuckGo to start using the browser of the well-known search engine, which obviously uses DuckDuckGo for searches and applies all the privacy measures I mentioned at the beginning of the guide. You don’t need to do any registration or other such processes, so you can use the application right after the installation is finished.

If, on the other hand, you want to set DuckDuckGo as your default browser, you have to open the phone settings, by pressing on the gear icon on the Home Screen, in the drawer or in the notification menu.

Then, click on the Applications and Choose default applications items and, finally, on the App browser button. At this point, all the applications installed on your phone that can be used as a browser will appear. To choose DuckDuckGo, all you have to do is click on its icon. That’s all: the next time you press any link, it will be opened with DuckDuckGo.

The phone version of DuckDuckGo has another nice feature: by pressing on the flame icon, a flame will be emitted on the phone screen, which will erase the entire history. This feature is very useful when you are trying to search with extreme confidentiality.

If you are using Chrome, you can also set DuckDuckGo as the default search engine within it, similar to what I showed you in the previous chapter. You can do this by opening DuckDuckGo and pressing on the three dots icon and pressing on the Settings item. Then press on the item Search engine and finally on the word DuckDuckGo. That’s all: by doing so, the latter will be used as the main search engine.

In case of second thoughts, just go back to the settings menu of your device and change the previously modified settings to restore the default search engine and / or browser.

How to install DuckDuckGo on iPhone and iPad

If you are trying to install DuckDuckGo on iPhone or iPad , know that the procedure is almost identical to what I showed you in the previous chapter dedicated to Android .

First, therefore, you must download DuckDuckGo on your mobile device via the official page on the App Store , by pressing the Get button and verifying your identity via Face ID , Touch ID or Apple ID password , if required.

After installing DuckDuckGo , you can directly launch the application and start using it as a browser. You can also set DuckDuckGo as your default browser : to do this, you need to open the Settings app and press the DuckDuckGo button . At this point presses on the App item for the default browser and, finally, select DuckDuckGo .

If, on the other hand, you want to use DuckDuckGo within Safari as your default search engine , the procedure is slightly different. The first step to perform is to open the Settings application and then press the Safari item .

At this point, go to Search Engines and finally check DuckDuckGo . Nothing else: by doing this, DuckDuckGo will be used as the search engine the next time you start Safari. If you change your mind, just go back to the previously changed settings to restore your default search engine and / or browser.