DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search engine, is going to make it harder for Android apps to track you with its new App Tracking Protection tool. The latest tool will be available as a part of the DuckDuckGo app for Android and will block third-party trackers, including Google and Facebook, from mapping your online activities for personalised advertising or gathering detailed behavioural profiles. The new feature is similar to Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature except it blocks the trackers instead of giving you the choice to disable them.
DuckDuckGo said, unlike iPhone users, Android phone users do not have a feature like App Tracking Transparency that users can deploy to stop third-party trackers. In fact, advertisers now spend more money on the Android platform because of the absence of such a feature. The new App Tracking Protection tool will not only give customers control of their online activities and privacy, but will also put a dent in the third-party tracking business, which involves companies such as Google and Facebook.
The new App Tracking Protection tool will work across the device and not just the websites that you visit on the browser app. You will, however, have to enable the service from the settings for it to work. After the settings are turned on, DuckDuckGo will start tracking apps on your device and detect when they are about to send data to third-party tracking companies, which are a part of the “tracker dataset”. The blocking of trackers will happen in real-time without affecting your workflow and even when you are not using the phone.
“We are continually working to identify and protect against new trackers, so you can rest easy knowing you’re getting the most up-to-date protection,” said DuckDuckGo in a press statement.
If you see DuckDuckGo working as a VPN app, the company said that is because the new App Tracking Protection feature will use a local “VPN connection” that “never routes app data through an external server” unlike a regular VPN service. This means that your internet location is not going to be affected. DuckDuckGo’s app will give you real-time information about the blocked trackers and the apps that were trying to use them. If you enable notifications, DuckDuckGo will let you know automatic summaries.
DuckDuckGo’s App Tracking Protection tool is available in beta right now, but it is going to be a bit tough for you to use it. That is because it is a part of a private waitlist. This means you will have to join a waitlist and the feature will only be available to you after you exit it. There is no estimated time for that yet, but DuckDuckGo will reduce the list over time. During the beta testing period, a few apps will not be blocked because, DuckDuckGo said, they rely on tracking to work properly.
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