Safari just got a lot more private in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. The web browser on iPhone, iPad and Mac now includes the private search engine DuckDuckGo that users can set as default. For Mac users, this goes alongside an all-new private browsing option that functions like incognito mode on Chrome. DuckDuckGo is a search engine that doesn’t track you, allowing you to browse the web knowing that your privacy is intact…Â
DuckDuckGo expressed its gratitude in a recent blog post:
We are thrilled to be included in Safari and it’s great that Apple is making it easy for people to access our anonymous search option,” the company wrote in a blog post. “This makes DuckDuckGo the first privacy-focused search engine to be added to one of the top four browsers and is a huge milestone for both us and privacy supporters.
That isn’t the only change that Apple has made to its search engine offerings. The company has set Bing as the default search engine in OS X Yosemite, including in Spotlight search, in what amounts to a cold shoulder against its arch-rival Google. The default search engine on iPhone and iPad is still Google, however, perhaps signalling that Apple isn’t confident enough to make the switch on mobile yet.
Apple has slowly moved away from integrating Google services as stock features on iPhone and iPad. After its licensing agreement expired with Google in mid-2012, the company removed YouTube as a stock app in iOS 6. Google later reintroduced the app on the App Store. Meanwhile, Apple ditched Google Maps on iOS 6 and turned to its own — highly criticized — in-house Maps solution.
Have you ever used DuckDuckGo?