DuckDuckGo, a privacy-focused online browser that tries to shield user data from third-party web trackers, just released a new tool that works similarly to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature. App Tracking Protection is a built-in feature for DuckDuckGo’s Android web browser app that stops third-party trackers from tracking users across multiple digital platforms.
In a recent official blog post, the business announced the App Tracking Protection feature. DuckDuckGo cited an AppCensus analysis in the post, claiming that 96 percent of popular free Android apps have hidden third-party trackers. 87 percent of those apps transmit data to Google, while 68 percent send data to Facebook, which is now known as Meta.
While Apple’s iPhones and iPads now have the App Tracking Transparency feature, which prevents third-party trackers from tracking users, there is no corresponding tool for Android users, according to the company. As a result, the privacy-focused startup introduced its own version of App Tracking Transparency for Android devices, citing these concerns.
What Is the Process?
As a result, the DuckDuckGo app for Android will run in the background once you enable App Tracking Protection. During this process, the app will detect when or if any app tries to transfer your data to any third-party monitoring businesses and will block them from doing so.
The app will also provide you with a thorough, real-time report on how the tool is performing, including which trackers it has stopped and whose networks they were attempting to transfer data to. Furthermore, if you have the DuckDuckGo app’s system notifications switched on, the tracking-prevention summary will appear in your notifications.
Availability
When it comes to the App Tracking Protection feature’s availability, it’s now in beta. Users can, however, join the private waitlist to gain access to the feature using DuckDuckGo’s Settings. If you wish to check out the new feature, head to the Settings section of the DuckDuckGo app on your Android smartphone, then touch the “Join the Private Waitlist” option under App Tracking Protection in the Privacy section.
The feature is progressively being rolled out to individuals on the private queue. DuckDuckGo said it will continue to improve the tool based on user feedback before making it available to the general public.