Photo: autoevolution
DuckDuckGo is one of the privacy-obsessed services that allow you to search the web while having all your data protected, and this approach has made it one of the most popular search engines in the last few years.
While it obviously doesn’t have the market share of Google Search, DuckDuckGo’s adoption is on the rise, and this allows the company to also explore other businesses.
Including navigation directions, that is, as DuckDuckGo has recently announced the debut of driving and walking modes on its web interface. While it doesn’t yet have navigation apps that would allow DuckDuckGo to serve as a full alternative to Google Maps, the company hopes that by checking out the driving and walking directions on its website would allow users to prepare their trips in advance, all by protecting their privacy while doing the whole thing.
Just like the mapping data available on DuckDuckGo, the new modes are powered by Apple Maps, so the experience would be similar to what you’re getting on your iPhone in the default Maps app. With one difference, though: DuckDuckGo promises full privacy while using the service.
“As with all our search features, your privacy is still protected when using these directions thanks to our strict privacy policy of not collecting or sharing any personal information. In the case of location-related searches, your browser sends location information which we isolate from any personal information the browser sends, and which we discard after use, enabling us to provide anonymous localized results and features,” DuckDuckGo explains.
For the time being, the new features are only available on the DuckDuckGo web interface, but hopefully, the company would expand the new capabilities even further with dedicated apps that would make it possible to use the driving directions behind the wheel as part of fully-featured navigation software.
At this point, however, the good news is that DuckDuckGo plans to bring its privacy-oriented approach to more sectors beyond the search engine industry.
Including navigation directions, that is, as DuckDuckGo has recently announced the debut of driving and walking modes on its web interface. While it doesn’t yet have navigation apps that would allow DuckDuckGo to serve as a full alternative to Google Maps, the company hopes that by checking out the driving and walking directions on its website would allow users to prepare their trips in advance, all by protecting their privacy while doing the whole thing.
Just like the mapping data available on DuckDuckGo, the new modes are powered by Apple Maps, so the experience would be similar to what you’re getting on your iPhone in the default Maps app. With one difference, though: DuckDuckGo promises full privacy while using the service.
“As with all our search features, your privacy is still protected when using these directions thanks to our strict privacy policy of not collecting or sharing any personal information. In the case of location-related searches, your browser sends location information which we isolate from any personal information the browser sends, and which we discard after use, enabling us to provide anonymous localized results and features,” DuckDuckGo explains.
For the time being, the new features are only available on the DuckDuckGo web interface, but hopefully, the company would expand the new capabilities even further with dedicated apps that would make it possible to use the driving directions behind the wheel as part of fully-featured navigation software.
At this point, however, the good news is that DuckDuckGo plans to bring its privacy-oriented approach to more sectors beyond the search engine industry.
Google News