DuckDuckGo is now a default search engine option in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite

BY Stephen Hall

Published 3 Jun 2014

duckduckgo

With the announcement of iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite, Apple has introduced another option for choosing your default web search service. Alongside Google, Yahoo, and Bing, you now have the ability to select the privacy-preserving search engine DuckDuckGo.

As you can see below, DuckDuckGo–which is notably tiny in popularity compared to the other options in this menu–is now selectable with just a tap. While this move by Apple could be interpreted as a move towards providing for customers’ privacy demands, it could also be the result of growing tensions between Google and Apple.

ios8-duckduckgoFor those unfamiliar with DuckDuckGo, the service claims to put an end to search engine tracking and to help you keep your personal searches more personal. Now, as part of yesterday’s announcements of iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, Apple is giving the service a front-row seat so that users have easy access to a search engine that doesn’t track.

Be sure to check out our full coverage of everything Apple announced at WWDC, and our list of iOS 8 features that Apple didn’t have much time to talk about.

Thanks, Alan, for the screenshot.