However, we have been continually pushing and expect to be doing more soon.” Unfortunately our Microsoft search syndication agreement prevents us from doing more to Microsoft-owned properties.

in our browser), we block most third-party trackers. Then again, that is likely the kind of feedback DuckDuckGo is seeking in this beta.“For non-search tracker blocking (e.g. When I had DuckDuckGo's protection installed on an Android phone early last year, I had trouble renting scooters and e-bikes from Lime and accessing my apartment building's door-unlocking service. Opening the eBay and Uber apps-but not logging into them-was enough to trigger Google trackers.ĭuckDuckGo notes that some apps are still excluded from tracking protection because they require tracking to work properly, particularly browsers and apps that have in-app browsers. When I opened the McDonald’s app, trackers from Adobe, cloud software firm New Relic, Google, emotion-tracking firm Apptentive, and mobile analytics company Kochava tried to collect data about me. In 96 hours, 23 of these apps had made more than 630 tracking attempts in the background. … I left the phone alone for four days and didn’t use it at all.

These included the McDonald’s app, LinkedIn, Facebook, Amazon, and BBC Sounds. WIRED's Matt Burgess tested the app when it launched, installing 36 apps on a new Pixel 6 Pro and logging in to roughly half of them: Since then, DuckDuckGo has updated the app to show you more information about what kinds of data trackers are trying to collect-'like your precise location, age, and a digital fingerprint of your phone.' Through its testing, DuckDuckGo has seen that an Android phone with 35 apps can see 1,000–2,000 tracking attempts every day, sending data to more than 70 companies. Goodman added that 'much of the data collected by trackers is not controlled by permissions,' making App Tracking Protection a complementary offering.Īpp Tracking Protection launched a year ago in a limited beta.

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