DuckDuckGo’s anti-tracking Android tool could be “even more powerful” than iOS
Enlarge / DuckDuckGo says its App Tracking Protection automatically blocks many kinds of known trackers, while Apple's App Tracking Transparency only blocks IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers) and asks developers to block others. (credit: DuckDuckGo)
Privacy-focused search site DuckDuckGo has added yet another way to prevent more of your data from going to advertisers, opening its App Tracking Protection for Android to beta testers.
DuckDuckGo is positioning App Tracking Protection as something like Apple's App Tracking Transparency for iOS devices, but "even more powerful." Enabling the service in the DuckDuckGo app for Android (under the "More from DuckDuckGo" section) installs a local VPN service on your phone, which can then start automatically blocking trackers on DDG's public blocklist. DuckDuckGo says this happens "without sending app data to DuckDuckGo or other remote servers."
DuckDuckGo's App Tracking Protection shows you specifics on what your Android apps are trying to send. (credit: DuckDuckGo)
Google recently gave Android users some native tools to prevent wanton tracking, including app-by-app location-tracking approval and a limited native ad-tracking opt-out. Apple's App Tracking Transparency asks if users want to block apps from accessing the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), but apps can still use the largest tracking networks across many apps to better profile app users.