New DuckDuckGo Tool Brings Apple-Style Privacy to Android

Runaway1956 writes:

The easy to use App Track Protection feature will block third party companies snooping in your apps:

DuckDuckGo released a new privacy tool for Android Wednesday that will help protect you from the companies harvesting personal data through your apps. The new App Tracking Protection feature, now available in beta in the DuckDuckGo for Android app, will let users take advantage of some of the privacy protections already enjoyed by iPhone users.

The company's App Tracking Protection tool doesn't just block the data collection, it also gives you a firsthand look at what information apps are trying to harvest and where they're trying to send it. DuckDuckGo spent the last year testing the feature with real users. The feature is easy to use. All you have to do is install the DuckDuckGo app, open Settings, select "App Tracking Protection," and follow the onscreen instructions.

[...] App Tracking Protection runs in the background of your day-to-day phone use, but if you open it up, the DuckDuckGo app gives you a real time summary of the attempts to collect your data. The numbers will be staggering if you aren't familiar with the inner workings of tech products.

According to DuckDuckGo, the average Android user has about 35 apps on their phone. In their tests, a phone with 35 apps on it will send about 1,000-2,000 packets of tracking data to over 70 different tracking companies every day-but that number can be far worse depending on which apps you use.

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