DuckDuckGo Mobile App Tracking Protection

By /
DuckDuckGo says it is privacy focussed and doesn't track you when you use it to search.

That may be true but it's search is just not as useful as Google's, and I'm logged into Google so I don't mind Google knowing what I've searched.

It's browser (mobile, desktop etc) has, they say, tech that removes the tracking across your web browsing from places like Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft etc. 

Again, probably true and certainly something they've been very active and vocal about for a number of years. And yet Chrome and many others now have similar tech built-in as these are features that anyone (when they want, or are forced) can add in.


Mobile apps tracking ... now, I don't know what Apples iOS currently stops or allows people to stop (tyranny of the default, how's it handling that) but in Android it's fairly open slather - and it's hidden away.

Enter the DuckDuckGo web browser app and it's wicked 'add-on', the genius App Tracking Protection (beta) that is absolutely doing it for me.

[TECH ALERT]
In the background it's creates a local VPN that all phone data goes through and, if it's a piece tracking data (cookie, location, etc), it gets blocked.  
[NORMAL SERVICE IS NOW RESUMED]

If you're using Android (Samsung, Huawei, Pixel, Oppo, in fact everything that's not made by Apple) give it a go:
  • Download DuckDuckGo for  Android  (or update to the latest version 5.143.1).
  • Open Settings > App Tracking Protection (in the More from DuckDuckGo section).
  • Go through the onboarding (including allowing the VPN connection) and you’re all set!
Give it, oh I dunno, 30 mins, and go back to see what it's blocked and from which apps that are working in the background to see what you use and where you are.

If you use the Reddit app don't wait 30 mins, just watch in real time the thousand of background cookies trying to get through.
Yes, I uninstalled Reddit as soon as I saw this!

It's interesting to see what companies think they need and how often. In my experience it's almost always third party trackers asking for the data that, I assume, is fed back to their clients in the form of pretty graphs etc. I also suspect that the trackers grab everything they can even if the client hasn't asked for it (or even knows that their apps are grabbing it).

For instance, GeoNet, does it need to know my operating system version, not really. However Urban Airship via the GeoNet app is trying to collect it.
Wanna see what Google is collecting via my BNZ banking app, well it's trying to but good ol' DuckDuckGo App Tracking Protection is stopping it getting out.
I wonder why the BNZ need to have all that, or maybe they don't know Google is collecting it all, via their banking app?!

Oh, and if you want, you can use the DuckDuckGo app as a web browser, which is what it really is.

Comments

Post a Comment

Be kind

Popular articles

Make Your Public Event Calendar Usable To All

Image
If you run a sports club, this post is for you. If you are on a community committee, this post is also for you If you host events, this is for you. If you put on shows, this is for you. In fact, if you do anything that has a date/time component that you'd like to share with people, this is for you . Yep, probably for all of us. Sharing calendars can be both: an effective way of letting everyone know a complete and utter technical pain in the bottomly region If you've posted up an events page onto your website you know how difficult it is to keep up to date, how the readers have to keep coming back to get the latest changes and don't even think about integrating with somebody else's "events page". Ok, so we all know the problem. What's the solution? iCalendar (normally shortened to iCal) ... yep, it's a geek word that you will come to know and love just as much as RSS. In fact, think of it as RSS for calendars. But that's enough geekery, if you want

The Difference Between One Million And One Billion

Image
It's feels like a billion is just a bit bigger than a million. Obviously it's bigger but it fits on the same scale as a million, surely. It doesn't. A billion is so so so much bigger than a million. I've trawled the internet finding graphics and videos that show the VAST difference between one million and one billion. Oh, and just to finish with a different misconception about space starting with the classic opening line from the great Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy : “Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”

We All Agree The Climate Is Changing, But Not Why

Image
It seems to me, talking to my more "climate sceptic" friends that even they now accept that the world's climate is changing and we're all in for a bumpy ride of it. If you're one of the very few that doesn't think it's changing, explain this without resorting to lies: Region:  GLOBE Date Range: 1850-2022 / Data Source: UK Met Office Creator: Ed Hawkins Licensor: University of Reading / License:  Creative Commons Licence And for the Kiwis, this is what we're looking like: Region:  All of New Zealand Date Range: 1853-2022 / Data Source: Berkeley Earth Creator: Ed Hawkins Licensor: University of Reading / License: Creative Commons Licence And finally, here's the news for the Welsh Region: Wales Date Range: 1884-2022 / Data Source: UK Met Office Creator: Ed Hawkins Licensor: University of Reading / License: Creative Commons Licence Ok, so it's as plain as the end of your nose that the climate is warming up, we're starting to see the affects of

NO! The Greatest Story: Space Worm

Image
[Update: Poppy Hillstead was removed from the line-up in 2020 and all of series 1 - 3, in which she was a part, has been deleted. I would suggest not bothering with Gossipmongers anymore as this incident left a very bad taste in my mouth. And of course there is no longer anything to embed around the Space Worm, sorry folks] The GOSSIPMONGERS podcast has David Earl, Joe Wilkinson, Poppy Hillstead sharing gossip and rumours which are mostly hilarious, often scatalogical, and sometimes the greatest stories you've ever heard. The 2019 supreme champion is the TRUE Space Worm , listen up (starts at 37:35) and prepare to snort LOL Subscribe to GOSSIPMONGERS

Ride The Wave

Image
Breaker Bay (Wellington) is a big sweeping bay facing directly into the Cook Strait and can have some pretty gnarly waves, especially close(ish) to the rocks roadside. Also makes for a great photo when the sun is setting and the distant hills turn golden.