Jesse Hollington for iDropNews:
Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo has long been a favourite choice of those who prefer to remain anonymous, and now it’s providing even more incentive for Apple users to switch over with even tighter integration into Apple Maps.
In a blog post this week, the search engine announced that it’s now using Apple’s MapKit JS framework — the underlying system that Apple offers to allow its maps to be embedded on websites — to power all of its mapping features. This means that when you do a local search in DuckDuckGo, you’ll be using data from Apple Maps.
This works not only for showing actual maps, but it’s also the secret sauce behind new features in DuckDuckGo’s local queries, powering new features like autocomplete based on the user’s local area…
Despite all of these changes, DuckDuckGo is still committed to protecting user privacy and offering completely anonymous, non-tracked searches. In fact, this is the most obvious reason why the company chose to partner with Apple for its mapping engine, since both organizations share the same priorities here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you haven’t already, give DuckDuckGo a try today!
Apple allows users to easily switch to the privacy-respecting DuckDuckGo search engine on Safari:
macOS:
1. Click Safari in the top menu bar.
2. Select Preferences.
3. Click on Search.
4. Select DuckDuckGo.
iOS:
1. Open Settings.
2. Navigate to and tap on Safari.
3. Tap on Search Engine.
4. Select DuckDuckGo.