DuckDuckGo said that App Tracking Protection, a beta feature that helps disable third-party trackers in your applications even when you’re not using them, is now available for all Android users. The tool, which debuted in testing for a small group of users roughly a year ago, now includes the option to examine what personal data trackers are attempting to capture.
— DuckDuckGo (@DuckDuckGo) November 16, 2022 According to DuckDuckGo, the average Android user has 35 apps on their phone and tracks 1,000 to 2,000 times per day. To use the new feature, simply update the Android app to the latest version, open settings, select “App Tracking Protection,” and follow the instructions. If the functionality seems familiar, it’s because iOS users have had access to a comparable private browsing experience thanks to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency. However, as DuckDuckGo notes out in its blog post, its version, which varies dramatically from Apple’s in that it is opt-out by default, services Android — the majority of smartphone users globally. Overall, this appears to be good news for privacy-conscious smartphone consumers, but it may spell the end of data snoops like Meta.
