DuckDuckGo is best known as a search engine, but they also publish a suite of privacy tools. Three of them are worth knowing about: Email Protection, App Tracking Protection, and their VPN.
Email Protection (Free)
Email Protection lets you create @duck.com email aliases that forward messages to your real inbox. Before forwarding, DuckDuckGo strips tracking pixels — the invisible images companies embed in emails to know when you opened them, where you were, and what device you used.
You can create one main Duck address ([email protected]) or generate unlimited random aliases (like [email protected]) to give out when signing up for services. If an alias starts getting spam, you can deactivate it without touching your real email address.
Available at: duckduckgo.com/email
App Tracking Protection (Free · Android only)
App Tracking Protection is built into the DuckDuckGo browser app for Android. It runs in the background and blocks known trackers in other apps on your phone — not just in the browser. It works by setting up a local VPN connection on your device, though it does not route your traffic through DuckDuckGo's servers.
The feature shows a real-time log of tracking attempts it has blocked across all your installed apps.
Available in the DuckDuckGo app on Android.
VPN (Paid — Privacy Pro subscription)
DuckDuckGo's VPN is part of their Privacy Pro plan, which costs $9.99/month or $99.99/year. It encrypts all traffic leaving your device and routes it through DuckDuckGo's servers. Privacy Pro also includes a Personal Information Removal service and Identity Theft Restoration support.
The VPN is available on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android.
More information available in following article: How much does DuckDuckGo cost?
What it does not cover
Email Protection only strips trackers from forwarded messages — it does not encrypt the content of emails. App Tracking Protection covers known third-party trackers but is not a full VPN and does not apply to the trackers on websites you visit in a browser. The VPN requires a paid subscription.
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