I asked Google and it says search engine.

It’s a search engine that respects your privacy, unlike Google which logs every search you make. It’s usually pretty good and is my default search engine in Safari. Not sure if Chrome allows you to change the default (it’s Google’s browser after all)—and even if you could, it could still log your online activity if it wanted to. I do know that Firefox allows you to use duckduckgo as the default if you want.

@2davidc8 DuckDuckGo is a search engine.

It’s a search engine, and I’ve been using the DuckDuckGo + Firefox + uBlock Origin combination on the advice of @johnpowell for a few years now. (I used the experimental search engine that JP built for as long as he kept it up, but he never maintained his experimental sites for long. And even though he built it while drunk and it only returned eight results at a time, it worked really well.)

You can find instructions on how to change Chrome’s default search engine here. But like @gorillapaws said, Google could still log all of your activity through the browser itself. If you really like Chrome and don’t want to switch to Firefox but still worry about privacy, you might consider using Brave instead. They’re based on the same engine and are nearly identical in how they function, but Brave is a lot more focused on privacy.

I do have problems with some of Brave’s business practices. But even in that regard I think that it is at least better than Chrome if the choice is between those two.

I use Firefox and duckduckgo as my search engine. Occasionally I use Brave and duckduckgo.
Duckduckgo has a search app that you can put on your phone. That works great, too!

So @SavoirFaire, Firefox is your browser of choice?

I like DuckDuckGo.com for privacy.

I also like the search engine Gibiru.com for its privacy. It and DuckDuckGo give somewhat different results.

In practice I use a combination of search engines.

@kneesox Yes. There are things I wish were different about it, but my overall experience with it is better than with other browsers. And of course, Ryan’s endorsement goes a long way.

My default search engine in Chrome is Duck. Sometimes I google if I don’t like the quack results.

No many seem to be aware but Duckduckgo also has a pretty cool mobile browser. This browser doesn’t store any data when you browse through it. I also blocks trackers from other apps from accessing and storing data of what you are browsing. It actually shows you the number of trackers it has blocked as soon as you navigate to any webpage! (no prizes for guessing who tracks us the most…...Big G…). I use the ducky browser on my phone and I love it.

Like @SavoirFaire I started using Firefox and duckduckgo per Johnpowell’s recommendation.
Since then I have found all sorts of powerful tools that are available with that combination.
Duckduckgo has a tool called Bang that enables you to use one of ~13,000 different search engines by merely starting your search with an ”!” and a letter code for the desired search. Google search is !g, Amazon is !a, Yelp is !yelp, New York Times is !nyt , etc.
Maybe someone will make one for Fluther.

@LuckyGuy That Bang tool sounds v. interestng.
I haven’t heard of Brave, but I’ve heard good things about the Vivaldi and Opera browsers.

@2davidc8 The Bangs are great! And when you do use one of them you are doing it through duckduckgo. That introduces a small level of anonymity – maybe.
either way it gives duckduckgo some credit.

Browse around there. I had no idea there was so many specialized search engines.

To use Chrome (google) and duckduckgo in the same sentence is funny. DDG is a search engine that keeps your search private. You search, and DDG uses goodle and others to find your info and then provides it to you. So google can track DDG but not you. I have no earthly idea why anyone uses google for anything.