Enable DuckDuckGo in Google Chrome 73

[The AchieVer]

Enable DuckDuckGo in Google Chrome 73 

The latest update for Google Chrome introduced a series of welcome changes, such as the dark mode on macOS, but the new version also comes with new options that you may not notice at first.

One of them is support for DuckDuckGo, the privacy-oriented search engine that’s finally available for Google Chrome users as a built-in option.

DuckDuckGo is now offered as a Google Chrome feature to users in total of 60 markets, including several European countries like Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. DuckDuckGo is also available in the United States as part of Google Chrome 73.

Google hasn’t released an official announcement on this, but certainly, adding DuckDuckGo to the list of features in the latest Chrome version is without a doubt welcome news, especially for those who’ve made privacy a priority when browsing the web.

While choosing Google Chrome has never been considered an option for privacy-conscious users, DuckDuckGo could help the browser improve in this regard, while also lending a hand to the search giant in its attempts to deal with the criticism coming from organizations worldwide.

Needless to say, DuckDuckGo isn’t offered as the default search engine in Google Chrome 73, but only as an option, so you have to enable it manually in the browser.

Doing this, however, isn’t at all rocket science, as you can set DuckDuckGo as the default search engine in Chrome with just a few clicks.

First and foremost, you can launch the browser and then navigate to the following location:

Google Chrome > Settings > Search engine

The option that you need to us is called Search engine used in the address bar, which by default is set to Google. After updating to Google Chrome 73, if you click the drop-down menu in this section, you should also be able to select DuckDuckGo.
 

 

 

As an alternative, whenever you launch Google Chrome, you can simply right-click the address bar and then:

Right-click address bar > Edit search engines

Beginning with Google Chrome 73, the Default search engines section should come with four different options, namely Google, which is the default option, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo.

Clicking the three-dot icon next to DuckDuckGo lets you set it as default, replacing Google. There’s no need to reboot the browser, as the chances are applied immediately when clicking the new option.
 

 

 

Google appears to have a complete change of mind regarding search engines in Google Chrome, and what’s more surprising is that the company pays more attention to services that are first and foremost focused on privacy.

DuckDuckGo wasn’t previously offered as an option to Google Chrome users, though other methods to configure it as the default search engine were still allowed. Furthermore, a DuckDuckGo extension was available in the Chrome Web Store for users who wanted to connect to the service.

In addition to DuckDuckGo, which is available in 60 countries as part of the Chrome feature lineup, Google also appears to provide French users with a new option too, this time for Qwant, which is a local search engine. Qwant, however, isn’t available elsewhere as an optional search engine for Google Chrome.

Ironically, Qwant co-founder Eric Leandri told TechCrunch in an interview that although Google has made some progress in this struggle for enhanced privacy, switching to Mozilla Firefox or Brave is still the better option.

This tutorial is valid not only for Windows devices that have already been updated to Google Chrome 73, but also on macOS and Linux running the same version of the browser, as the option is available on all platforms when used in one of the supported countries.

 

 

 

 

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