If you ’re tired of the apps on your Android gadget doggedly tracking every move you makeeven after choose out , then good tidings . On Thursday , the privacy pro at DuckDuckGoannounceda new feature meant to kneecap the invasive trackers and third - political party players that might number pack with the apps they download .
This new “ App Tracking Protection for Android , ” lineament is being rolled out in beta as part of the company ’s standaloneprivacy - centric mobile web internet browser . If that name sounds intimate , it might be because Apple rolled out a interchangeable feature — nickname “ App Tracking Transparency , ” or ATT — onto its iOS devicesthis preceding April . Since then , we ’ve seencountlessiPhone owners prefer out of let apps track their activity for ad - targeting intent . Meanwhile , companies like Facebook and Google , whose monolithic revenues for the most part look on that tracking , havehemorrhagedbillions of dollars since the feature first get in .
The closest thing Google ’s offered Android user so far came back in June , when the companyannouncedit would let Android 12 owners opt out of personalised ads on their machine starting at the end of this class . Even when it rolls out , though , numberless critic havealready show outthat Google ’s take on the feature barely offers the same spirit level of protection that Apple ’s giving its users , which is why DuckDuckGo is step up to the home base .
Gif: DuckDuckGo
I ’m a die - hard iPhone exploiter , so I could n’t try out this novel tool for myself — but according to the company ’s web log post , it seems pretty easy to apply . you’re able to sign up for the waitlist in the configurations of DuckDuckGo ’s app , and once you ’re approved , you’re able to use that same configurations menu to flip the feature of speech on or off . Once it ’s running in the desktop , the lineament pretty much acts like a firewall between any app on your Android twist and the shady third company that might be trying to syphon data point from them . There ’s even an choice to see a real - fourth dimension provender of aaaaalllll the tracker trying ( and fail ) to ping these apps for your personal details .
It ’s worth noting that this tool is n’t a silver fastball for your privacy woes , though . DuckDuckGo can only screen your equipment from the trackers that the company is already keeping tabs on as part of itstracker databaseproject ( though the announcement notes that DuckDuckGo is “ continually working to name and protect against new trackers ” that are n’t yet on the list ) . And as Wiredpointed out , the feature does n’t screen every app — tracker will still follow you across mobile game and browsers , in particular . But if you ’re scotch by Google’sendless flubswhen it comes to protecting users ’ secrecy and want to oppose back , downloading this tool is a secure space to start .
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