How much of your data do you think ends up on third-party servers when you use an app? Whatever your answer, the reality is worse. Even though we configure our accounts and applications to share as little information as possible, there is always a “loophole”. Google itself had to pay a historic sum this week to save the location even with this option disabled.
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That our mobile records everything we do is something that we have simply accepted, but it does not have to be so. One way to combat this is to know more about what is moving behind the screen of our mobile, and the new function of DuckDuckGo aims to help us.
Android Tracking Protection
DuckDuckGo was initially born as a private alternative to the Google search engine, offering similar results but without saving our data or using it to show us advertising. Over time, the project has become more ambitious, going so far as to launch its own web browser for Android that blocks the sending of data by the web pages we visit.
DuckDuckGo App Tracking Protection
The new feature of this browser for Android is inspired by Apple’s anti-tracking policy implemented on iPhones and iPads, according to which applications must ask permission to record and share our activity. There’s nothing like it on Android (yet), partly because its open nature makes it hard to control; Not to mention that in iOS, methods have already been developed to bypass this protection.
At DuckDuckGo, they have developed a method capable of detect whether the applications we use send data to a third-party server, such as those of Google, Facebook, Amazon and others, and block requests. Many applications have code that calls these services, for data logging and for certain functions, and now we can see it in real time.
The method is ingenious, since use a VPN that runs on the phone itself, to record all the traffic that leaves our mobile; although unlike a conventional VPN, this data is not redirected to a server, but rather sent directly to where it originally went. In this way, DuckDuckGo can ensure that it does not save any data about the use of our mobile.
DuckDuckGo Tracking Protection
To activate this feature, we must first install the DuckDuckGo app for Android from the Play Store, or update it if we do not yet have the latest version 5.143.1. We open the DuckDuckGo browser and open the settings. At the bottom of the menu, under “Learn more about DuckDuckGo”, you will find the option “Application Tracking Protection”. When we activate it, our Android system asks us for permission to install a VPN; thereafter, the app will log all traffic and block tracking attempts.
Protección contra el rastreo de DuckDuckGo
Hay que aclarar que no todo el rastreo es bloqueado. Hay apps que pueden funcionar mal si se bloquea ese tipo de tráfico, como Chrome, WhatsApp o YouTube, y esas no son bloqueadas por defecto, aunque podemos bloquearlas si queremos.
