Privacy-Focused DuckDuckGo Teams Up With Apple to Power Map Searches
DuckDuckGo now uses Apple Maps data to provide map and location search results, replacing its previous limited OpenStreetMap integration. This partnership allows the search engine to offer robust mapping features while maintaining its strict anti-tracking privacy policy.
DuckDuckGo partners with Apple to power its map-based search results, replacing the limited OpenStreetMap integration it previously used. The privacy-focused search engine now returns addresses, businesses, geographical locations, and nearby places using Apple Maps by default. This move makes DuckDuckGo one of the largest web users of Apple Maps since the tech giant opened the service to the web six months ago.
Users experience slightly different features depending on their devices, with directions and transit times opening directly in Apple Maps on Macs, iPhones, and iPads. On non-Apple devices, however, the directions default to and open in Bing maps. Despite this device split, the core location and address searches rely entirely on Apple's newly expanded mapping data.
This partnership aligns perfectly with both companies' strong stances on user privacy, standing in stark contrast to data-heavy rivals like Google. Apple intentionally anonymizes all location data so it does not track where users travel, and DuckDuckGo enforces a strict policy of never collecting or sharing personal information. The integration gives DuckDuckGo a much-needed feature upgrade while keeping its promise that users remain completely anonymous during map searches.