In 2021, DucDuckGo rolled out its Email Protection service in private beta. On Thursday, Aug. 25, the company announced that it is finally available to all users.
The Email Protection provides a service that assigns you a free @duck.com email address and effectively intercepts email trackers before you receive them in your inbox.
DuckDuckGo's Email Protection Service
According to Engadget, DuckDuckGo's Email Protection service allows you to see a personal or private "duck" address to protect your real email address from companies.
Before the email gets in your inbox, DuckDuckGo removes trackers that might snoop on your location and the device you used to open your email.
The service also breaks down the number of trackers it removed and which companies the trackers were attached to.
Personal addresses assign a name of your choice to your "duck" address. Meanwhile, private addresses have a different process.
Every time you start filling out an email field, DuckDuckGo generates a random address, which might look like random letters with @duck.com attached to it.
Using a new private address every time you fill out an online form will make it difficult for companies to track you. You can also deactivate each private address individually if one of them is receiving a lot of spam.
Also Read: DuckDuckGo Daily Search Queries Now Average More than 100 Million | 47% Increase in 2021
Now that DuckDuckGo has opened to features to everyone, it is adding new features as well. This includes link tracking protection and a smarter encryption feature that converts links via an unencrypted connection.
Also, DuckDuckGo now lets you reply from your duck address, whether you are using a private or personal one, according to CNET.
This can help conceal your email address when replying to a company or person who you might not want to know your personal email address or identity.
But since the email is getting sent from your personal email client, DuckDuckGo says the service can't guarantee that the email will not include your other personal identifier.
According to The Verge, DuckDuckGo has also released a new self-service dashboard that lets you change your forwarding address and make other changes to your duck accounts.
You can try out the beta using the DuckDuckGo extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, or you can access it through the DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser for iOS, Mac, and Android.
How to Activate Email Protection Service
To use the Email Protection feature, sign up from the DuckDuckGo mobile app that you can download via Apple's App Store or Google Play.
Once you've installed the app, go to Settings, then choose Email Protection. Next, join the private waitlist or enter an invite code if you have one.
Your invite will come in the form of a link. Just click the link, and you will be taken through a series of screens that explain that DuckDuckGo does not save your emails, use your personal data for advertising and that your data is encrypted.
After you have read the usual service terms, you can choose your own DuckDuckGo email address. You also need to specify an address where your email should be sent.
Related Article: Google vs. DuckDuckGo: Which Search Engine is Better?
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Written by Sophie Webster
