Does DuckDuckGo store search queries linked to individuals?

1. What DuckDuckGo officially claims about storing searches

DuckDuckGo’s own privacy policy and public documentation assert a clear, consistent line: the company does not keep search queries or other personal information in a way that can create a per-user history — for example, they say they may know search volume for a query but not who searched it, and they explicitly state they have “no way to create a history of your search queries or the sites you browse” ^[1]. Independent explainer pieces echo that statement, summarizing DuckDuckGo’s position that queries are discarded and not retained in a personally identifiable form ^[2].

2. How DuckDuckGo says it improves products without tying data to people

To measure product performance and run experiments, DuckDuckGo describes using anonymous methods and local device storage: non-personal data for experiments and generalized user-experience groups may be stored in the browser’s local storage and is described as removed after testing; these mechanisms are presented as privacy-by-design techniques meant to keep insight aggregated and unlinkable to an individual ^[3]. The help pages also note mechanisms like “atb.js” requests that count devices in an anonymous way and caution that optional services (like Email Protection) require personal information under separate policies ^{[1] [3]}.

3. Technical caveats and a developer-observed storage question

A Stack Overflow thread documents a developer-observed behavior where opening DuckDuckGo programmatically could result in browser console messages indicating storage access being granted, and the post warns this could allow trackers from duckduckgo.com loaded from localhost to access domain storage for a window-opened context ^[4]. That thread is not an official DuckDuckGo statement or a security audit, but it shows there are technical nuances in web storage, tracker policies and cross-site interactions that can complicate the clean “we never store anything” narrative if developers or sites interact with DuckDuckGo in non-standard ways ^[4].

4. Where privacy promises meet real-world exposures

DuckDuckGo’s policy also notes limits: encrypted connections prevent exposure of queries to intermediaries, but clicking through to external websites or using !bang shortcuts subjects users to those sites’ privacy practices; in other words, DuckDuckGo’s non-retention applies to its own handling of searches, not to what destination sites collect after a click ^[1]. Likewise, the company’s described use of local storage for anonymous experiments underscores that some data lives on the device even if the company says it cannot be linked back to a person once aggregated ^[3].

5. Bottom line and reporting limitations

Based on the company’s public privacy policy and help pages, DuckDuckGo intends not to store search queries in a way that can be linked to individuals and implements anonymous, device-local techniques for product telemetry ^{[1] [3]}; independent summaries reflect that stance as well ^[2]. At the same time, technical threads raise potential edge cases involving browser storage behaviour and third-party interactions ^[4], and the available reporting here is primarily DuckDuckGo’s own documentation plus one developer forum post — no independent forensic audit or adversarial testing is cited in the provided sources, so definitive proof that no possible linkage can ever be created by design, bug, or external integration is not established by these materials ^{[1] [4] [3]}.