Are there differences in telemetry between DuckDuckGo extension versions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari?
Executive summary
The publicly available reporting and DuckDuckGo’s own documentation do not publish a side‑by‑side telemetry manifest that declares different telemetry behaviors for the Chrome, Firefox, and Safari extensions; DuckDuckGo emphasizes non‑tracking and open‑source implementations across platforms but also adapts to distinct browser ecosystems, which implies functional and technical differences that could affect what telemetry is possible or necessary [1] [2] [3]. Because the sources do not explicitly enumerate telemetry collected per platform, any firm claim that “telemetry differs in X way” is inferential and must be framed against platform constraints and DuckDuckGo’s stated privacy commitments [2] [1].
1. What DuckDuckGo publicly says about telemetry and code availability
DuckDuckGo repeatedly stresses that it does not track users in the way large search companies do and makes the extension and app code available as open source for inspection, covering Chrome, Firefox, Edge and noting the Safari implementation exists as an Xcode project—an explicit admission that implementations differ by platform and build system—and offering readers the ability to review the code [3] [2]. DuckDuckGo’s help pages present their web tracking protections and direct users to view open‑source code across Chrome/Firefox/Edge/Opera and mobile platforms, which is consistent with a transparency posture but stops short of publishing a centralized telemetry policy that maps each platform’s exact telemetry signals [1].
2. Platform APIs and build differences that shape telemetry possibilities
Browser extension ecosystems are not identical: Chrome and Chromium‑based browsers use the Chromium extension APIs and Manifest V3 (which has implications for what extensions can do), Firefox uses the WebExtensions API with its own telemetry norms, and Safari requires an Xcode project and integrates with Apple’s extension model—differences DuckDuckGo acknowledges by offering distinct source code for each [2] [1]. These architectural divergences change what data an extension can access, how background tasks are scheduled, and which browser‑level telemetry hooks exist, meaning that even with the same privacy policy, the practical telemetry surface can differ because of platform constraints [2] [4].
3. Specific noted behavioral differences in protections (examples that hint at telemetry tradeoffs)
DuckDuckGo documents concrete behavioral differences that reveal how platform features and browser telemetry interact: for example, its Chrome extension explicitly disables Google’s Topics API (a Chrome tracking/interest signal) when possible, which is a platform‑specific protective action tied to Chrome’s APIs [1]. The existence of such platform‑specific protections implies code paths and permission uses that differ by browser; a Chrome extension must call Chrome APIs to disable Topics, whereas a Safari extension would use Apple’s mechanisms—or may not be able to affect the same signals—so the implementation and any associated minimal telemetry or signaling necessarily differ [1] [2].
4. What independent testing and reviews reveal and what they do not
Third‑party reviews and privacy test reporting (for example PCMag’s broader browser/privacy tests) document that extensions like DuckDuckGo’s raise privacy scores on tests such as EFF’s “Cover Your Tracks,” but these evaluations measure tracking protection outcomes rather than mapping the telemetry an extension itself sends back to its maker [4]. Reviewers show that DuckDuckGo’s extensions improve privacy in Chrome and other browsers, but they do not — in the cited sources — provide audited telemetry logs proving identical or different data collection across platforms [4].
5. Bottom line: reasonable inference and limits of the record
The record supports three firm points: DuckDuckGo publishes open‑source code for each browser family (including a distinct Safari Xcode project), the extensions implement platform‑specific protections (for instance disabling Topics in Chrome), and extension platform differences (Manifest V3, Safari’s model) shape what an extension can do and therefore what telemetry signals might be used or avoided [2] [1] [4]. The record does not, however, contain a definitive telemetry comparison table or explicit declarations that spell out per‑platform telemetry endpoints, fields, or sampling behavior, so any precise claim about different telemetry payloads must be treated as an inference grounded in the available technical and policy signals rather than an established fact [2] [1].