What’s New in
DuckDuckGo
We're constantly making improvements to our product. Every quarter, we’ll post the best of our most recent updates here.
Q1 2026
Learn More With Search Assist
Search Assist, our optional AI search feature, has a new "Explore More" section. If you make a search and tap "More" underneath the Search Assist answer, you'll get more detailed information along with three related questions to dig deeper. Additionally, Search Assist answers about well-known people now include photos sourced from Wikipedia. Available in English, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, German, and French. Turn Search Assist on or off from your search settings.
Submit Your Ideas for Dax Easter Egg Logos
You've probably seen a few Easter egg logos featuring our ambassaduck, Dax, in different costumes. We have hundreds of these specialty logos tied to certain searches—our subreddit is trying to find them all—and submissions are now open for more. Let us know how you want to see Dax next!
New Filters on Desktop Image Searches
Now on desktop: when you search for images, you'll see suggested filters above your results to help you get more specific. For example, if you search "blueberry muffins," the filters might include "streusel topping," "whole wheat," and "store-bought."
Expanded Content Filtering Based on Personal Site Exclusion List
Any sites you've blocked from your search results will no longer appear in your Images, Videos, News, Recipes, or Maps results. Manage blocked sites from search settings.
Flight Instant Answer Now Optimized for Mobile
Looking for flight information on your phone? The Flights Instant Answer is now optimized for mobile viewing.
Upload and Edit Images
You can now upload your own images and edit them with Duck.ai. Like our text and voice chats, the images you upload are anonymized by us and never used to train the AI. (We also greatly improved the speed of image generation.) To try it out, head to Duck.ai and select New Image from the sidebar on desktop, or from the ⚌ menu on mobile. From there, select Start with an image, add your image, and describe the changes you want to make.
Private Voice Chat
Duck.ai now offers voice chat, privacy-protected by us. Opt in by selecting New Voice Chat from the sidebar on desktop, or the ⚌ menu on mobile, and selecting Enable Voice Chat. Then, just start talking; the AI will listen and respond in real time. Your voice is not recorded, stored, or used for training.
AI Model Upgrades
We upgraded two AI models: Claude Haiku 4.5 replaced Claude Haiku 3.5 for free users, and GPT-5.2 replaced GPT-5.1 for subscribers.
More Powerful Reasoning Models
Duck.ai now includes more powerful reasoning models. Pick GPT-5 (free), GPT-5.2 (Plus plan) or Claude Opus 4.6 (Pro plan) for your more complex questions. Once you get an answer, you can inspect the reasoning to see how the AI got there, with links to web sources. Reasoning models give more thorough answers, but responses take longer, so we added a new toggle. Select Reasoning when you need powerful problem-solving, and Fast for quick answers, all within the same conversation. Extended Reasoning is available exclusively to DuckDuckGo subscribers on the Pro plan.
Duck.ai Toggle on Homepage in Other Browsers
When using DuckDuckGo on Chrome, Safari, or other browsers, you can now switch between traditional search and Duck.ai with a new toggle in the search bar.
Improved Location-Based Experience
Did you know Duck.ai can use your approximate (i.e. city-level) location to give you more relevant results to local queries? This opt-in feature keeps your actual location and IP address private, and you can opt out again at any time. Turn Use Approximate Location on and off from your Duck.ai settings: select Settings & More > Settings from the sidebar on desktop, or from the ⚌ menu on mobile.
Force Dark Mode on Websites
The browser can now force any website into dark mode, to match your browser or system settings. To see it in action, go to browser Settings > Appearance and make sure your theme is set to Dark, then turn on Force Dark Mode for Websites.
Burn Individual Tabs
You can now burn individual tabs or Duck.ai chats with the Fire Button, in addition to clearing everything. Simply open the tab you want to clear, tap the Fire Button and select Delete This Tab or Delete This Chat.
Set Custom Dax Logos in the Address Bar
Have you found some of the 700+ custom logos featuring our friendly mascot, Dax? (Hint: search "dracula" or "wonder woman" and see what happens.) You can now set one of these Easter eggs as the logo on your address bar. When you find a special Dax, just tap to add it to your address bar! Tap the logo again to reset.
Refreshed Browser Menu
We've modernized the browser menu to match the newer look and feel of the rest of the browser. The updated menu also makes it easier to generate private Duck Addresses and find helpful features like Password Manager and Sync & Backup.
Tracker Blocking Animation in Tab Manager
See how many trackers we've blocked in the last seven days with a new animation in your tab manager. Toggle the animation on or off in browser Settings > Appearance.
Search Recent Duck.ai Chats in the Address Bar
Want to pick up an AI chat where you left off? When you toggle to Duck.ai from the address bar, you'll see a list of your most recent chats. Once you start typing, the browser will surface any relevant chats, just like it would with traditional search suggestions. This feature is on by default, but follows the preferences you set in browser Settings > General > Search Suggestions.
Share Web Page Content With Duck.ai
When you're viewing a web page, you can now use the Duck.ai button to open an overlay and select Attach Page Content to have Duck.ai summarize, analyze, or react to the page's contents.
Set Custom Dax Logos in the Address Bar
Have you found some of the 700+ custom logos featuring our friendly mascot, Dax? (Hint: search "dracula" or "wonder woman" and see what happens.) You can now set one of these Easter eggs as the logo on your address bar. When you find a special Dax, just tap to add it to your address bar! Tap the logo again to reset.
Disable “Trackers Blocked” Animations
Don't like the new "Trackers Blocked" animations in your address bar and tab manager? You can turn them off from browser Settings > Appearance > Trackers Blocked Animation.
Responsive Browser Features When Using Maps and Games
You asked, we answered! If the browser detects that you are playing a game or using a map on your Android device, it will lock the browser display and disable the pull-to-refresh function so you don't lose your place. It will also disable auto-hiding the address bar when you scroll.
Search Recent Duck.ai Chats in the Address Bar
Want to pick up an AI chat where you left off? When you toggle to Duck.ai from the address bar, you'll see a list of your most recent chats. Once you start typing, the browser will surface any relevant chats, just like it would with traditional search suggestions. This feature is on by default, but follows the preferences you set in browser Settings > General > Search Suggestions.
Share Web Page Content With Duck.ai
When you're viewing a web page, you can now open a Duck.ai sidebar and select Attach Page Content to have Duck.ai summarize, analyze, or react to the page's contents.
Customizable Color Themes
Customize your New Tab page, History page, and Privacy Dashboard with one of eight new color themes. Each theme has a light and dark mode variant. Find the options in your browser Settings > Appearance, or on your New Tab page.
New Confirmation To Prevent Accidental Quitting
To help you avoid accidentally closing the browser in the middle of a task, we added a confirmation step when you use the ⌘Q command. When you press ⌘Q, you'll see a notice that reads "Hold or press again to quit." You'll get a similar confirmation when you attempt to close a pinned tab with ⌘W. Don't want these reminders? Disable them with the Don't show again button, or in Settings > General > On Quit.
More Ways To Switch Between Search and Duck.ai
You can now toggle between traditional search and Duck.ai chats right from your address bar or New Tab page; simply click the Duck.ai icon to start chatting.
We also updated the Duck.ai shortcuts on the right side of the browser tab bar. You can click the Duck.ai button to open a new tab, or use the new secondary button to open a resizable Duck.ai sidebar without leaving your current tab.
Share Web Page Content With Duck.ai
When you're viewing a web page, you can now open a Duck.ai sidebar and select Attach Page Content to have Duck.ai summarize, analyze, or react to the page's contents.
Search Recent Duck.ai Chats in the Address Bar and New Tab Page
Want to pick up an AI chat where you left off? When you toggle to Duck.ai from the address bar or New Tab page, you'll see a list of your most recent chats. Once you start typing, the browser will surface any relevant chats, just like it would with traditional search suggestions. This feature is on by default, but follows the preferences you set in browser Settings > General > Search Suggestions.
Customizable Color Themes
Customize your New Tab page, History page, and Privacy Dashboard with one of eight new color themes. Each theme has a light and dark mode variant. Find the options in your browser Settings > Appearance.
Share Favorites Across Devices
Windows users can now share Favorites between synced devices, in line with the experience on iOS, Android and Mac. Go to browser Settings > Sync & Backup to get started.
Adjust Website Permissions From the Permissions Center
Website permissions like Location, Camera, and Microphone are now consolidated in a Permission Center. On any website, look for the permissions icon to the right of the Privacy Shield to view or edit the site's permissions. Pop-up and system-level blocked permissions have been redesigned to support this functionality.
New Tracker Blocking Animation
See how many trackers we're blocking in real time with a new animation in the address bar.
Improved Middle Mouse Button Functionality
You can now open the back/forward navigation page in a background tab either with the middle mouse button or Control+left click. You can also open items from your History menu with the middle mouse button or Control+left click.
More Ways To Switch Between Search and Duck.ai
You can now toggle between traditional search and Duck.ai chats right from your address bar or New Tab page; simply click the Duck.ai icon to start chatting.
We also updated the Duck.ai shortcuts on the right side of the browser tab bar. You can click the word "Duck.ai" to open a new tab, or use the new secondary button to open a resizable Duck.ai sidebar without leaving your current tab.
Two Subscription Plans To Meet Your Needs
The DuckDuckGo subscription includes our VPN, access to more advanced private AI, Personal Information Removal, and Identity Theft Restoration. Subscribers can now pick from two plans: Plus, which includes all four protections, and Pro, which unlocks even more powerful AI functionality. On top of the VPN and other protections, the new Pro plan includes 2x higher AI usage limits than Plus, exclusive access to Claude Opus 4.6, and the highest reasoning available on Duck.ai.