DuckDuckGo has been my default search engine for years. Its big selling point is that it doesn't track you nearly as much as Google doesbut there's more to DuckDuckGo than that privacy claim. You can use DuckDuckGo to anonymously try AI chatbots (including ChatGPT and Claude)filter out AI-generated images from resultsand shorten URLs without leaving the site. If you're using DuckDuckGotry these 10 hacks to make the most of the search engine.
Turn off AI features to simplify your search experience
DuckDuckGo recently added a bunch of AI featuresbutluckilyyou can turn off most. To disable AI-related features in DuckDuckGogo to the search engine's settings page. Nextselect AI Featuresthen turn off Search Assist and Duck.ai. This will eliminate AI results and prompts to try using chatbots from the search engine's home page.
Use AI chatbots anonymously to preserve your privacy
On the flip sidelet's say you're interested in AI chatbotsbut are worried about your privacy. You can use DuckDuckGo to use ChatGPTClaudeand other AI services anonymously. To get startedhead to Duck.ai. A drop-down menu below the search box allows you to choose which LLM you wish to useand once you've selected thatyou can use your preferred AI service without creating an account. This service is freebut there's a daily limit to how many AI searches you can perform. The same service also lets you generate images and perform basic photo editssuch as removing a background from your image.
Use "bangs" to search other websites and search engines
DuckDuckGo is a pretty competent search enginebut it doesn't always show you the same results as Google. If you're using DuckDuckGo as your default search engineyou can still ask it to send the search query to Google. To do thisadd !g to your search queryand you'll see that the search results appear on Google. This is called a bangand you can use bangs in DuckDuckGo to search via other search engines and websitestoo. For example!gi searches Google Images!w looks for something on Wikipediaand !r does a Reddit search. You can see the full list of DuckDuckGo bangs on this page.
Hide AI-generated images from results to focus on real pictures
DuckDuckGo ships with a filter that removes AI slop from image search results. The filter is decent at the jobbut be aware that it can't remove every single AI image from the results. You can enable it by going to DuckDuckGo settings > AI Features > Hide AI-Generated Images.
Use this option to block certain sites from your search results
If you've come across sites with low-quality content on the weband you wish to block them from your search resultsyou can do that with DuckDuckGo. The next time you search for something on the siteclick the three dots to the right of any resultthen click Block this site from all results. That domain will no longer appear in search results. You can go to DuckDuckGo settings > General to see a list of blocked domains. You can unblock domains too at any time.
Get rid of DuckDuckGo's ads to clean up the experience
You can also disable DuckDuckGo's search adsand all the mentions of the company's other products on the home page. Head over to DuckDuckGo settings > Generaland turn off Advertisements. This will turn off search adsbut note that the company says it doesn't track you to serve these ads. To remove prompts to use other DuckDuckGo productsscroll to the bottom of the same settings pageand turn off the following:
Install DuckDuckGo
Privacy Newsletters
Homepage Privacy Tips
Help Improve DuckDuckGo
You can also go to the Appearance section in DuckDuckGo settingsand turn off the last option: 'Protected' Reminder. This will hide the notice that says your searches are protected.
Change this setting to see more information under search results
If you prefer to see more information about a particular search resultthis search engine allows you to expand the length of the descriptions that appear below each link. I've expanded mine from three lines to fivewhich gives me enough information to decide if a link is worth clicking. You can set this up by going to DuckDuckGo settings > Appearance > Max Snippet Length. Use the drop-down menu to change this to 5 lines.
Use this shortcut to shorten URLs
DuckDuckGo has a built-in URL shortenertoo. Copy a URL and use the shorten command in the search engine to use it. For instancetype "shorten https://lifehacker.com/tech/15-of-the-best-iphone-privacy-hacks-everyone-should-know" in the search engineand click the search button. The first result will be a shortened URLwhich uses the is.gd URL shortener. Similarlyyou can also expand shortened URLs via DuckDuckGo. Just type "expand" followed by the shortened linkand the search engine will show you the full URL in the search results.
Hide your email address when signing up for new accounts
It's common security advice to use a password manager and a unique password for each of your accounts. The idea is simple: If one account is breachedthe hacker doesn't gain access to all your other accounts. You can apply the same logic to your usernamewhich is your email address on most websites. If you're using the same email ID to sign up for each siteit could also be a potential attack vector for hackers.
This is where services like DuckDuckGo's Email Protection step in. You can use it to sign up for a Duck email addresswhich generates a unique email address for each account you create. If an account gets breachedyou don't have to worry about your email address being sold on the dark web. Similarlyif a shady website sells its data to advertisersthey'll only get an anonymized email addressand not your real one. You can use that to identify who sold your dataand block that alias quickly.
Search "cheatsheet" to see keyboard shortcuts for popular apps
DuckDuckGo also has "cheatsheets" for multiple apps and serviceswhich show you commonly used keyboard shortcuts for a given app. For examplego to DuckDuckGothen type "cheatsheet Excel," and the search engine displays a list of Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts at the top of the results. The initial result shows five to 10 keyboard shortcutsbut you can click the "Show More" button to reveal hundreds of shortcuts. This feature doesn't work for every appbut you can try it for popular apps such as PhotoshopLightroomand Chrome. Be sure to verify the information on this pagesince keyboard shortcuts sometimes change when an app is updated.
