This news comes out of left field – a new privacy-focused search engine has been launched by Verizon Media called OneSearch.
One of the promises made by OneSearch is that it won’t track, store or share personal or search data with advertisers, putting it in direct competition with DuckDuckGo. The new search engine can be found on either mobile or desktop here: OneSearch.com.
The difference between DuckDuckGo and Verizon Media’s OneSearch is the ability for businesses to integrate it with their existing privacy and security products.
In an announcement, the company states:
“OneSearch doesn’t track, store, or share personal or search data with advertisers, giving users greater control of their personal information in a search context. Businesses with an interest in security can partner with Verizon Media to integrate OneSearch into their privacy and security products, giving their customers another measure of control.”
OneSearch also offers an advanced privacy mode, which when enabled, encrypts search results links that will expire within an hour.
The advanced privacy mode is meant for situations when you have more than just one person using the same device, or if a search results link is being shared with a friend.
The full array of privacy-focused features offered by OneSearch include:
- No cookie tracking, retargeting, or personal profiling
- No sharing of personal data with advertisers
- No storing of user search history
- Unbiased, unfiltered search results
- Encrypted search terms
Despite not selling data to advertisers, OneSearch does rely on advertising to keep the service free. Instead of utilizing cookies and browsing history to target ads, the search engine uses contextual ads that are based on things like the current keyword being search for.
OneSearch is only available in North America on desktop and mobile web browsers, though it will be available in other countries soon. A mobile app for Android and iOS will be available later this month.