How to View Search History on DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is an alternative to both the Google Chrome browser and its search engine. Available on most major platforms, the company estimates 80 million regular users. We say “the company estimates” because unlike Google, DDG does not track its users. And that’s what makes it so unique!

Whereas Google tracks all of your searches, the websites you visit, and more, DuckDuckGo does none of that. It’s essentially a more privacy-focused search engine. In today’s questionable internet society, where privacy is so important, DuckDuckGo is an excellent resource to help put your mind at ease about your online activities.

But, with anonymity, comes other issues. Namely, recalling pages or your search history. In this article, we’ll review how to recover websites you’ve visited and review the ins and outs of DDG.

How to Recover Your DDG Search History

Every time you open DuckDuckGo, you’ll see a blank page ready for your next search.

If you’re used to Google, all you need to do is click inside the search box and your most recent search history will appear in a drop-down. If you begin typing, Google will populate your previous searches based on the words you’re currently typing. But, DuckDuckGo does none of that.

However, there is a way to view your search history. For example, if you’re using Google Chrome with DDG’s search engine, you can still see the websites you visited.

Method 1

The first way to view your DuckDuckGo history is to visit your browsers’ history. Assuming you didn’t use the DuckDuckGo app (which we’ll get into momentarily) you can see the websites you accessed using the search engine.

In Chrome, click on the three-dot icon in the upper right-hand corner. In Firefox, click the Library icon in the upper right-hand corner. Then, click ‘History.’

If you’re using a browser other than the DuckDuckGo app, you can view your DDG search history using the browser history.

Method 2

If you’d like to use the DuckDuckGo app instead of the search engine on a browser, you can. But beware, like Google’s search engine, any previous sites that you’ve visited will appear in a different color than those that you’ve left untouched.

If you’re using the mobile app, the text of the websites you’ve visited will appear purple whereas the links you haven’t clicked on will appear blue. This is a key indicator of which sites you’ve visited.

Method 3

Lastly, you can easily access the websites you’ve visited in the DuckDuckGo app. All you need to do is launch the app and follow these steps:

1. Click on the DuckDuckGo icon in the upper right-hand corner.
2. Click on the Tabs icon in the upper right-hand corner.
   
3. View the open websites.

If you’d like to permanently close them all simply tap on the three vertical dots in the upper right-hand corner. Then, click ‘Close All Tabs’

DuckDuckGo is an excellent resource for online privacy. But, if you want to explore more options, we’ve got the information you need below!

Incognito Mode

If you’d like to keep your search history private on DuckDuckGo, or any other site, you can do the following, no matter your choice of browser: use incognito mode. This is how you use the incognito mode in Chrome (again used as an example):

1. Open Chrome on your device.
2. Click on More (three vertical dots).
3. Click on New Incognito Tab.
4. That’s it, you’ve begun browsing incognito, with no tracks of your search history.

The steps might be slightly different for other browsers, but in essence, incognito mode is the same everywhere, in Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, Microsoft Edge, etc. There are numerous browser options to choose from, but most people use the ones we just mentioned.

Here’s an image you see the second you launch incognito mode in Chrome. It explains everything perfectly:

Even though this mode is neat because it doesn’t store your browsing history, site data, and cookies on your computer, a lot of people can still access this information, i.e. your ISP, employer, school, and the websites you visited.

There Is No Privacy

Everything on the internet is transparent, and information is incredibly easy to breach. Your best way of protecting your privacy is with a trusted VPN service. DuckDuckGo can be a nice addition, but on its own, it’s a flimsy shield.

You can easily see your browsing history on DuckDuckGo, the same as Google. The only difference is, DuckDuckGo won’t store or sell your browsing data. What are your thoughts on the matter? Let us know in the comments section below.