So it’s likely that DuckDuckGo is no worse off using Apple for their maps, from a privacy and data sharing perspective.I have been using DuckDuckGo for several years now. Apps that have MapBox embedded in them are contributing their location data and motion for MapBox to generate live traffic maps, exactly like Google Maps. MapBox hosts tilesets generated from Open Street Map data (plus they have some really sweet interactive map styling tools and can provide tiles in your own styles), however MapBox gets expensive if the volume is high, and certainly DuckDuckGo’s volume is extremely high.Īlso, MapBox uses tracking just like Google to generate traffic layers for their maps. Our tile servers are not.*Įmphasis theirs. > *OpenStreetMap data is free for everyone to use. As a result, we require that users of the tiles abide by this tile usage policy. Heavy use of OSM tiles adversely affects people’s ability to edit the map, and is an abuse of the individual donations and sponsorship which provide hardware and bandwidth. > OpenStreetMap’s own servers are run entirely on donated resources. > OSM provides the data, however they do not provide hosting of tilesets. “I would have preferred it if Duckduckgo had worked with Openstreetmap. Maybe this is the reason to do the change, according the user Dan East in Slashdot: I understand the privacy angle, but I feel like are better, more accurate options than Apple Maps. I’m sure Apple users in San Francisco will be very happy with this news.įor me, this means there’s no way I’ll be using DuckDuckGo’s location search and other mapping functions – Apple Maps is entirely unusable in The Netherlands, with severely outdated and faulty maps that are outright dangerous. With this updated integration, Apple Maps are now available both embedded within our private search results for relevant queries, as well as available from the “Maps” tab on any search result page.

As one of the first global companies using Apple MapKit JS, we can now offer users improved address searches, additional visual features, enhanced satellite imagery, and continually updated maps already in use on billions of Apple devices worldwide. We’re excited to announce that map and address-related searches on DuckDuckGo for mobile and desktop are now powered by Apple’s MapKit JS framework, giving you a valuable combination of mapping and privacy.

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