DuckDuckGo's U.S. app installs jumped 18.1% week-over-week on average during the May 20–25 period, with growth peaking at 30.5% on May 25, following Google's announcement of a sweeping AI Search overhaul at its I/O developer conference. The privacy-focused search engine sustained 6 consecutive days of accelerating installs, capturing users fleeing Google's new conversational search box and mandatory AI Overviews.
iOS adoption drove the highest growth, averaging 33% week-over-week and hitting a 69.9% spike on May 25. Third-party analytics firm Apptopia confirmed a 29% increase in average daily U.S. downloads and a 12% global increase over the same period. Visits to DuckDuckGo's AI-free search page noai.duckduckgo.com grew 22.7% week-over-week on average, peaking at 27.7% on May 24.
Google's I/O announcement transformed its search box into a conversational engine that uses AI Overviews to answer questions directly before returning traditional link results. The company also introduced a more seamless AI Mode for follow-up queries within AI Overviews. While Google noted that AI Overviews have existed for 2 years and AI Mode is not the default, user backlash has centered on the lack of an opt-out and concerns that AI-generated answers surface inaccuracies and remove user control.
Key facts
- 01DuckDuckGo U.S. app installs grew 18.1% week-over-week on average from May 20–25, peaking at 30.5% on May 25.
- 02iOS installs averaged 33% week-over-week growth, hitting 69.9% peak on May 25.
- 03Visits to DuckDuckGo's AI-free search page noai.duckduckgo.com grew 22.7% week-over-week on average, peaking at 27.7% on May 24.
- 04Google's AI Mode has surpassed 1 billion monthly users with queries doubling every quarter since launch.
- 05DuckDuckGo holds roughly 2% of the U.S. search market.
DuckDuckGo launched its own AI product Duck.ai, offering free access to Anthropic's Claude 4.5 Haiku, Meta's Llama 4 Scout, Mistral's Small 3 24B, and OpenAI's GPT-5 mini without requiring an account. The company strips IP addresses before requests reach model providers, deletes conversations within 30 days, and prohibits chat data from being used for training. DuckDuckGo also offers Search Assist, similar to Google's AI Overviews, and an AI Image Filter that removes AI-generated images from search results.
DuckDuckGo holds roughly 2% of the U.S. search market. During Google's 2023 antitrust trial, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg testified that Google's exclusive default search contracts prevented DuckDuckGo from pitching itself as the default on other browsers, constraining its growth.
The company said both Search Assist and the AI Image Filter rank among its most popular features despite their divergent design philosophies. DuckDuckGo continued gaining users over Memorial Day weekend, when it typically sees a traffic dip.
“People just want a choice.”— Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo chief communications and policy officer
Google reported that AI Mode surpassed 1 billion monthly users a year after debut, with queries more than doubling every quarter since launch. The company pointed to strong adoption metrics as evidence that users are engaging with AI-enhanced search, countering claims that the changes are universally unpopular.
The sustained install growth suggests a meaningful segment of search users actively seeking alternatives to AI-driven search experiences. Whether DuckDuckGo can retain these users past the initial backlash cycle depends on whether Google offers a clean opt-out or whether the new search interface becomes non-negotiable. The privacy pitch has never been enough to move DuckDuckGo past low single-digit market share, but a forced AI experience might be the wedge issue that finally sticks.
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