DuckDuckGo App Installs rose after Google’s AI Search overhaul, with DuckDuckGo saying U.S. installs climbed 18.1% week over week from May 20 to May 25 and peaked at 30.5%.
The company said iOS growth averaged 33% and peaked at 69.9%, according to TechCrunch. Visits to noai.duckduckgo.com averaged 22.7% growth and peaked at 27.7% on May 24.
On May 19, Google announced it was rolling out an AI-powered Search box. Elizabeth Reid, Google’s vice president of Search, said the update supports text, images, files, videos and Chrome tabs as inputs.
Google also said Gemini 3.5 Flash became the default model in AI Mode globally. The company said users can ask follow-up questions from AI Overviews and move into AI Mode.
DuckDuckGo chief executive Gabriel Weinberg told TechCrunch that Google was “force-feeding AI with no way to opt out.” He said DuckDuckGo wanted users to choose how much AI they see.
Read: DuckDuckGo and Apple Negotiations Stalled by Google’s Multibillion-Dollar Influence
DuckDuckGo says noai.duckduckgo.com turns off Search Assist, Duck.ai and AI-generated images by default. The company’s help pages say Duck.ai and Search Assist remain optional features.
App analytics firm Apptopia found a 29% rise in average daily U.S. downloads and a 12% rise globally over the same period, TechCrunch reported.
