Hide your web searches from ISPs and search engines
Don’t want your ISP or Google to track what you’re searching for on the Web? Then try Disconnect Search.
Nothing personal
Disconnect Search is designed to prevent search engines and ISPs from monitoring your searches, IP address, and other personal data. It acts as a narrow VPN (virtual private network) to mask your IP address, browser cookies, and other files, so this information isn’t available to your ISP or search engine. Disconnect Search currently supports Google, Bing, Yahoo, blekko, and DuckDuckGo.
The app is great if you’re fed up with search engines collecting browser information from you or to serve you targeted adverts based on your location and what things you look for online.
How does Disconnect Search work?
Disconnect Search is straightforward to use. You just need to launch the app and enter a search term. You’ll then be prompted to open up your browser of choice, which will load an untrackable search results page. The default is Google, but you can switch search engines using the option next to the search box.
Disconnect Search includes a widget that you can add to a home screen in order to search quicker.
It’s frustrating that searching through the app and the widget requires you to launch a browser every time. In fact, it would’ve been nice if Disconnect Search included a web browser in its app.
Stay disconnected
Disconnect Search offers a simple solution for those who no longer want ISPs and search engines to track their searches.
With over 3 million customers, Disconnect is the easiest way to protect your privacy on all of your devices.
Disconnect protects your privacy in 6 ways. First, it lets you see all of the invisible tracking and unsecured connections on the websites you visit and the apps you use (Free). Second, it lets you search privately and securely using your favorite search engine, including Google, Bing, and Yahoo (Free). Third, it routes all of your traffic through an encrypted tunnel to prevent wireless eavesdropping, secure your connections and protect sensitive personal info (Paid). Fourth, it blocks 5000+ malicious trackers, sources of malware and identity theft threats (Paid). Fifth, it defeats Internet censorship and allows you to access content freely without revealing your true location and IP address (Paid). Sixth, it lets you easily understand – at a glance – the privacy policies of 1000s of sites, plus other details about how your data is collected and used (Paid).
Some additional information on the company:
Our team includes engineers who previously worked for Google and the NSA, so we are intimately familiar with online tracking and how to stop it.
Our business model relies 100% on consumer payments, so we have no reason to advertise to you or to collect your data.
Our software is open source so anyone can verify how it works and that we don’t keep any of your information.
We have been featured in over 500 press articles over the last 2 years, including an appearance on 60 Minutes.
We are one of the first certified B Corps in the technology industry, a reflection of the fact that we consider ourselves to be both a for-profit company and a consumer advocacy organization.
