Today:
A privacy-focused search engine most people have forgotten about just had its best week in years (thanks to Google).
Coffee at the ready…
The Big Sip
DuckDuckGo just had its biggest week in years, and Google handed it over:
The Google AI search backlash sent DuckDuckGo's iOS installs up 69.9% in a single day. Google rebuilt Search at its I/O conference, putting AI answers on top by default and the opt-out where few will find it.
Search is the front door to the web, and Google just decided what greets you.
Watch one quiet URL most people never knew existed (it explains the anger better than the install chart does).
Here’s Your Brew
Start with the migration.
DuckDuckGo says US app installs grew 18.1% week-on-week from 20–25 May, peaking at 30.5%. On iPhones, the jump averaged 33% and topped out near 70% on 25 May. Third-party tracker, Apptopia, clocked roughly 29% higher daily US downloads.
The surge held through Memorial Day weekend, when downloads normally crater.
Now the tell.
Traffic to duckduckgo.com — a page that strips out every AI feature — grew 22.7% a week, peaking 27.7% on 24 May. People weren't just switching engines.
They were hunting for an off switch Google didn't give them.
The trigger was Google I/O on 19 May, where the firm called this its biggest Search change in 25 years.
AI Overviews now sit above results by default. AI Mode, already past a billion monthly users, can turn the box into a chatty agent.
Users found that even searching for one plain word returned a lecture.
Keep the scale honest.
DuckDuckGo holds about 2% of the US search market. A 70% jump on a small base is still a small base. But Weinberg ties it to the bigger fight: Google's default-search deals, the ones now under antitrust fire, are why leaving ever felt impossible. Two per cent won't dent Google's quarter.
The reason for it might be that it might dent the next one.
Two Sides, One Mug
Pro: AI Overviews answer most questions faster, Google says AI Mode isn't forced, and a blue-link filter still exists for purists.
Con: The filter is buried, Overviews still load first, and most people never find the switch — default is destiny.
Our read: The fight isn't AI versus no AI — it's who holds the switch, the user or the search monopoly.
Receipt of the Day
[Report] TechCrunch — "DuckDuckGo installs are up 30% as users reject being 'force-fed' Google's AI Search"
DuckDuckGo logged six straight days of US install growth after I/O, sustained through a holiday weekend.
Why it matters: Sustained growth through a dead holiday weekend looks like a habit-forming, not a tantrum.
Spit Take
Traffic to DuckDuckGo's AI-free page rose 27.7% in a week.
(DuckDuckGo)
Extra Curricular Coffee Break Links
1. [Analysis] Engadget — "DuckDuckGo reports a surge in installs after Google put more AI into Search" — Breaks down why the US spike dwarfed the global one: this was a reaction to a US-centric rollout.
2. [Report] TechCrunch — "'What a joke': GitHub Copilot's new token-based billing spurs consternation among devs" — Same week, same theme: a beloved tool changes the deal, and its power users revolt.
3. [Analysis] Search Engine Journal — "Antitrust filing says Google cannibalises publisher traffic" — The same opt-out trap one level up: Penske Media is suing, arguing publishers can't refuse AI Overviews without vanishing from Search. Pew found that users click a link just 8% of the time when an Overview is shown, compared with 15% without.
Mugshot 📊
When AI hijacks your search results, you:
① Scroll past it to the links
② Hunt for the off switch
③ Switch engines entirely
④ Honestly? I just read the AI bit
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