DuckDuckGo installs surge as users flee Google’s AI search overhaul

DuckDuckGo Installs Surge 30% as Users Flee Google’s AI-First Search Overhaul

DuckDuckGo is riding a wave of new users in the days following Google I/O 2026, where Google unveiled what it called the biggest redesign of Search in more than 25 years. The privacy-focused search engine reported that U.S. mobile app installs grew 18.1 percent week over week on average from May 20 to May 25, with peak growth hitting 30.5 percent on May 25.newsbytesapp

“Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out,” DuckDuckGo founder and CEO Gabriel Weinberg said Tuesday. “As a result, their results are getting worse, not better. We want to be the place that puts users in charge and allows them to decide how much or how little AI they want.”thurrott

iPhone Users Lead the Charge

The surge was most pronounced on Apple devices. DuckDuckGo’s iOS app installs averaged 33 percent week-over-week growth, peaking at 69.9 percent on May 25. Visits to the company’s “No AI” web search portal — which strips all AI features by default — rose 22.7 percent on average, peaking at 27.7 percent on May 24.mezha

The company noted that U.S. growth “ran multiples of the international rate,” suggesting the spike is a direct response to Google’s U.S.-centric rollout rather than a global trend. DuckDuckGo also highlighted that the momentum held through the Memorial Day weekend, a period when app activity typically declines.thurrott

Google’s Search Overhaul Sparks Backlash

At Google I/O on May 20, the company replaced its traditional search box with an AI-powered interface built on Gemini 3.5 Flash. The redesigned experience accepts text, images, files, and video, and drops users into AI-generated interactive results rather than conventional blue links. Google also introduced “information agents” that monitor the web continuously on behalf of subscribers.thenextweb

TechCrunch noted in its post-I/O roundup that while DuckDuckGo does offer optional AI features, it lets users completely opt out — a choice Google has not extended to its own users. DuckDuckGo’s chief communications officer Kamyl Bazbaz drew a direct line between the backlash and Google’s market power: “A federal judge already ruled in U.S. v. Google: ‘Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly’ and monopolists don’t worry about users leaving”.techcrunch

A Choice, Not a Rejection

DuckDuckGo framed the moment less as an anti-AI revolt than as a demand for user control. The company said one of its most popular recent features is an AI image filter that removes AI-generated images from results — while another is Search Assist, which uses AI to generate answers anonymously. “People just want a choice,” Bazbaz said.thurrott