TL;DR DuckDuckGo installs surged 18% after Google’s AI search overhaul. Apple device installs peaked at 70%. Its AI-free search page traffic rose 23%.
DuckDuckGo US app installs jumped by an average of 18% week over week between 20 and 25 May. The growth sustained for six consecutive days, peaking at 30% on Memorial Day Monday. On Apple devices, weekly install growth reached 33%, with a single-day peak of almost 70%.
The surge came days after Google announced sweeping changes to its search engine at I/O 2026. The company plans to replace its traditional list of blue links with AI-powered tools that answer questions directly, complete tasks, and run background monitoring agents. Some users saw this as the end of the search experience they had used for two decades.
Traffic to DuckDuckGo’s AI-free search page, noai.duckduckgo.com, also rose. Visitor numbers averaged 23% growth week over week, peaking at 28% on Sunday. The page disables AI-generated answers entirely, giving users the plain results list that Google is moving away from.
“Google is force-feeding AI with no way to opt out,” CEO Gabriel Weinberg said. “As a result their results are getting worse, not better.” He said the company believes frustrated users are actively seeking alternatives.
