Update : Clarified that our customer support team uses Khoros to manage support requests and updated Terms to cover Privacy Pro free trials.
Privacy Pro Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
Privacy Pro is a subscription service that offers additional privacy protection for your everyday activities, including DuckDuckGo VPN, Personal Information Removal, and Identity Theft Restoration. It is provided by DuckDuckGo Subscription, Inc. (“we”, “us”, or “our”), a subsidiary of Duck Duck Go, Inc. (“DuckDuckGo”), which provides equipment and services to the subsidiary.
Privacy Policy
We only save the minimal personal information we need for the service to function.
To protect your identity, you do not need to create an account in order to use Privacy Pro. Instead, we assign a random ID to your Privacy Pro subscription that we use to authorize your subscription on your devices. This random ID is not connected to any of your VPN traffic or credit card information. You can optionally add an email address for ease of authorization. We will only use personal information you provide (for example, your email address if you choose to provide it) to make the service function, including for customer support and sending service notices like receipts, and for no other purpose. We do not sell any personal information.
VPN
We don't keep logs of your VPN activity.
We have no way to tie what you do while connected to the DuckDuckGo VPN to you as an individual.
We only keep anonymous performance metrics that we cannot connect to your VPN activity.
Our VPN servers store generic usage and diagnostic data (for example, CPU load and errors), but nothing connected to any individual. We use this non-identifying information for VPN performance, for example to ensure VPN servers aren't overloaded, under attack, or having network issues.
We only use dedicated VPN servers.
This means our VPN servers are not shared with anyone else. We rent our VPN servers from hosting providers carefully selected to meet our privacy requirements. Our VPN servers are also physically separated from other DuckDuckGo servers, like those used for search infrastructure.
Personal Information Removal
When you enter personal information to have us remove it from data broker sites, that data is only saved on your device, not on our servers.
For example, your name, age and address are all stored locally on your device. If we find additional related information on data broker sites, like alternative names, or addresses, or the names of your relatives, this information is also only stored locally on your device, not on our servers.
The service submits removal requests to data broker sites on your behalf directly from your device, not from our servers.
This is unlike most other services where removal requests are initiated on remote servers. The only personal information we may receive in this process are confirmation emails from data broker sites, which we automatically handle for you and then delete within 72 hours. We regularly re-scan data broker sites to check the removal status of your information. If it has reappeared, we resubmit the removal request.
Identity Theft Restoration
We partner with Iris® Powered by Generali, to provide Identity Theft Restoration.
We do not save any additional personal information when you use Identity Theft Restoration, nor do we share any personal information with Iris. In the event of identity theft, follow the instructions here to connect with Iris directly.
Subscription Management
We do not process payments ourselves. Instead, we use third-party payment processors.
We use Apple's App Store, Google's Play Store, and Stripe for payment processing. They each collect personal information when processing payments (for example payment information) and to monitor the performance of their services (for example device information for fraud detection and analytics.) Their respective privacy policies and terms of service apply here.
We offer support at privacypro@duckduckgo.com.
If you reach out to us for support by emailing privacypro@duckduckgo.com and agree to be contacted to troubleshoot the issue, we may contact you using the email address provided. We use Khoros, a third-party system, to store and facilitate our responses to customer support requests.
We retain support emails for only as long as we need to resolve your support issue, or for other business purposes such as resolving disputes, safety and security reasons, or complying with our legal obligations.
When you cancel Privacy Pro, we promptly delete the limited personal information we have.
Depending on how you subscribe, you can cancel through Apple's App Store, Google's Play Store, or Stripe via the DuckDuckGo app. We keep backups for 30 days, so it will take 30 days from when you cancel Privacy Pro to remove any personal information we may have from our systems (for example, your email address), unless we are legally required to keep it longer.
DuckDuckGo's general Privacy Policy also applies here and applies to DuckDuckGo Subscription, Inc., just as if it were included as part of “DuckDuckGo” in the general DuckDuckGo Privacy Policy. If there's a conflict with the DuckDuckGo general Privacy Policy, the terms of this policy apply.
Terms of Service
You must agree to these terms.
These terms are a binding legal agreement between you and DuckDuckGo Subscription, Inc. By purchasing and/or using Privacy Pro, you are agreeing to these terms and the DuckDuckGo Terms of Service, which are incorporated by reference and apply to DuckDuckGo Subscription, Inc., just as if it were included as part of “DuckDuckGo” in those Terms of Service. If these terms conflict with the DuckDuckGo Terms of Service, these terms will govern.
You must be eligible.
To use Privacy Pro, you must be the age of majority in your jurisdiction and live in a location where we offer Privacy Pro. If you have been previously suspended or removed from any services offered by DuckDuckGo, you are not eligible.
You must enroll in a subscription.
You must enroll in a monthly or annual subscription (a “Subscription”) from us, which may begin with a free trial, to use Privacy Pro and you agree to provide accurate information that does not infringe on the rights of any third party when doing so.
You may not let others use your subscription.
Privacy Pro is for your personal noncommercial use only and you are solely responsible for all activities that occur through your Subscription. You may not assign your Subscription or authorize its use to others.
You must only use Privacy Pro with official DuckDuckGo browsers.
To access and use Privacy Pro, you must download and install a DuckDuckGo browser from the DuckDuckGo website or an authorized third-party app store (“Official Apps”). You may not attempt to integrate or otherwise use Privacy Pro in connection with any technology, interfaces, or builds (including those authorized by the applicable open-source licenses) other than Official Apps.
You understand the services available to you.
Privacy Pro is only available in the U.S. The services may not be available for all operating systems or their versions. We may modify the Privacy Pro services and their terms at any time in our sole discretion. If you do not wish to continue subscribing with the modifications, you may cancel your Subscription.
You understand the third-party policies applicable to your purchase.
Subscription purchases are processed and managed by either Apple's App Store, Google's Play Store, or by Stripe, and you are subject to the terms and privacy policies of the applicable third party. For Apple and Google purchases, we do not have the ability to initiate, cancel, or refund your Subscription on your behalf; you must go directly through them.
You authorize us to charge a subscription fee.
You authorize DuckDuckGo Subscription, Inc., through the applicable payment processor, to charge you the subscription fee and applicable taxes through the payment method that you provide. If your transaction cannot be processed, we may suspend or terminate your Subscription. If your subscription includes a free trial, you will not be charged the applicable fee during your free trial, but you will be required to provide a payment method to ensure uninterrupted access after the free trial ends. Unless you cancel before your free trial ends, your paid subscription will automatically begin at that time, and your payment method will be charged the applicable fee. Any free trial period is at our sole discretion, and we may limit eligibility or duration to prevent misuse. Trials and promotional subscriptions may be limited to one per household and you may also be limited in your ability to combine promotions.
You agree to automatic renewal of Privacy Pro.
By purchasing Privacy Pro, you are subscribing to an automatically renewing Subscription requiring recurring payments at the stated price (including any applicable taxes) and frequency (for example, monthly or annually) until you cancel. Privacy Pro will automatically renew at the beginning of each billing cycle. If the Subscription includes a promotional rate, you will be charged the promotional rate for the relevant number of billing periods and then will automatically renew at the then-applicable full rate.
You may cancel Privacy Pro at any time.
You can cancel Privacy Pro at any time before the end of your free trial or before your next renewal by going to Settings in the DuckDuckGo app and following the link to cancel or, for Subscriptions purchased through a third-party app store, through that third party. If you cancel, your right to use Privacy Pro will continue until the end of the current billing period and will then terminate without further charges. Except as required by applicable law, you will not receive a refund.
You agree to use Privacy Pro as authorized.
You agree to comply with the DuckDuckGo Acceptable Use Policy, which is incorporated by reference. We reserve the right at any time and in our sole discretion, with or without notice, to suspend and/or terminate your access to Privacy Pro (or portions thereof) for any reason, including for violation of these terms or applicable laws, whether repeated violation or a single instance.
Service-Specific Terms
VPN Terms
- You may use our VPN on a maximum of five devices simultaneously.
- You agree that we may impose usage or service limits or block certain kinds of usage (for example, abuse) at our sole discretion to protect us, our users, and DuckDuckGo.
Personal Information Removal Terms
- You agree that you will only initiate removal of your own personal information.
- You understand Personal Information Removal is only available via one desktop device, via either the DuckDuckGo desktop browser for Windows or Mac.
- When you use this service, you authorize requests for removal of your personal information from data broker sites. Because data broker sites often have multi-step processes required to have information removed, and because they regularly update their databases with new personal information, this authorization includes ongoing action on your behalf solely to perform removal of your personal information.
- Personal Information Removal requests removal from a limited number of data broker sites. You understand that we cannot guarantee that these third-party sites will honor removal requests, or that your personal information will not reappear on these sites in the future.
- You understand that we will only be able to find and request removal of information based on the information you provide for removal.
Identity Theft Restoration Terms
- Identity Theft Restoration is offered by and in partnership with Generali Global Assistance, Inc., dba Iris® Powered by Generali (“Iris”), and is operated by Iris. The specific Identity Theft Restoration services available to you depends on your jurisdiction of residency. Identity theft involving non-US bank accounts is not covered by this service regardless of residency.
- Identity Theft Restoration only applies to covered identity theft incidents that occur during your Privacy Pro subscription.
- To use the service, you must contact Iris promptly upon discovery of the identity theft, at which point you will need to verify your identity with Iris. If you are unwilling or unable to do so in the manner requested by Iris, Identity Theft Restoration will not be available to you.
- You understand that Iris does not guarantee that its intervention on your behalf will result in a particular outcome, or that its efforts on your behalf will lead to a result satisfactory to you. You also understand that Identity Theft Restoration does not include any advice, counseling, or assistance to improve your credit record or rating, only to fix errors resulting from identity theft.
- In the event of an identity theft, you may be eligible for reimbursement of certain out-of-pocket expenses. The reimbursement benefit is underwritten by an authorized insurance company under insurance policies issued to Iris. Please refer to the actual Iris policies to understand the full coverage terms, conditions, and exclusions. Review the Summary of Benefits for more details.
- You understand that Iris and DuckDuckGo are not selling identity theft insurance; rather, Iris is a group policyholder that procured a group identity theft insurance policy to cover purchasers of its Identity Theft Restoration service.
Additional Privacy Pro Terms
We will notify you when our Privacy Policy or Terms are updated.
We will notify you of changes by posting the modified version at https://duckduckgo.com/pro/privacy-terms. We will indicate the date it was last modified below with an update message on top if substantive changes were made. Continuing to access or use Privacy Pro after any changes constitutes your consent and agreement to any new terms.