DuckDuckGo installs surge 18% after Google kills blue links

DuckDuckGo US app installs rose 18% week over week between 20 and 25 May, peaking at 30% on Memorial Day Monday. On Apple devices, weekly installs grew 33% with a single-day spike of 70%. Traffic to DuckDuckGo's noai.duckduckgo.com page rose 23% weekly, peaking at 28%. This surge followed Google's I/O 2026 announcement to replace blue links with AI-powered tools that answer questions, run tasks, and monitor background activity. Users reported losing the traditional search experience, prompting demand for AI-free alternatives.