eTools Private Search

eTools Private Search delivers the best web results from major search engines, securely and in full privacy.

Core features:

• search the web extensively without leaving traces;

• clear and easy-to-use search interface;

• keep track of recent searches;

• check the current status of a web page anonymousely;

• extensive search configuration, for example by country, by language, etc.

What we understand by security and privacy:

• complete anonymity: no user tracking and no collection or sharing of user data whatsoever;

• search and status requests use HTTPS (SSL/TLS) with certificate pinning and PFS (perfect forward secrecy);

• app certificate validation, integrity tests, no public data (e.g. on SD-card), encryption of all private data, screenshot optionally allowed, optional root access check and much more;

• does not use a web browser component: besides the advantage of reduced data usage and a native Android user interface, possible privacy and/or security attack vectors are minimized, e.g. no problem with CVE-2014-6041 or CVE-2015-0204 (Freak Attack);

• reduced possibility of censorship by using multiple search sources (metasearch, federated search);

• both the Swiss development company Comcepta AG and its eTools.ch web server are located in Switzerland, which employs one of the strongest privacy protection laws worldwide.

For maximum privacy, e.g. when accessing found web pages with a web browser, we recommend to use in addition a sophisticated Tor solution, such as Orbot and Orweb.

This app is based on our metasearch engine eTools.ch (https://www.etools.ch) that is powered by our federated search solution EnterpriseMetasearch^® (http://www.enterprise-metasearch.com).

Important note on blocked queries:

From May 2024, the same restrictions will apply to this app as to the web application on eTools.ch.

This change was unfortunately necessary after the app was also heavily abused for automated search queries.