Apple once considered replacing Google as its default search engine in private browsing mode on its products in favor of DuckDuckGo, according to recently unsealed testimony by the rival search CEO.

According to a transcript viewed in federal court last month, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg said, “We think they’re actually very interested in this.”. “Many of the people we spoke with were DuckDuckGo users themselves.”

According to Weinberg, during the course of DuckDuckGo and Apple’s negotiations, which lasted from about 2016 through 2019, DuckDuckGo and Apple had about 20 meetings and phone calls. Weinberg said Apple’s contract with Google to be the default search engine on its Safari browser “was often the elephant in the room” during that period.

In an effort to prove that Google unfairly locked out rivals from the general search market by denying them distribution rights, the government is trying to prove that Google’s exclusive contracts with phone and browser manufacturers restricted competition. Antitrust laws have not been violated by Google’s actions, according to the company.

A privately held company, DuckDuckGo, makes a privacy-focused search engine that competes directly with Google as well as other privacy products that limit how websites track consumers online.

Weinberg said DuckDuckGo first received a response from Apple in 2016 about becoming the default search engine for private browsing. Despite using private browsing, DuckDuckGo claims its search engine greatly reduces the amount of tracking that is still possible with other search engines.

DuckDuckGo met with Craig Federighi, a senior vice president, at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California in 2017 to discuss its proposal. Apple executives were provided with DuckDuckGo data about what Apple users expect from private browsing mode, which Weinberg felt was “pretty compelling.”