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I don't use an iPhone so have to ask, can users not select the search engine they want to use? Oneplus tried to change the default search on their phones to Bin

by ck425 11y ago

I don't use an iPhone so have to ask, can users not select the search engine they want to use? Oneplus tried to change the default search on their phones to Bing and the first thing I did was switch back to Google.

dan1234 11y ago
Yes, the default engines in Mobile Safari are Google, Bing, Yahoo and Duck Duck Go.
zem 11y ago
yes, but a vast number of users tend to stick with the defaults.
- Ntrails 11y ago
  Until the default changes and those of us who don't like change will learn to make the effort to revert back. I have no idea if google is actually a better search engine, just that it's a familiar one.
  - caskance 11y ago
    For most searches the average person does - aka I want to go to the wikipedia page or official site for X - the results are indistinguishable.
    - petra 11y ago
      That's not a good measuring stick. Probably even before Google existed search engines we're good at those kinds of searches. But people use search for much more than that.
- Ntrails 11y ago
  Until the default changes and those of us who don't like change will learn to make the effort to revert back. I have no idea if google is actually a better search engine, just that it's a familiar one.
Mahn 11y ago
A lot of tech illiterate users don't even know that there are multiple search engines or that you can change the default one. Being the default is highly critical there.
kuschku 11y ago
On iOS — in contrast to Android — you can actually change the default search provider, yes. (On Android you can't change it at all. And so I'm either stuck with a Google search on the Recents menu, or the "this widget could not be found" message)
- artimaeis 11y ago
  If you're talking about within the Chrome app on Android then, unless something changed in Marshmallow, you can totally change the default search provider. Chrome > Menu > Settings > Search Engine allows you to change the default search engine in the browser, but you can't add new ones to their list, so it is a limited set of options available. If you're talking about at the Google Now or Siri then as far as I know that's not possible on either OS.
  - cust0m 11y ago
    you can change the default search provider in siri
  - _delirium 11y ago
    The one I find most annoying on Android is the search bar on the home screen. Even though you can customize most of the rest of the screen, you can't change the search provider for that bar, or even just remove the bar. At least, not without replacing the launcher entirely, with something like Nova Launcher (http://novalauncher.com/ http://novalauncher.com/), which is what I eventually did.
    - notatoad 11y ago
      This is not really an android flaw but a nexus one, because its default launcher is part of the google search app. On many android phones, the search box is a widget that can be swapped out with a widget from any other search provider or removed entirely.
      - kuschku 11y ago

by ck425 11y ago

dan1234 11y ago

Yes, the default engines in Mobile Safari are Google, Bing, Yahoo and Duck Duck Go.

zem 11y ago

yes, but a vast number of users tend to stick with the defaults.

Ntrails 11y ago
Until the default changes and those of us who don't like change will learn to make the effort to revert back. I have no idea if google is actually a better search engine, just that it's a familiar one.
- caskance 11y ago
  For most searches the average person does - aka I want to go to the wikipedia page or official site for X - the results are indistinguishable.
  - petra 11y ago
    That's not a good measuring stick. Probably even before Google existed search engines we're good at those kinds of searches. But people use search for much more than that.
Ntrails 11y ago
Until the default changes and those of us who don't like change will learn to make the effort to revert back. I have no idea if google is actually a better search engine, just that it's a familiar one.

Mahn 11y ago

A lot of tech illiterate users don't even know that there are multiple search engines or that you can change the default one. Being the default is highly critical there.

kuschku 11y ago

On iOS — in contrast to Android — you can actually change the default search provider, yes. (On Android you can't change it at all. And so I'm either stuck with a Google search on the Recents menu, or the "this widget could not be found" message)

artimaeis 11y ago
If you're talking about within the Chrome app on Android then, unless something changed in Marshmallow, you can totally change the default search provider. Chrome > Menu > Settings > Search Engine allows you to change the default search engine in the browser, but you can't add new ones to their list, so it is a limited set of options available. If you're talking about at the Google Now or Siri then as far as I know that's not possible on either OS.
- cust0m 11y ago
  you can change the default search provider in siri
- _delirium 11y ago
  The one I find most annoying on Android is the search bar on the home screen. Even though you can customize most of the rest of the screen, you can't change the search provider for that bar, or even just remove the bar. At least, not without replacing the launcher entirely, with something like Nova Launcher (http://novalauncher.com/ http://novalauncher.com/), which is what I eventually did.
  - notatoad 11y ago
    This is not really an android flaw but a nexus one, because its default launcher is part of the google search app. On many android phones, the search box is a widget that can be swapped out with a widget from any other search provider or removed entirely.
    - kuschku 11y ago