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Love what Gabriel's doing with DDG. Assuming Apple maintains its policy of only allowing the Big 3 (Google, Bing, Yahoo) as default search engines in iOS, anyo

Love what Gabriel's doing with DDG. Assuming Apple maintains its policy of only allowing the Big 3 (Google, Bing, Yahoo) as default search engines in iOS, anyone know a way to manually add custom search engines? I know DDG has an app, but it's not an ideal solution for everyday use.

epi0Bauqu 15y ago
Unfortunately, there isn't an easy solution for iOS that I know of without jailbreaking.
- marchdown 15y ago
  Easy solution is to use a non-default browser, such as iCab. The dedicated app you've got is somewhat clunky, but it could be made a lot cooler if it was purposed not to "access DDG", but use DDG to "make research easier" or "look up that term". That would entail caching some of the results, maybe formatting a-la Readability, sorting them, bookmarking (with the help of a third-party service, e.g. Pinboard.in). I have the app on the first home screen on all of my devices, but I don't use it all that often, because it is slow, because there's not much I can do with the results, and because it's totally useless without a solid uplink. Ideally, I would prefer it to keep the results of old searches and allow me to open them in other apps or review them later from another device, cf. nahodki.yandex.ru & google.com/history. > Unfortunately, there isn't an easy solution for iOS that I know of without jailbreaking. Is there really an easy solution with jailbreaking?
  - carmen 15y ago
    sure, SSH to your iOS device and add/edit a .plist entry in your editor of choice
slowpoke 15y ago
>Assuming Apple maintains its policy of only allowing the Big 3 (Google, Bing, Yahoo) as default search engines in iOS I know I will probably get downvoted for this, but here you have another glaring example why closed and locked systems are retarded and should be frowned upon by each and every sane man.
- untog 15y ago
  Each and every sane man? I don't think so. The number of people that want to use DDG is still tiny, for now. So for a great many people, the tradeoff for something that "just works" (and my iPhone "worked" better than my current Android phone) is worth it.
  - slowpoke 15y ago
    The fact that you are willing to trade away freedom for meaningless and short-term convenience does not necessarily qualify you as a sane man. Also, "blocks basic functionality for absolutely no reason whatsoever" is not - or rather, should not - be in any definition of "just works".
    - untog 15y ago
      Good grief. "trade away freedom for meaningless and short-term convenience" Is such a loaded sentence I don't even know where I am supposed to start. What, exactly, is the definition of "meaningless" here? Customising your search engine beyond a choice of search providers that >95% of users use is not basic functionality. Not by any definition. Apple have demonstrated time and time again that they DO cater for the majority (whether the majority know what they want at the time or not). Yes, Apple locks stuff down. If you don't like it, don't buy an Apple product. This is not a complex issue. If someone considers it a more valuable use of their time to have a device that works better but with fewer options, that is their choice. They are not insane.
      - slowpoke 15y ago
        > What, exactly, is the definition of "meaningless" here? Convenience means nothing without freedom. > Customising your search engine beyond a choice of search providers that >95% of users use is not basic functionality. Oh yes it is. Every sort of customization and configuration is basic functionality, and there is absolutely zero reason to deny it to the user. Worse, you (and many others) excuse this stupidity with some bullshit marketing mumbo jumbo that probably not even SJ himself believed, and I'm honestly sad to see how well it seems to have worked. >If you don't like it, don't buy an Apple product. This isn't about buying or not buying an Apple product. This isn't even about Apple specifically. This is about the atrocity that are closed systems, and the need for them to vanish into history and never come up again.
lena 15y ago
Use a different browser. I use iCab and it has DuckDuckGo as a search option built in. There are also lots of other good things, like modules to post to delicious/pinboard/read it later.

epi0Bauqu 15y ago

Unfortunately, there isn't an easy solution for iOS that I know of without jailbreaking.

marchdown 15y ago
Easy solution is to use a non-default browser, such as iCab. The dedicated app you've got is somewhat clunky, but it could be made a lot cooler if it was purposed not to "access DDG", but use DDG to "make research easier" or "look up that term". That would entail caching some of the results, maybe formatting a-la Readability, sorting them, bookmarking (with the help of a third-party service, e.g. Pinboard.in). I have the app on the first home screen on all of my devices, but I don't use it all that often, because it is slow, because there's not much I can do with the results, and because it's totally useless without a solid uplink. Ideally, I would prefer it to keep the results of old searches and allow me to open them in other apps or review them later from another device, cf. nahodki.yandex.ru & google.com/history. > Unfortunately, there isn't an easy solution for iOS that I know of without jailbreaking. Is there really an easy solution with jailbreaking?
- carmen 15y ago
  sure, SSH to your iOS device and add/edit a .plist entry in your editor of choice

slowpoke 15y ago

>Assuming Apple maintains its policy of only allowing the Big 3 (Google, Bing, Yahoo) as default search engines in iOS I know I will probably get downvoted for this, but here you have another glaring example why closed and locked systems are retarded and should be frowned upon by each and every sane man.

untog 15y ago
Each and every sane man? I don't think so. The number of people that want to use DDG is still tiny, for now. So for a great many people, the tradeoff for something that "just works" (and my iPhone "worked" better than my current Android phone) is worth it.
- slowpoke 15y ago
  The fact that you are willing to trade away freedom for meaningless and short-term convenience does not necessarily qualify you as a sane man. Also, "blocks basic functionality for absolutely no reason whatsoever" is not - or rather, should not - be in any definition of "just works".
  - untog 15y ago
    Good grief. "trade away freedom for meaningless and short-term convenience" Is such a loaded sentence I don't even know where I am supposed to start. What, exactly, is the definition of "meaningless" here? Customising your search engine beyond a choice of search providers that >95% of users use is not basic functionality. Not by any definition. Apple have demonstrated time and time again that they DO cater for the majority (whether the majority know what they want at the time or not). Yes, Apple locks stuff down. If you don't like it, don't buy an Apple product. This is not a complex issue. If someone considers it a more valuable use of their time to have a device that works better but with fewer options, that is their choice. They are not insane.
    - slowpoke 15y ago
      > What, exactly, is the definition of "meaningless" here? Convenience means nothing without freedom. > Customising your search engine beyond a choice of search providers that >95% of users use is not basic functionality. Oh yes it is. Every sort of customization and configuration is basic functionality, and there is absolutely zero reason to deny it to the user. Worse, you (and many others) excuse this stupidity with some bullshit marketing mumbo jumbo that probably not even SJ himself believed, and I'm honestly sad to see how well it seems to have worked. >If you don't like it, don't buy an Apple product. This isn't about buying or not buying an Apple product. This isn't even about Apple specifically. This is about the atrocity that are closed systems, and the need for them to vanish into history and never come up again.

lena 15y ago

Use a different browser. I use iCab and it has DuckDuckGo as a search option built in. There are also lots of other good things, like modules to post to delicious/pinboard/read it later.