
When I open Safari and I type something in the bar to search (default search set to Google), it just keeps trying, but never pulls up any results. Judging by our audience statistics, 96 percent of our readers prefer Google as well. Personally we don’t care, Google is the best, and we’re going to always use them for finding things. You could choose to change your search engine to Yahoo or Bing, but the only other search engine we’d actually recommend for anybody is DuckDuckGo, and then only if you are really worried about Google knowing what you are searching. You can see in our screenshot that it’s already set to Google. Just open up your Settings app, find Safari in the list on the left-hand pane, and then choose the Search Engine option. Luckily changing the search engine is really simple. How to Set Google Search as the Default Search Engine on iPhone or iPad So if you’re wondering how to stop using Bing or Yahoo as your search engine, you’re in the right place. Although with the exception of the last one, we’re not sure why you’d want to. And, of course, if you wanted to switch to Bing or Yahoo or DuckDuckGo, you can use this same technique to do that. Luckily you’ll have already read this article and you’ll know how to switch the default search engine. The answer is simple: rumors are that Apple might switch the iOS default search engine to Yahoo or Bing at some point in the future. You might be asking yourself why we’d write an article about how to switch to Google as your default search engine on the iPhone or iPad when it’s already the default. Prior to starting How-To Geek, Lowell spent 15 years working in IT doing consulting, cybersecurity, database management, and programming work. Over the last decade, Lowell has personally written more than 1000 articles which have been viewed by over 250 million people. He’s been running the show since creating the site back in 2006. Lowell is the founder and CEO of How-To Geek. It’s not ideal, but Google pays a considerable amount of money to Apple every year to make this the situation we have to live with, unfortunately. If you use Siri or Spotlight to search, they’ll still use Google. This setting will only change the default search engine that is used when searching from within Safari. There is, however, a caveat to consider here. The only way you’ll get more options here is if Apple adds them in a future version of the iOS operating system. You can still navigate to those search engines in Safari and search them from their website, but that’s it. Apple won’t let you choose other search engines as your default. You can choose either Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ecosia, or DuckDuckGo. Next, under the “Search” heading, tap “Search Engine.”įinally, select the search engine that you would like to use as your default when inside Safari. To get started, open the Settings app and tap “Safari.” Changing the Default Search Engine in Safari on iPhone and iPad Making the change in Safari on your iPhone or iPad is super simple, so long as you know where to look. For example, DuckDuckGo pushes itself as a more private search engine, while Bing is integrated with Microsoft Rewards. Google is the big player here, but you might want to select something else depending on your privacy stance. While most modern search engines can find the websites you’re looking for, there are often ramifications to consider when making your selection. You can choose other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo if you prefer them. Safari uses Google as its default search engine out of the box, but it’s not the only option.

His work has been published on Macworld, PCMag, 1Password’s blog, and other websites.

Oliver Haslam is a professional freelance writer with nearly ten years of experience.
