How to Change the Default Search Engine in Popular Browsers on Apple Devices

In most browsers, Google is the default search engine. It does the job well, but if you want to switch to another search engine, the steps are simple.

Follow this guide to change the default search engine on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. We’ll cover instructions for all the most popular browsers: Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

Change the Default Search Engine in Safari

Google is Safari’s default search engine. But there are plenty of alternatives to Google if you don’t like it. Here’s how to use a different service in Safari on your Apple devices.

On an iPhone or iPad

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Settingsscroll down and tap Safari.
2. Faucet Search engine.
3. To choose yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGoWhere Ecosia.

On a Mac

Just like on an iPhone, Google is the default search engine in Safari on Mac. Here’s how to change and switch to another option:

1. Open Safari and tap Cmd + comma (,) to open Safari Preferences. Alternatively, from the menu bar, you can click Safari > Preferences.
2. Click on To look for.
3. Click the drop-down menu next to Search engine and select yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGoWhere Ecosia.

Change the default search engine in Chrome

Chrome is a Google product so, as you might expect, its default search engine is Google. But you can change it effortlessly by following these quick steps.

On an iPhone or iPad

Follow these steps:

1. Open Chrome, tap the three dots icon at the bottom right and choose Settings.
2. Faucet Search engine.
3. Faucet Bing, yahoo, DuckDuckGoWhere Ecosia to set it as the default search engine.

On a Mac

Here’s how to change the default search engine in Chrome from Google to something else on a Mac:

1. Launch Chrome on your Mac and tap Cmd + comma (,) to see their preferences.
2. Click on Search engine.
3. Beside Search engine used in the address barChoose Ecosia, Bing, DuckDuckGoWhere yahoo.

If you want to use another search engine, click manage search engines > To add. Alternatively, under Other search enginesnext to a website, you can click the icon three dots icon and choose Default. To remove a custom site as the default search engine, choose another option from the list of default search engines.

Change the default search engine in Firefox

By default, Firefox uses Google as the default search engine. But you can also set a different service as the default search engine.

On iPhone and iPad

Just follow these steps:

1. Open Firefox and press the burger icon (three short lines) bottom right.
2. Faucet Settings.
3. Faucet To look for.
4. Under Default search engine, tap google.
5. To choose Amazon, Bing, DuckDuckGo, TwitterWhere Wikipedia as the default search engine in Firefox.

Unlike the other browsers mentioned above, Firefox also displays other search engine icons above your iOS keyboard when you type to search for something. This handy feature ensures that you can easily use any other search engine to search for a particular query, regardless of the default.

You can customize these search engines on Firefox To look for screen. Disable those you don’t need. If you want to use a specific site such as YouTube as your search engine, you can do so by tapping Add a search engine. This custom service will also be listed as an option under Default search engine, and from there you can set it as your default browser search engine.

On a Mac

Follow these steps to change the default search engine in Firefox on Mac:

1. Open Firefox and press Cmd + comma (,) to see their preferences.
2. Click on To look for.
3. Below Default search engineChoose Bing, DuckDuckGoWhere Wikipedia.

Firefox also shows icons from other search engines when you search for something. This allows you to search the web on this different search engine instead of the default one.

Additionally, you can type the search engine keyword like @bing, @ddgWhere @Wikipedia then type your search term to replace the default search engine.

To show or hide these alternative search engines, check or uncheck them under Search shortcuts. You can also customize the keyword shortcut by clicking on it and replacing it with something else.

Change Default Search Engine in Edge

Microsoft Edge uses Bing (also owned by Microsoft) as the default search engine. But you can easily change it to Google, or anything else, on your Apple devices.

On iPhone and iPad

Follow these steps to change Edge’s search engine:

1. Press the three dots icon at the bottom of the screen and choose Settings.
2. Faucet General > Select search engine.
3. To choose yahoo, google, DuckDuckGoWhere yandex.

On a Mac

Here’s how to stop using Bing and use Google or another default search engine in Microsoft Edge on Mac:

1. Open Edge and tap Cmd + comma (,) to see their preferences.
2. On the left side, click Privacy, Research and Services.
3. Scroll down and click Address bar and search.
4. Click the drop-down menu next to Search engine used in the address bar and choose yahoo, google, DuckDuckGoWhere yandex.

To add another service as a search engine, click manage search engines > To add.

What to do if your search engine of choice is not listed

If your search engine of choice (like Qwant) is not listed, you can use the Firefox browser and follow the steps above to set it as your search engine.

If you don’t want to use Firefox, you can bookmark this search engine’s main page or add it to your iPhone home screen. This will take you quickly to the search engine’s main page to enter your query.

Related: The fastest mini-browsers for iPhone

Changing the default search engine

This is how you can use a different search engine as the default option on most popular iPhone, iPad, and Mac browsers. In the end, if you want to go back to the default option, follow the same steps and select Google or Bing.

Along with changing the default search engine, you can also change the default web browser on all major operating systems, including iOS and iPadOS.

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