Comment by troad
2 days ago
Wild that I can't use Kagi in Safari on iOS, where my search options are still locked down to three~four Apple-approved choices, of which at least one is just a multi-billion-dollar paid product placement.
(Yes, I know about the extension that hijacks your searches to redirect them to Kagi, but how is that an acceptable state of affairs?)
I was completely surprised as soon as I read your post that you couldn't add search engines on safari, and then I was completely unsurprised a moment later.
Since search engines are queried with a URL with a parameter for the search term, browsers could simply allow "power users" to enter a custom URL. Voilà — support for every imaginable search engine and they can still make their billion dollar deals for providing default search engines. That's how Firefox does it.
I think thats how everyone but Apple does it.
I just tested Brave. It's possible to set anything as the default search engine, but the UI hides it really well. They sure don't want you to find out. You have to add it as a site search first (which is a different section), then you can make that "default", which moves it up to the search engines and makes it the default search engine.
And sure enough, Safari on macOS seems to not allow it at all (needs extensions).
This upsets me as well. I’ve sent Apple feedback[0] about it, I suggest others do the same.
I wanted to use Safari at work, but this proved too big of a barrier. I can’t use the App Store at work, so no extensions. I was more willing to give up Safari than Kagi.
[0] https://www.apple.com/feedback/safari/
Just submitted feedback as well. This is honestly what’s holding me back from buying a Kagi subscription at this point. Here is what I submitted:
I’m requesting that iOS Safari allow users to set any search engine as their default, rather than limiting choices to a pre-approved list. Currently, Safari only offers Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia, preventing users from choosing legitimate alternatives like Kagi.
While workarounds exist, they’re cumbersome and don’t provide a seamless experience. Please consider allowing users to add custom search engines as default options, similar to macOS Safari. This would enhance user choice without compromising security.
Thank you for considering this feedback.
> This is honestly what’s holding me back from buying a Kagi subscription at this point.
The extension is working really well for me. You could always try it out with the free version to see if it works for you as well.
Don't let this hold you back. Use a mobile browser that lets you use Kagi; it's worth it.
10 replies →
> This is honestly what’s holding me back from buying a Kagi subscription at this point.
I am pretty that is exactly the point for Apple.
IIRC all are product placement/ads. Listing requires paying Apple.
Wild that my Huawei phone running Harmony OS allows to you customize the search engines in the default browser and iOS does not.
My pixel phone running stock android lets me change the search engine in Chrome[0] as well. It's kind of crazy that Apple still locks this down.
[0] Not on the home screen, but I'll take what I can get.
Move to Japan?