How Safari Search Engine Extensions Work
Note below how Safari says “Search Google” and “Google Search”, even though I’m supposed to be using Kagi.
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Safari connects to Kagi only after connecting to Google.
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An unfortunate consequence is that Safari always sends your search to your default search engine, Google for example, before it sends your search to your custom search engine! Is that what you wanted? If you’re trying to protect your privacy, well… you’re failing. Another unfortunate consequence is that you can’t use your default search engine in Safari—if you want to check Google occasionally and compare to Kagi—because the Safari extension will always redirect your searches.
Unique among major browsers, Safari doesn’t let users select a custom search engine. The built-in choices include subpar offerings like Yahoo and the failed Ecosia but not newer, better entrants such as Kagi and Brave. Safari extensions are a hacky substitute that offers a bad user experience.
Even though Chrome is made by Google, it lets you pick another search engine. Even though Edge is made by Microsoft, it doesn’t lock you into Bing, and you can add any search URL template that you want. Apple is not encumbered with its own search engine to push, yet it seems to be constrained by its desire for revenue sharing, so Safari users get stuck with fewer choices that are arguably lower quality and less private.
Previously:
- Apple to Defend Google Revenue Sharing Agreement
- Vlad Prelovac on Kagi Search and Orion
- DOJ Investigating Apple-Google Default Search Engine Deal
- Unlimited Kagi Searches
- Brave Search Public Beta
Update (2025-02-11): Nick Heer:
One other possibility is that Apple’s nominal desire for simplicity in preferences led to the company ignoring requests for an arguably niche feature like a custom search engine. Yet Safari preferences are complex and messy in other ways, and the company has — thankfully — retained legacy features like user stylesheets. Even if revenue sharing discouraged Apple from developing this feature, how many people are actually going to set a custom search engine, and would they have a meaningful impact on its beloved Google revenue stream? My guesses: very few, and I doubt it. Yet here we are, over twenty years after Safari’s launch, and we can generously choose between five search engines, of which three — Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yahoo — are dependent on the same index.
Even if you grant that custom search engines would be too complex, Kagi and Brave should probably be built-in options, anyway.
8 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
Thank god for Little Snitch.
If that ever goes away, I'm done with macOS. It's the only thing making it tolerable.
The absurdity that is not being able to properly customize the search engine is but one of many reasons why I ditched Safari.
Well, Edge tries really hard to get you to switch it back to Bing on a pretty regular basis, but technically they do not lock you in.
Wouldn’t want to upset Google, and risk losing $20 billion a year, by allowing new search engines in Safari.
>the failed Ecosia
That's a very misleading thing to say. Ecosia hasn't failed, they're working just fine. They're a good option if you want a free search engine that focuses on privacy. The search results are getting better, too, since they're gradually switching from Bing to Google for search results (but they also give you the choice to stick with Bing results if you prefer).
