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Comment by ethbr1 | Hacker News Reader

> If you want to switch your search engine for Safari on iOS...

I can set Kagi as the default search engine on iOS?

Because last I checked, Apple hardcoded their list of options.

That's a very good point. Mobile OS vendors should allow for user-defined search engines the way that desktop browsers do.

In principle I agree, but there needs to be an “old person mode.” The number of times I’ve uninstalled malware on my relatives’ computers is astounding.

Wouldn’t that be the current system that presents a static list of search engine? I think we are just asking for a way to go to settings and add a custom url and parameter for a non-predefined search option.

Somehow, my father in law managed to set some sketchy search engine as his default. I forget exactly what it was, but it was definitely serving malware ads.

I’d prefer a static list for those people.

I could write a book on the crazy stuff he has done to his iOS devices. I’ve contemplated putting “child mode” or whatever on his account to prevent him from changing settings or installing apps.

My favorite so far was a malware VPN that was harvesting ALL of his traffic.

I haven’t opened Safari recently but I’m pretty sure Safari in general just doesn’t have user defined search engine lists at all on any platform and never has. There’s ways to hack it with extensions, but otherwise if you want to switch SEs, you can use one on Apple’s list or you switch to a browser with more flexibility on iPhone, Mac or iPad.

Of course since one of the options in Safari is DuckDuckGo, you can also use its extensive list of !bang operators.

> I can set Kagi as the default search engine on iOS? Because last I checked, Apple hardcoded their list of options.

Check again: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kagi-for-safari/id1622835804

Works perfectly.

This doesn't change the search engine, it attempts to redirect from whatever one is configured in the settings. It's very much an unreliable hack.

Unreliable indeed. It stops working half the time for no apparent reason and you have to go in and toggle settings to make it work again.

That was the old extension. New one is stable.

You are wrong. Your searches are still sent to the original search provider before the redirect extension takes over. It defeats any privacy Kagi could possibly provide.

As a user of this application, this is not even close to the same thing as having the ability to change the search engine in the browser settings itself. If I need to actually search something on one of the other search engines for reasons then I have to go disable the plugin, or set it to a specific search engine which I am unlikely to use. I am also curious if my typing into the search bar still sends my quick search pre-submit to my search engine selected in the browser unless I remove the pre-fetching. So no, not perfect. And this is not Kagi’s fault that’s just the unfortunate situation Safari leaves them in.

> > > If you want to switch your search engine for Safari on iOS...

> > I can set Kagi as the default search engine on iOS? > > Because last I checked, Apple hardcoded their list of options.

> not even close to the same thing as having the ability to change the search engine in the browser settings itself

Two replies up, they expressed surprise at being able to make Kagi DEFAULT.

You can. To your point, you can flip it off by toggling the extension.

You can also have it not intercept others, only one.

To the question, "I can set Kagi as default on iOS?" the answer is yes, for the normal definitions of set and default, meaning, make it so when I search I get Kagi.

Otherwise the comment would not have been about "Kagi as default on iOS", but something like, there's a setting for alternative search engines on iOS? The answer to that is of course, no, but there are workarounds.

You can’t set Kagi as the default though.

As others have said, you can only set something else as default and run an extension that tries to hijack it.

Sounds like an issue between Apple and Kagi?

You’re right, but there is a Safari extension to set Kagi as default search.

Which is still a workound and sometimes buggy - it overwrites an existing search engine. In my case its google. But when I want to use google, I can’t - I have to switch to another browser or deactivate the kagi addon/plugin.

Sounds like a plus.

I actually don't want my Kagi plugin to overwrite Google for a different reason: Sometimes the plugin fails to hijack my search, and I really don't want my searches going to Google. So I overwrite DuckDuckGo, so even the fallback is okay.

And what's more. Where do the requests for autocomplete/suggestions get sent? Because the Kagi plugin works by redirecting the result page. So whilst typing the search question in the address bar of the browser requests are made to autocomplete/suggest the search question. These are still sent to Google (or whichever search engine selected).

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