Brave Browser Says Goodbye to Google As Default Search Engine, Replaces With 'Privacy-Preserving' Brave Search

[MacRumors]

The increasingly popular privacy-focused browser Brave is officially saying goodbye to Google as its default search engine, replacing the world's most popular search engine in favor of "Brave Search," the company announced in a blog post.

Brave Search is Brave's answer to customers wanting a "privacy-preserving" search engine, and it's built using Brave's own "independent index, and doesn't track users, their searches, or their clicks." Brave users in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada will automatically have Brave Search set as their default search engine in the address bar instead of Google. Brave Search is also replacing other default browsers, such as Qwant in France and DuckDuckGo in Germany.

Today's Brave desktop browser update (version 1.31), as well as the Brave Android app (version 1.31)* and the Brave iOS app (version 1.32) all automatically offer Brave Search as the default for new users in these five countries, with fully localized versions in non-English geographies. Brave users can easily choose a different search option if they prefer by managing their search engine settings. Brave Search is also available in any other browser at search.brave.com.

Users in all countries will still be able to revert their default search engine back to Google or DuckDuckGo, but Brave is hoping the majority won't. Brave Search does not display any ads in its current form, but the company announced plans this week to change that. Brave says that the free version of its search engine will "soon be ad-supported," with the company planning to offer a premium ad-free plan later down the line. Brave launched Brave Search in beta earlier this summer.

Article Link: Brave Browser Says Goodbye to Google As Default Search Engine, Replaces With 'Privacy-Preserving' Brave Search

 

[StoneJack]

who tried brave?

 

[ds2000]

who tried brave?

I've been using it for 2 years. Its great

 

[Bandaman]

who tried brave?

My favorite browser.

 

[Bustycat]

Not brave enough to ditch Chromium?

 

[ratspg]

I’ve used the browser here and there but haven’t actually used their search yet. Bold move. Anybody like their search? I tried DuckDuckGo’s search for a while but I didn’t like how “inspired” by Microsoft Bing it was.

 

[StoneJack]

No i use safari but I am suspicious of Google's search. Even if I change seach engine, its trackers are probably still infesting the system gathering data for Google. So I thought of Brave

 

[ruka.snow]

They could have really preserved privacy and switched to DuckDuckGo’s search.

 

[matrix07]

Compatible to M1 yet?

 

[ashleykaryl]

Safari is my default browser but there are definitely times when Brave is better and the Brave search engine is actually not that bad.

 

[henzpwnapple]

later ad-supported. humm.

Reminding me the look of Google back in my college time using it for reseraches. I am not saying that free lunch will sustain and work as great as giant powerful unethical ones we inevitably rely on these days, instead, I would say that Brave is just another one of them at their starting up stage.

I use both, FYI.

 

[Septercius]

who tried brave?

I use it for YouTube, as it blocks all those annoying ads that Google sees fit to force upon me. My normal browser is Safari, using Wipr as an adblocker, and that doesn't block all ads on YT.

I wouldn't use Brave as a primary browser, as I prefer Safari, but it's great as a companion to Safari.

 

[Bandaman]

Compatible to M1 yet?

They’ve had an Apple Silicon version for quite a while now.

 

[himanshumodi]

Not brave enough to ditch Chromium?

Developing Chromium alternative would take a crazy amount of resources, and time. And what's the downside to using Chromium? Do you want them to feel guilt on using tech from a company, whose product they are competing with?

 

[123]

later ad-supported. humm.

Reminding me the look of Google back in my college time using it for reseraches. I am not saying that free lunch will sustain and work as great as giant powerful unethical ones we inevitably rely on these days, instead, I would say that Brave is just another one of them at their starting up stage.

I use both, FYI.

I have never tried Brave, and I don't think I will anytime soon, as quality results are just too important for me.

However, I really like their approach. Of course they need revenue, how else could they survive. But the big difference is transparency:

1. No tracking (unlike Google)
2. You decide if and how many ads you want to see in the browser (and get paid 70% ad revenue)
3. You can get rid of ads in search results (by paying)

 

[ruka.snow]

Developing Chromium alternative would take a crazy amount of resources, and time. And what's the downside to using Chromium? Do you want them to feel guilt on using tech from a company, whose product they are competing with?

They could ditch Chromium (forked WebKit 1) for WebKit2. Safari has no problems rendering websites.

 

[heystu]

I think this is great, trying to find the right word to describe this move…maybe, uh, courageous?

 

[Bustycat]

I think this is great, trying to find the right word to describe this move…maybe, uh, courageous?

Brave to be Brave?

 

[senttoschool]

Brave is a scam.

They'll market themselves as "privacy focused" by blocking ads, then they will release their own ads to make money.

Anyone who actually falls for this is an idiot.

 

[Agit21]

I use Edge and DuckDuckGo. Couldn’t be happier.

 

[johannnn]

I've tried Duckduckgo and all the other alternatives. They all suck compared to Google in terms of search results.

Do I like Google? Not at all.
Do I want the best search results? Absolutely.

 

[MJaP]

Brave is a scam.

They'll market themselves as "privacy focused" by blocking ads, then they will release their own ads to make money.

Anyone who actually falls for this is an idiot.

"privacy focussed" doesn't mean blocking ads, it means keeping your details private and not exposing and sharing them with anyone, so I suspect you won't get targeted ads you'll just get generic ads. They've got to pay for their servers, developers, electricity somehow you know, they can't do it off of good will and unicorn wishes.

I sometime get tired of the self-entitled "I expect you to give me stuff for free" mentality.

 

[MJaP]

Can you use Brave search in any other browser?

 

[Channan]

I've tried Duckduckgo and all the other alternatives. They all suck compared to Google in terms of search results.

Do I like Google? Not at all.
Do I want the best search results? Absolutely.

I haven’t tried them all, but I did try DuckDuckGo. I wanted to get rid of as much of Google as I could, so I really tried to give DDG a shot. Stuck with it for about a month but too many times I had to switch back to Google for certain searches so I wound up just switching back to Google completely for search.

There wound up being only three things I had to keep Google for: search, YouTube, and street view.

 

[senttoschool]

"privacy focussed" doesn't mean blocking ads, it means keeping your details private and not exposing and sharing them with anyone, so I suspect you won't get targeted ads you'll just get generic ads. They've got to pay for their servers, developers, electricity somehow you know, they can't do it off of good will and unicorn wishes.

I sometime get tired of the self-entitled "I expect you to give me stuff for free" mentality.

Many Chrome plugins do the exact samething as Brave.

Brave uses Chromium, which is built by Google, and adds ad blocking/tracking to it by default.