Technology @lemmy.world benfell @lemmy.world 2mo ago

Startpage.com is not a default option for Apple users

www.startpage.com Startpage - Private Search Engine. No Tracking. No Search History.

Search and browse the internet without being tracked or targeted. Startpage is the world's most private search engine. Use Startpage to protect your personal data.

Has anyone figured out how to add a search engine option to the list Apple offers?

DuckDuckGo prioritizes MSN's lifted pages. I need original pages. This MSN crap is unacceptable.

16 comments

Apple users

I mean, if the only constraint is that it be on an Apple platform, and not specifically for Safari, I imagine just use a browser that lets you choose your search engine. Firefox can, and I'm sure that there are also Chrome-based browsers out there that do so as well.
- Just FYI there are no chrome based browsers on IOS cos there is no chromium, the FOSS ones use Firefox mostly
  
  Huh? Custom web engines aren’t allowed on iOS, Firefox’s included. All iOS browsers are just UIs on top of Safari’s engine.
  
  Edit: idk about the EU though
Use DuckDuckGo and put !s into your search.
- Ooh, what does this do?
  
  Ddg calls them bangs. They have a number of functions using ! to search using other engines.
  
  !s - start page !b - bing !w - wikipedia
  
  Etc.
  
  https://duckduckgo.com/bangs
It’s a bit unclear what you mean by “Apple” - I’m assuming you mean Safari on both Mac and iOS.

The search engine I use is SearxNg. On Firefox on Mac it was pretty easy to add.

To use it in Safari, I installed the Keyword Search extension from the App Store. It has the option to set a search engine as the default if you don’t use a keyword, so I did that. This works in both Mac and on iOS / iPadOS.

There are other Safari extensions that do similar things, like Customize Search Engine (free). Kagi has an extension that can make Kagi the default search engine, for example (it doesn’t appear that there’s an equivalent for Startpage, though). I haven’t used anything other than Keyword Search for this, though.
- This appears to work. Thanks!
I’ve seen XSearch recommended a few times but I’ve never used it myself:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xsearch-for-safari/id1579902068
- I use it and it’s pretty great, though it sometimes does feel like a hack (I mean, that’s essentially what it is).
  
  For a better experience pick a search engine in Safari that you’ve blocked with DNS so that you’ll never see a glimpse of it before xSearch redirects you (as you would on a slower network).

16 comments