How-To
How to change Brave’s search engine to your preferred search provider
You can choose from many different options or add your own that isn’t on the list.
Earlier this year, Brave browser created its own privacy-focused search engine and released it in beta form. The testing period that followed must have gone well, as Brave is now making its own Brave search engine the default for all new installs of Brave browser.
That’s good news for would-be Brave users, as the search engine is built to keep user privacy first and foremost. Unless, of course, you prefer using another search engine, like Google’s, because years of search use has tailored it to your needs.
In that case, privacy is secondary to your needs, so you need to know how to change the search engine to your preference. We’ll show you how.
Here’s how to change the default search engine in Brave browser
Once you’ve installed the Brave browser, it’s time to change the default search engine.
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Open Brave browser and click on the hamburger menu at the top-right corner, then on Settings
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Click on the Search engine tab on the left, then look for Search engine used in the address bar at the right
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Choose your favorite from the installed options, by clicking on the drop-down menu. You can choose from Brave, Google, DuckDuckGo, Qwant, Bing, or Startpage
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If you prefer to use a search engine that’s not in that list, you can manually add it by clicking on the Manage search engines option. You’ll need to add a nickname for the new search engine that gets added to the drop-down list, a keyword that works like a shortcut to use it, and the URL for the search engine with ‘/search?q=’ after the URL
We can’t fault Brave for switching to their own search engine by default. It’s the easiest way to gain market share, and the privacy-first features are a tempting draw. Still, it’s nice to know you can change it back to your favorite search engine.
Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.
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