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Brave, one of the popular browsers that offer privacy-focused features has ditched Google as its default search engine for its own homegrown search engine.
In a blog post, the company announced that the Brave Search—which was offered early this year as a public beta—will be set as the default search engine for new users who install the browser for the first time.
Existing users will also be asked if they want to switch, while Google and other alternatives will continue to be available for users who don’t want to use Brave’s search engine.
Brave is built on Chromium, which shares much of the core features with Google’s dominant Chrome browser. However, unlike Chrome, Brave has built up a reputation for being a privacy-focused browser.
Credit: Brave
“As we know from experience in many browsers, the default setting is crucial for adoption, and Brave Search has reached the quality and critical mass needed to become our default search option, and to offer our users a seamless privacy-by-default online experience,” said Brendan Eich, Co-founder and CEO of Brave in a statement. “Brave Search has grown significantly since its release last June, with nearly 80 million queries per month. Our users are pleased with the comprehensive privacy solution that Brave Search provides against Big Tech by being integrated into our browser,”
Initially, the brave search engine will be available in five countries: Germany, the United States, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, while the Brave desktop browser version 1.31, Android browser version 1.31 and the iOS browser version 1.32 will ship with the new Brave search engine.
The search engine currently does not display ads, but the company plans to display ads in the future on the free tier.
Unlike Google, whose entire business model is built on serving personalised ads, privacy-focused search engines such as DuckDuckGo and Brave only serve non-personalised, contextual ads.
DuckDuckGo also released a lightweight mobile app on both Android and iOS last year, that focused on preventing cross-site tracking on the web.
Cover Image: Shutterstock
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