There is a lot of talk these days about the relationship between Apple and Google. What if they wanted to buy Bing, what if there is a deal between both companies that brings a lot of money to Apple, the trial in which Eddy Que had to testify, etc. Precisely, very recently something has been known that involves the Alphabet search engine, but in an indirect way. And those from Cupertino wanted to replace them.
Safari is Apple’s default web browser, and the default search engine when we enter something in the bar is Google. This is an option that already comes by default in all apple products. But Safari doesn’t just have a standard browsing tab. It also has other sections, such as private browsing, in which nothing of what we do is recorded. And it is precisely in this section where they wanted to replace them.
Google in standard browsing, but not in private browsing
It was during the years 2018 and 2019that those from Cupertino were holding talks with DuckDuckGo, the search engine best known for stating that they do not obtain our data or carry out any type of tracking with the searches that we may be carrying out.
A premise that fits with the principle of private browsing. Not only in Safari, but in any browser that allows this mode, in order to offer an extra layer of privacy, in which the records of our activity are not left either.
As explained by the English-speaking news outlet 9to5Mac, “DuckDuckGo said it was surprised that Apple did not make the search engine change, after months of talks.” So, in turn, all this information is coming to light following the testimony of DuckDuckGo CEO, Gabriel Weinberg.
The manager maintained contact “behind closed doors” with John Giannandrea, who is currently senior vice president of artificial intelligence at the Cupertino company. As a result of the trial that is being carried out over the deal between Google and Apple, “the judge has considered that this becomes public”, because it is “a critical matter” for the case, as they explain. from 9to5Mac.
DuckDuckGo was surprised, but Apple contradicted them
On the one hand, as we have seen before, DuckDuckGo was surprised to see that Apple, after months of conversation, did not make any changes. Of course, those from Cupertino also have their version.
More specifically, Giannandrea has stated that Apple “never seriously considered a change.” Although the manager explains that the privacy factor is very important, he also explains that this alternative search engine “is based on Bing for many of the searches.” Therefore, as it has been learned, “it is not clear if this would have been a much more private option than simply using Google.”
iOS 17 comes into play, when Giannandrea himself explains that from the iPhone SE settings you can change the default search engines, separately. Not only do we change the search engine we want in all the safari sections, but now we can choose one for standard browsing, and another for private browsing.