The Google Search App stopped working last night (Saturday night) for a few hours. Google was quick to fix it in the middle of the night but by then, hundreds, if not, thousands of complaints flooded the support forums and social media.
This is the integrated search on the home screen of my android (pixel). For a lot of mobile phone users, it’s the fastest way to search something. I can just Google search directly from the home screen instead of opening up a browser.
yeah, but I really wish I could change the browser/search engine it uses. pretty fucked up that I can’t. literally the only reason I use Google search/chrome is the convenience of that search bar (which I know is the reason I can’t change it)
You might check out the Lawnchair launcher, that aims to replicate the Pixel launcher, but FOSS and more cuatomizable. You can set the search app up with any browser on that.
There’s a dozen other launchers to try.
Lawnchair is a more popular choice, probably better for someone switching from pixel default. There’s a few very specific features it’s missing for me.
If you search Lemmy for “Nova Launcher” you’ll find some threads listing a dozen alternatives due to nova’s downfall.
This is the integrated search on the home screen of my android (pixel). For a lot of mobile phone users, it’s the fastest way to search something. I can just Google search directly from the home screen instead of opening up a browser.
firefox can do the same with any other search engine, it has a search widget
yeah, but I really wish I could change the browser/search engine it uses. pretty fucked up that I can’t. literally the only reason I use Google search/chrome is the convenience of that search bar (which I know is the reason I can’t change it)
I changed mine. Also it’s a widget, you can just take it off your phone screen and add the Firefox one of you want, or whichever you please.
You might check out the Lawnchair launcher, that aims to replicate the Pixel launcher, but FOSS and more cuatomizable. You can set the search app up with any browser on that.
You can change it on other launchers.
Personally I like neolauncher.
https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher The search bar can be set to immediately directly open Firefox search, or you can pick form a list of various engines.
There’s a dozen other launchers to try. Lawnchair is a more popular choice, probably better for someone switching from pixel default. There’s a few very specific features it’s missing for me.
If you search Lemmy for “Nova Launcher” you’ll find some threads listing a dozen alternatives due to nova’s downfall.
For the stock launcher, yeah. Alternatives are a dime a dozen.