Was very excited about this but turns out I can only use DuckDuckGo app, not DuckDuckGo in Firefox. I’m afraid this feature won’t really be usable for me since I rely on FF add-ons and synchronization.
Being in the UK we miss out on all the benefits of the DMA but the Lawnchair project dropped an update a couple of weeks ago. It lets you change search providers and seems pretty stable and good enough for daily use.
I know it and I tested it but there are some problems:
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It’s not as smooth as Pixel launcher. In fact, no other launcher is. AFAIK at least a part of that smoothness (particularly switching to multitasking view) is impossible to achieve for non-system apps. I’m very happy using Niagara right now but if not for this search situation I would consider switching to Pixel launcher just for this smoothness. Niagara is amazing but I miss normal widgets.
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DDG doesn’t work correctly in Lawnchair either. It opens up the DDG webpage when you tap the search bar. What I want is to let me enter the phrase in the bar and only after I submit open the webpage with search results.
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Pixel Search looks like a very cool app which would be even better search provider in Lawnchair, but currently it’s not really working as well. Instead of opening the Pixel Search app, it opens the app page in the Play Store, even though I have it installed.
If you don’t care about the smoothness, Lawnchair is probably the best option though. The two issues I mentioned probably will be fixed eventually, I’m even considering trying to fix that myself.
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But the gesture support is bad with custom launchers.
I wonder if there might be a workaround for that - eg those apps (like Better Open With or Open Link With) that can spot outgoing link requests and make themselves available as a default link opening option, so that the user can then specify a particular action to take or app to open.
If there was something like that that you could set as your default “search” app in the launcher, but which actually then ran an automation in, say, Macrodroid or whatever to open DDG’s site (with FF picking up as your default launcher) then that might do the job?
I’m not technical enough to know how feasible that is, but seems like possibility maybe.
Of course it’d be better if Pixel Launcher just let you specify a link and a browser!
This is exactly what I thought about too. My knowledge about Android development is pretty limited but I might try to research that later.
They could literally add a text field allowing you to enter the search URL to be opened in the default browser… But I guess making this feature actually good isn’t really in their interest.
Yeah - I’m kind of amazed they’re doing it at all unless they’re being made to maybe, by the EU or whatever.
Hope you find a solution!
You’ve hit the nail on the head - they are forced to do it by the EU.
Thanks!
I use Vivaldi with their search widget. It’s been a game changer for me because I can use my self hosted searxng instance as my default search engine with auto complete from duck duck go. Can also use other search shortcuts to switch to other engines quickly.
Can you add a custom search engine like you can in a browser? It seems like it just lists apps that can provide search.
I was also excited about this. When I first opened my phone after the update and went to the settings to choose a search provider, it had all these options listed, like at least 5? So I pick DDG just to test it, because that’s what I use everywhere else. So it picks that, but then removes all other options except DDG (enabled) and Google. WTF? Where are my other options that were just there? How do I bring them back, or add more? Do I have to install apps that register themselves as search providers? I’d really just like to search using Firefox if I can.
If you install one of the supported apps (e.g. Ecosia) it appears as an option in the menu. I didn’t find a way to use FF yet.
I figured that’s what I had to do, but why were there tons of options before that I didn’t have installed, and then once I picked one, it removed them? How can I find a list of supported search providers? Like, I want to explore my options.
I don’t have any answers unfortunately. It looks like the implementation is just half-assed because making it good isn’t actually in Google’s interest.
lol that’s probably very true
