Epic Privacy Browser Forums

chemikyn

Guest

How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Hi all.

Sorry in advance if this is a dumb question - but I just can't change the default Epic search engine and couldn't find any info about this.

I'm using Epic browser version 27.0.2442.0 (188037) on a MacBook Pro with OS X 10.8.5.

I click on 'Preferences...' and in the 'Search' part the only option available is 'Epic'.

I'm fond of https://startpage.com/ and would like this to be my default search engine in the omnibox.

So - does any of you guys know how I could change it?

Thanks!

Last edited by chemikyn (2013-10-01 14:21:31)

alok

Administrator

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Hi - thanks for the question & your support & feedback!! 

We love startpage as well and hope to add it as an option soon! 

We removed search engine detection for privacy reasons - if you want to "test this" open chrome, go to an adult website, do a search, then see your search engine options (it will show up there)!!

There's a bug that's preventing us from adding more default search engine options - we hope to fix it in the next 1-2 weeks - we're working on some installation issues right now.  We do intend to add startpage as an option btw!

chemikyn

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Hi alok!

Thanks for your reply, I'll wait for you guys to add more search engine options, no rush :-)

Yeah, StartPage (and Ixquick) is cool. I also like DuckDuckGo and - ok, I'll admit it: I still use Google sometimes, mostly to look for images and news.

Looking forward to your developments on Epic, it's a damn good browser, thanks for all your work!

Zemran

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

I would also like to request that the ability to change the search engine is added soon as the current option does not work for me at all.  I travel all the time (currently in SE Asia) and cannot speak the local language, yet the first page of responses to any search are always in the local language and useless to me.  If I use something like startpage it sees that my default language is set to English and puts up a page of English language responses.  I am very happy with Epic in general but this is a problem for me.  Not an insurmountable problem as I just have to go to startpage.com, but it would be nice to have the omnibrowser working.

alok

Administrator

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Thanks for your support & the great suggestions - we agree, we need to implement that and will get it done soon.   We hope to also offer more search engine options soon.   Do share other suggestions on better search.  Lots of things on our plate - thanks for your patience!   

Using other search engines now and then is quite safe in Epic as we automatically route them all via proxy.

jasperk

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

I would just like to bump this post to see if there is any progress on it. Just started using Epic since a week, really like it, but would like to have DuckDuckGo as default browser. Thanks for all the hard work!

abatyshe

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Hello,
I would like to bump this, since the blocking of other searching engines is the only thing limiting me from using your browser. I understand your policy on extensions and I agree with it, however, I use multiple search engines for multiple searches. As a default engine I use DuckDuckGo, but as a student, I also often use Wolfram Alpha search via the adress bar or search through Wikipedia, because it saves quite a lot of time at the end of the day.
Any possibility of adding this feature soon? In comparison to the topic of extensions, I don't see this as such a security issue.

alok

Administrator

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Thanks for pressing this!!  We haven't had a chance to work on this yet but will try to soon.  Do keep letting us know what you want to see in Epic and what search engines you use...helps us design/make Epic better.

empsis

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Hey,

thanks a lot for a really great browser. I would also add my vote to the pool of requests to have more search engines available. DuckDuckGo please Would it be possible to just have an option for the user to add any search engine he/she wants?

Gingerbread1611

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Hey,

any news about this? After seeing that im not allowed to change the search engine i directly switched back to firefox.

Grand Poobah

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

You said you hoped to have this worked out in 1 - 2 weeks and you've had more than year beyond that time. I understand that it's sometimes hard to pin down how long it takes to do something but this is ridiculous. It was annoying that I couldn't change my omnibar browser settings but it's crazy that you would state a timeline of 1 - 2 weeks and then seemingly not have done any work towards resolving this in more than a year. The lack of follow through is causing me to immediately drop this browser and in the future I hope that if you say you're going to do something then you do it and if you're not going to do something then don't say you are.

flantafafouille

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Pleaaase, I too would like to see duckduckgo.com as available search engine since I find Epic search inefficient sorry and so always switch.
Thanks

sathi

Administrator

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

We haven't added any other search engines including Startpage.com and Duckduckgo.com because they have not provided sufficient information to us despite dozens of queries to both of them regarding their privacy.

Again, we thus do not trust that they are private.  That's why we have not added other search engines ESPECIALLY not search engines that purport to be private.  Any search engine that is built-into Epic one would assume is private (unless it's google or bing of course), but we can not vouch for the privacy of any other search engine. 

Again, we have tried repeatedly to validate the privacy of other private search engines but they refused to answer our questions which leaves us highly doubtful of their privacy.

On the good side, we are working on getting a better search feed to hopefully have better search results soon. 

When you use Epic our promise to you is a very high level of privacy from a team absolutely committed to privacy and with transparency & integrity.  We will never compromise on this and please don't ask us to.

eris

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

I have added DuckDuckGo, Startpage and Ixquick to my favorites and also have a shortcut for each on my desktop. Perhaps the 'default' search engine provides some much needed revenue to help maintain, and enhance, my favorite browser...just sayin'.

Keep up the good fight! 

Thanks,
Eris

sathi

Administrator

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Hi Eris, thanks so much!!  Right now we're not earning any revenues from search, BUT it's totally private :-)!  We hope to have a new deal soon though & a better search feed too!!!

alex.p00ka

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Not being able to choose my search engine in the omnibox is stopping me from using Epic. It is very frustrating to read this forum and realise that this feature will probably never be added.

sdmc303

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

I would also like to see this option happen.

Get some strange and slow results sometimes in Epic.

Nonetheless, it is a great browser and thanks for all the great work keeping it private..

ted_isted

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Yeah this has been kind of a deal breaker for me too! I would use this browser except I can't use duckduckgo as mt default search! I trust duckduckgo because they are the only ones that actually stood up against the NSA's threats. So no offense, Epic search might be safe, But it is new to me and I do not trust it. If you ever fix this I will use this browser, But until then I can't. I am not changing for inconvenience. You would think since this thread started in 2013 you would have it worked out by now. That tells me you only know enough about code to make a browser.

sfsg

Guest

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

Adding another name to this request. I understand your reasoning but wish you could offer the option for those who are willing to risk duckduckgo or others. ESPECIALLY when no other search engines are offered and you are charging for yours. Again, I understand and sympathize, but for me (and probably others) it is a dealbreaker. Back to Brave.

Last edited by sfsg (2021-08-23 04:25:36)

Proxy1

Administrator

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

If you click on command T, you get a new window, there are 15 spaces to add url's for I.E. "Duck Duck go" or any other choice. This is useful for users unaware of it. You may also go to settings/appearance/home button and enter "Duck Duck go" or any other choice.

I hope this will help! Good luck.

alok_epicteam

Administrator

Re: How to change the search engine in the omnibox

As we note on install of Epic, to keep Epic free, we needed to do a search partnership to cover the cost of the support/development/100s of servers powering the free VPN/encrypted proxy.  We'll soon have Yahoo's transparent private search engine.  As part of the agreement, we're limited to them and EpicSearch as default choices contractually. 

Note that we've tried to work with other search engines for years but we can't legally or ethically work with search engines such as duckduckgo and startpage that steadfastly refuse to explain to us how their so-called "privacy" works.

If you want to type/bookmark any so-called "private" search engine other than EpicSearch or the upcoming OneSearch in the address bar or add them to a dial, you're always free to do so. 

There are a TON of pseudo-private browsers and search engines you're free to work with that don't really care about transparency, privacy or security that integrate search engines without doing any due diligence or that integrate TOR without telling users that many nodes are often run by hackers and it shouldn't be considered secure.  That's not Epic.  We actually care about transparency, privacy and security.