DuckDuckGo CEO says Google kills competition through phone deals that make it hard for users to switch search engines

celmit@lemmy.ca to Technology@lemmy.ml – 1185 points –
DuckDuckGo CEO says Google kills competition through phone deals that make it hard for users to switch search engines: ‘It’s too many steps’
fortune.com
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I have a phone with stock android 13, which would be the same experience as a Pixel or other stock android phone.

Here's the process for me:

  1. Tap chrome
  2. Tap vertical ... menu
  3. Tap settings
  4. Tap search engine (it's the top option under basic settings and visible without scrolling)
  5. Tap DuckDuckGo (or bing or whatever)

Definitely not 30-50 steps on a phone setup by Google. Only real complaint is it can't be changed from the search field itself.

Nope. The pixel phones have a Google widget on the homescreen that cannot be removed.

I have a pixel and it would be those steps +

Open Google play, find a launcher, find a new search provider. Set new launcher as default, insert new search provider widget. Probably missed a few steps.

Yeah, that was my experience as well as a Pixel user. That said, it didn't take too long to just finally switch to Firefox, Nova launcher, and Duck Duck Go. Mostly painless, and I'm over 40 👴

I've done all but the launcher. The gestures became super choppy with another launcher (nova).

I have put a FF search bar above the Google one and I just ignore it.

I personally use kiss launcher, bit of a different paradigm to regular ones but i like it

I've been using Niagara on my pixel 7. It takes a bit to get used to, but is so much cleaner. Add that with a browser other than chrome, and duckduckgo. Works pretty well.