Add a mobile Kagi app with quick search widget for Apple and Android

arcfour

hey together, I was working on a small app the recent weeks that also happen to do some of the stuff suggested here. You can have a look at it here: https://github.com/FaFre/bang_navigator and maybe the feedback from there can be used to further discuss the proposals here.

carl

arcfour Excellent work! Sell this software to Kagi and let's get the app out there swiftly.

johen

arcfour
Would it be possible for the app to synchronize custom bangs too? (or maybe it already does that?)

VMX

That's amazing @arcfour ! I think this is exactly the kind of app that would be needed. And like I said in my previous post, Flutter does look like the ideal tool for this 🙂

One question: I assume it's not possible to share local PDF files directly to Kagi for summarizing, right? I understand this is not a limitation of your app, but rather that Kagi can only analize content that's online, and so it only accepts URLs (just for me to confirm).

Also, a small suggestion: The included widget is great as it is, but I think it would be useful to include a second, thinner widget that's just a search bar with no colored frame or anything. This would allow people with third party launchers to straight up replace their existing search widget with yours 🙂

Thanks again for your work!

arcfour

Thanks for the feedback! 🙂

@VMX Implementing that feature is indeed possible. We can parse the PDF and convert it into text to feed into the summarizer. Similarly, we could also add support for DOCX files. However, I wonder if the Kagi team already has plans to offer direct document uploads? It seems like a feasible feature.

silvenga

Not sure if it's been mentioned, Firefox declares itself as a search app on Android. There's no UI to change the search app (the normal place to select default handlers is oddly missing), but you can disable the Google app, and Android asks you to select a new search app.

So since I use Firefox, Kagi is now effectively my "search app".

VMX

silvenga Hey there!

That's interesting, as I'm unable to select Firefox as search app on my Pixel?

If I long press the search widget and open settings, I do get a menu to select my search app. But Firefox simply doesn't appear in the list. Not the regular one, not Firefox Beta and not Firefox Nightly either.

I also tried disabling the Google app like you said, but then I just get a toast message saying "App not installed" whenever I try to search something from the homescreen widget.

Would appreciate if you have any tips on how to set Firefox as my search app!

httpjames

VMX Pretty sure it's EU only

silvenga

VMX I don't think the widget would work here. I'm talking about the Android search intent - which things like the global android search context menu use. My guess is the widget is hard coded (patching the Google app would be required). I don't use the Google app or it's widgets at all. I also don't use Google's official launcher - I use Nova.

I'm in the US (using a Pixel 8 with latest Android, stock). That being said, this has been a feature for years (it uses the old menu to select the search provider, I wouldn't doubt it's from Honeycomb). Both Firefox and the Tor Firefox browser declare their ability to handle searching. So this isn't related to the EU anti-gatekeeping law.

jaranflaath

httpjames Unable to select Firefox here as well (i'm in Europe). Firefox possibly not "allowed" on the list as its not a search engine?

VMX

httpjames I am in Europe and as said I do have the new "choice" screen. Firefox is just not one of the options.

This is the full list of "search engine apps" that are available in the choice screen:

DuckDuckGo
Ecosia
Brave
Microsoft Bing
Google
Qwant
PrivacyWall
KARMA
Yahoo Search
WWF Panda Search
You.com
OceanHero

Apps need to apply to be included in Google's list, and there's even a feature request in Mozilla's forums for it:
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/apply-for-the-android-search-engine-selector-screen/idi-p/53500

So I'm surprised that @silvenga was able to do that.

Are you maybe confusing the search engine choice screen with the default assistant app? Firefox does show up as an option when choosing the default assistant, but I think that was introduced in the Android 8 days when long pressing the Home button would open a search with your assistant. I think that's pretty much useless now that we've moved to gesture navigation and the search widget no longer triggers your assistant.

jaranflaath

VMX So Kagi does not need an app, just apply to be included? That's a much shorter road to get Kagi on the home screen 🤩

VMX

jaranflaath Unfortunately an app is required to apply to the choice screen.

The way it's implemented right now, Google only allows you to choose from a list of apps that meet certain requirements (you can see the details in the link I shared). There's no option to enter a regular search string like you would when configuring a search engine in a web browser.

arcfour

My solution was just linking the widget search box to open the search field inside the app 🙂
It's effectively the same and doesn't require the google registration.

VMX

silvenga Ah ok, in the last few messages we were referring to the new choice screen for the Pixel launcher, as the European Union is forcing Google to open up their launcher and offer people an option to switch their homescreen widget to use a different search engine.

I also use other launchers, but it sucks that the experience is never as smooth as with the native one (especially the switching animations). Not sure if that choice screen ever come to the US as well.

arcfour

I am still looking for testers for my Kagi app (https://github.com/FaFre/bang_navigator) to get everything Google Play approved. Details regarding the test are written in the GitHub readme. All issues and feedback will be transparently documented in the GitHub issues, and therefore can indirectly provide feedback for this thread as well.

All features are fully implemented, and currently, there are no open points or bugs. The app is ready to use 🙂

@VMX the summarization of PDF documents is now available as well!

kg4maz

arcfour Hi, I've downloaded your app and I find amazing your work.If you can implement dark mode in all website I will use your app to browse the web as default.
I hope that the Kagi's team is working in an Android and Linux/Windows application as well of the Orion browser.I'm an ultimate subscriber and a Orion+ too

wngr

How can use Kagi on Android as my default search engine?

The Kagi browser is for i0S only. There doesn't seem to be a Firefox extension for the Android version. I don't use Google Chrome due to privacy concerns.

Vlad

We are in the process of creating an Android app. In the meantime this page has tips how to set it up

https://help.kagi.com/kagi/getting-started/setting-default.html

jaranflaath

Vlad Anywhere I can sign up for testing?

mhersh

For anyone joining this thread late: Search suggestions are supported in Firefox for Android since sometime in 2023. Just be sure to edit your search engine and set the suggestions URL to "https://kagi.com/api/autosuggest?q=%s" as specified in the Kagi docs, then enable the "Show search suggestions" option if it's not already on.

Currently, you can find these options under Firefox > Settings > Search. Firefox for Android's search widget works great with Kagi.

nzain

[edit] thanks for merging my suggestion into this thread - didn't find it. I guess everything has been said above, but here's my original (doesn't match the new context):

In Europe Google was forced to allow Android users to select a different search provider. Now users can choose bing, duckduckgo, ecosia, qwant, etc. It would be awesome to have kagi as the primary search provider on my Android home screen (not just in my Firefox). And for sure this would massively increase your visibility.

I'm not talking about winning the bidding auctions so that kagi pops up as a choice on every android device. It's not free, it wouldn't make sense. However, think about this: many people will look for Google search alternatives and so many people will check the app store.

On android home screen tap and hold the Google search bar and go to settings. Then select a different search provider: kagi.

If possible, use the default browser to execute the search. I really like Firefox and Orion ist not available for Android anyway.

« Previous Page Next Page »