Get Kagi android app search added to Googles list of search providers - So it can be set as the default search

twizzlebizzle

Not entirely sure how or where this would be set with google. However I can set all the of the below apps as a default search engine, i've also included the gstatic source where it seems to pull this data from including icon etc.

Supported search apps

Microsoft Bing Search
DuckDuckGo Private Browser
info.com
MetaGer Search
OceanHero Browser
PrivacyWall
Qwant – Search engine
Seznam.cz
Yahoo Search
Yandex
Ecosia - Safe Internet Browser
Search Mail.ru
Lilo - Search with substance
Mojeek
WWF Panda Search
Presearch Privacy Browser
Yep
Nona - Die Suchmaschine
Brave Private Web Browser, VPN
KARMA Search
You.com — Personalized AI Chat

List obtained from the following binary file: https://www.gstatic.com/android_search/search_providers/v1/search_providers.pb

Kagi app currently cannot be set as a default search app in the google pixel launcher. Only google in most countries however in the EU we're legally allowed to change it. So it would be good if we could select kagi.

laiz

The team has been working on this for quite a while at this point. The issue is that only the top X (8, if I am not mistaken) search engines (based on the # of installs) are included in the lists Google offers. Now, you can imagine how difficult it would be for a paid search engine to compete with ad-supported, free alternatives for that top 8 spot. Maybe some day Kagi will make it to that list. I'll let @Luis expand on this.

twizzlebizzle

laiz there's definitely less popular options in that list though.

RoxyRoxyRoxy

I'll mark this as planned as obviously we want this to happen, but as @laiz said it's sort of out of our hands atm 🙂

das_j

In the EU, Google was forced to allow non-Google default searches in their operating system. They have a list of requirements that I think is fully met by the Kagi app: https://www.android.com/choicescreen/dma/searchengine/

General search provider: Yes
One app per company: Yes
Localization: Yes
App in Google Play: Yes
Branding Requirements: Yes
Web Search Experience: I would hope so
Functionality required: Yes
Android OS support: Yes
Minimum installs: Yes
No connection to non-EEA state actors: I would hope so

There used to be a requirement that the app is sufficiently popular, but that seems to be removed since I cannot find it on the page.

There is a relevant part in the page which is why it would be worthwile to tackle that in this year:

Application windows open twice a year at the beginning of the year and during the summer.

This would also be a possibility for Orion once a Android app comes out and has the 5k downloads.

A lot of other searches have been added to the list: https://www.android.com/choicescreen/dma/searchengine/options/

It'd be nice to have the app integrated into the OS as well as Google is. At least for EU citizens, this would be possible natively. I have also found some ways online to trigger the choice screen for US residents, this might be a nice thing to add to the documentation (although it requires using adb which is non-trivial for average users).

Hanbyeol

Vlad mentioned this on Discord in March; here's the screenshot.

Vlad said "we did our part. now the app needs to be in top 5 downloaded search engine apps"

I don't have the exact message from earlier, but I recall the team mentioning that meeting this requirement would be tough since Kagi is a paid service.

I noticed on the page you linked that it mentions "an updated choice screen displaying the top 8 ranked search engines", but I'm not sure if Kagi meets that.