When you use the search page, you’ll enter your query in the search box, and suggested searches will auto-populate. User experienceīrave Search functions as any search engine should. Note that if you want the most privacy that Brave can offer, you need to pair its search functionality with the Brave browser. By clicking the 'Info' link toward the top of the results page, you can see how many results came from third parties. “This mixing is a means-to-an-end toward 100% independence,” Brave says. Brave is building its own search index … but sometimes, it anonymously checks search results against third-party results, then mixes those results into its results page. Most search engines rely on third-party indexes instead of building and using their own. When it comes to that independent search index, here’s a recap of how Brave explains it.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.Brave is building its own search index instead of relying on third-party results (Image credit: Brave) Still, it’s nice to know you can change it back to your favorite search engine. It’s the easiest way to gain market share, and the privacy-first features are a tempting draw. We can’t fault Brave for switching to their own search engine by default. You’ll need to add a nickname for the new search engine that gets added to the drop-down list, a keyword that works like a shortcut to use it, and the URL for the search engine with ‘/search?q=’ after the URL If you prefer to use a search engine that’s not in that list, you can manually add it by clicking on the Manage search engines option. You can choose from Brave, Google, DuckDuckGo, Qwant, Bing, or Startpage Open Brave browser and click on the hamburger menu at the top-right corner, then on SettingsĬlick on the Search engine tab on the left, then look for Search engine used in the address bar at the rightĬhoose your favorite from the installed options, by clicking on the drop-down menu.

Once you’ve installed the Brave browser, it’s time to change the default search engine.

Brave search browser