Google has added Presearch as a default option on Android devices in Europe
Google has just announced that they will be adding private, decentralized search engine Presearch to the default options on Android devices in the UK and Europe. This option will be available for all new and factory-reset Android devices.
A recent study shows that nearly 70% of smartphone owners in Europe have an Android device. As such, there is a lot of potential for a new search engine to establish and grow its user base. Which is precisely what Presearch is hoping to do. Presearch currently has 2.2 million registered users and approximately 1.3 million searches per day.
This does not make them a competitor to Google yet. However, we can compare Presearch to another privacy-focused search engine, DuckDuckGo, launched in 2008. In fact, with their current amount of searches per day, Presearch matches where DuckDuckGo was in 2012. Presearch reached this milestone in only three years, where it took DuckDuckGo four.
Their current search volume is also very respectable for the privacy-centered niche it is targeting. It is also worth noting that since January 2021, Presearch has seen a growth in its search by 300%.
To put the privacy market into perspective, DuckDuckGo increased their searches from 65 million per day last year to their current search volume of 94 million searches a day. Although it’s not to say that Presearch will see the same growth; after all, many browsers appear to be doing well before just vanishing, but it is definitely a browser to keep an eye on.
At the beginning of the year, Google announced that it would be adding more browser options to Android devices. This was a move from Google to make amends with the European Commission who had fined the tech giant over 4 million euros a few years before. The reason for the fine alleged that Google was using the Android platform to gain an unfair advantage in the search engine market.
Now Google shows five of the most popular and eligible search engines for each European country, including Presearch. However, as the list of five varies from country to country, not everyone will see it among their options.
Closing words
The addition of Presearch to Google’s browser options being offered to Android users in Europe is a giant leap for the private decentralized search engine. This inclusion could mean a considerable growth in users and searches. I look forward to keeping an eye on Presearch to see what difference this will make to their daily searches.
I just use their search in my FF search bar. I have not registered and it gives me Google search results without using Google directly. It is the best solution for me since I veered away from Startpage. I have not registered and have no intention to do so.
Unusable without Javascript. “Privacy-focused” it ain’t.
Registered users? This is not pro privacy.
Another ad supported search engine like DDG. No thanks. Searx is on our side.
Adding a search engine or a browser?
This is clearly an attempt to reduce a competitor (Duckduckgo) or push Duckduckgo out of the market altogether.
Google believes that this is a feasible way to deceive the European Union because, unlike in the USA, the EU does not want one or two large corporations to determine what happens.
A far more extreme version of Brave’s ad server scheme. Two developers and a bunch of marketing people.
You join and browse, endure targeted ads and collect tokens while being part of their decentralized network.
There’s nothing even remotely resembling privacy in anything I see, including their results taken from other engines. Presearch is just a cash swap with Google.
It would be nice if some day this author learned something about their subjects; basic stuff such as the difference between a browser and search engine.