Changing your default search engine is the single highest-leverage privacy move you can make, and it takes under a minute. The default is whatever your browser picked for you, usually because someone paid for the spot. Here is how to take it back, browser by browser.

Google Chrome (desktop)

  1. Open the three-dot menu and go to Settings.
  2. Click Search engine in the left sidebar.
  3. Choose your engine from the dropdown, or click Manage search engines to add one by its search URL.
  4. Set it as default, and you are done.

Safari (Mac and iPhone)

  1. On Mac: Safari menu, Settings, then the Search tab, and pick from the list.
  2. On iPhone: open the Settings app, scroll to Safari, tap Search Engine, and choose.
  3. If your preferred engine is not listed, use it through its own app or web shortcut.

Firefox

  1. Open the menu, go to Settings, then Search.
  2. Under Default Search Engine, pick from the dropdown.
  3. Use Add more search engines to install one that is not shown.

Microsoft Edge

  1. Open Settings, then Privacy, search, and services.
  2. Scroll to Address bar and search.
  3. Open Manage search engines, then set your choice as default.
the one thing that matters
Whichever browser you use, the move is the same: replace the default with an engine that does not profile you. Everything downstream, fewer targeted ads, no growing history, follows from that one change.

What to set it to

If you want the switch to actually mean something, point the default at an engine that keeps no account and stores no history. Bare is built for exactly this: a query passes through our server only to fetch results, so the index sees our network rather than your address, and nothing is kept once the page loads. Set it once, and every search from your address bar is private by default, with no settings to babysit.

If you change your mind

There is no risk here. Every browser lets you switch back through the same menu in seconds, and nothing about your bookmarks or history is affected. Try a private default for a week. Most people never switch back.