Brave announced that the browser will offer its own search engine, Brave Search that focuses on privacy and independence, as an alternative to major search engines. Brave’s search engine uses an independent index. It doesn’t track users, searches made by users, or users’ clicks. Existing users will keep the search engine they preferred as default but will be able to switch to Brave Search whenever they want.
Five countries
With the latest update, version 1.31 for desktop browser, version 1.31 for Android app, and version 1.32 for iOS app, Brave Search is replacing Google as the default search engine in the address bar for new users in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Brave Search also replaces Qwant in France and DuckDuckGo in Germany. The Brave team stated that they are planning on adding other countries in the next months.
According to the announcement, Brave Search will also be available in most of the other popular web browsers. The Brave team stated that Brave Search currently doesn’t display any ads but the free version will be ad-supported soon. There will also be a Premium version of the service in a near future, which will be ad-free. Brendan Eich, CEO and co-founder of Brave said,
“Brave Search has grown significantly since its release last June, with nearly 80 million queries per month. Our users are pleased with the comprehensive privacy solution that Brave Search provides against Big Tech by being integrated into our browser. As we know from experience in many browsers, the default setting is crucial for adoption, and Brave Search has reached the quality and critical mass needed to become our default search option, and to offer our users a seamless privacy-by-default online experience.”