Samsung May Nudge You to Rethink Your Default Search Engine

It looks like Samsung wants to help Galaxy users choose a new default search engine for browsing the web. The company is reportedly pushing a silent notification called the Search Engine Selector. The alert has been showing up randomly on devices running the latest Android 16-based One UI 8.

Some Galaxy devices receive the Search Engine Selector notification

There’s no doubt that most people prefer Google as their default search engine in their browsers. However, Samsung appears to remind its users that there are a lot of search engines in the tech industry. As spotted by SammyFans, the company is letting users set their preferred search engine through the Search Engine Selector notification. The description reads, “Choose your search engine: select the app you’ll use to search the web.”

If you tap the Choose app option from the notification banner, it will take you to a dedicated setup page where you can see a list of available search engines. These include Yandex, Yahoo Search, Yep, Microsoft Bing, Mojeek, KARMA, Ecosia, Google, Brave, Quendu.com, and PrivacyWall.

From there, you can select your preferred search engine app. Note that if it is not available on your device, the system will automatically download and install it. Moreover, once picked, this setting will apply system-wide, including Google Chrome, for a uniform browsing experience across your device.

If you want to manually manage your search engine later, the process is straightforward. For Google Chrome, head over to Settings and tap Search engine to make your selection. In the Samsung Internet app, tap the Menu icon and then select Settings. Finally, tap the Address bar search to select your favorite search engine.

The publication says Samsung is randomly pushing the Search Engine Selector notification to One UI 8 users. Meanwhile, the company has today expanded its One UI 8 beta program to a bunch of older devices, including the Galaxy A55, S23 series, A36, A35, and A54. The final version will begin rolling out sometime this month, starting with the Galaxy S25 series.