Manage my default search engines in Firefox for Android

Firefox for Android Firefox for Android Last updated: 2 weeks,1 day ago 31% of users voted this helpful
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Firefox for Android gives you the ability to add, remove, and change a default search engine. There are a variety of search engines available to choose from such as Google and Bing. You can also manually add other search engines and set one of them as your default.

Note: Some of the search engines introduced here are regionally bound and may not be accessible from every location. To ensure a smooth experience, make sure the search engine you are interested in adding or using is compatible with your region.

Change the default search engine

  1. Tap the search engine icon in the address bar.
    Manage search engines Android 1
  2. Tap Search Settings.
    Manage search engines Android 2
  3. Tap Default search engine.
    Manage search engines Android 3
  4. Select the search engine of your choice.
    Manage search engines Android 4 edit

Change the search engine for a single search

  1. Tap the search engine icon in the address bar.
    Manage search engines Android 5
  2. Select the search engine you want to use for this search.
    Manage search engines Android 6

This will not change your default search engine.

Edit search settings

  1. Tap the search engine icon in the address bar.
    Manage search engines Android 7
  2. Tap Search Settings.
    Manage search engines Android 8
  3. Under the Suggestions from search engines section toggle any of the following settings:
    • Show search suggestions: Display search suggestions from your default search engine when you enter URLs or keywords in the address bar.
    • Show in private sessions: Display search suggestions when searching from the address bar in private browsing sessions.
  4. Under the Address bar – Firefox suggest section toggle any of the following settings:
    • Search browsing history: Include your browsing history in searches from the address bar.
    • Search bookmarks: Include your bookmarks in searches from the address bar.
    • Search synchronized tabs: Search tabs that you have synchronized from another copy of Firefox using Firefox Sync.
  5. Under the Address bar preferences section toggle any of the following settings:
    • Show clipboard suggestions: If the last thing you copied to the clipboard was a link, the option "Fill link from clipboard" shows up when you tap the address bar in a new tab.
    • Show voice search: Display the microphone icon to be able to perform a web search using voice.
    • Autocomplete URLs: Autocomplete website addresses entered into the address bar.
Manage search engines Android-11

Add a search engine

  1. Tap the search engine icon in the address bar.
    Manage search engines Android 1
  2. Tap Search Settings.
    Manage search engines Android 2
  3. Tap Default search engine.
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  4. Tap Add search engine.
    Manage search engines Android 10
  5. Provide a name for the search engine in the designated Name text field. Then, input the URL for the search string in the Search string URL field. Optionally, include a URL for the Search Suggestion API, and tap Save.
    Manage search engines Android 9
  • If the search string URL is flagged as invalid, an error message will display to help you provide a valid URL. Please be sure to replace the query string with “%s”, for example: https://www.google.com/search?q=%s
  • If you don't know which search string to use for a particular search engine, you can access its website in a new tab, do any search and use the resulting URL as a reference. For example, if you go to ecosia.org and search for firefox, the resulting URL in the address bar will be https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=firefox. Then the search string must be https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=%s, replacing the query with "%s".

The search engine is added to the predefined list of search engines in alphabetical order.

Manage alternative search engines

  1. Tap the search engine icon in the address bar.
    Manage search engines Android 5
    Tap Search Settings.
    Manage search engines Android 2
  2. Tap Manage alternative search engines.
    Manage search engines Android 12
  3. Select the engines you want to have visible in the search menu.
    Manage search engines Android 13

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