The day has arrived for everyone to give the new Brave Search a chance for themselves. The new search engine has started rolling out to the beta versions of the mobile and desktop browsers. However, everyone can try it by navigating to search.brave.com.
Back in March, the developers of Brave Privacy Browser announced that it would be launching its private-first search engine. The company acquired Tailcoat, an open-source search engine, and stated that this would be integrated into the Brave web browser.
When you open the updated app on your Android or iOS phone, you will be asked which search engine to use. Google is selected by default, but right below that, the Brave Search option is listed amongst other popular search engine alternatives.
“Brave Search is the industry’s most private search engine, as well as the only independent search engine, giving users the control and confidence they seek in alternatives to big tech.”
Brave stated that the service had been tested with more than 100,000 users in the blog post announcing the introduction. This is pretty impressive, but this new search engine could grow exponentially once it’s in the hands of Brave’s browser’s more than 32 million monthly active users.
The move comes after Brave (and other popular browser developers) publicly declared against Google’s recent efforts to create a series of Privacy Sandbox APIs for ads. Google’s FLoC technology aims to preserve privacy by grouping users instead of using individual IDs for tracking. However, there are concerns that Google could build a “back door” to give itself access to those personal tracking IDs. On the other hand, Brave does not track its users, opting to partner with companies to provide “privacy-respecting” ads.
Perhaps this is why Brave is looking to create a “true independent alternative to big tech” as it builds its index for results. Other search engine alternatives use an index rented from Google or Microsoft, and Brave won’t follow suit.
Because of this, you may experience growing pains when using Brave Search over Google or Bing. This is because the developers create and use APIs to “improve and refine” the results that appear for things like image search results and others.
Brave’s browser is already one of the best Android browsers, even if you ignore the privacy features. The app itself is fast and fluid and can enable some privacy features if you want. Plus, it also offers a way to earn rewards through the Brave Rewards program as you use the browser.
