Top 8 Google Alternatives Android

“Would you like to make Google your default search engine?” Ten simple words put together with a question mark at the end that might not mean anything to most users, but might be the most frustrating thing in the world for others. Google’s omnipresence is wide and far reaching these days, but it still has its detractors. Personally, I’ve always found it immensely reassuring to have Google powering my Android smartphone, both with its technology and its apps, but some will do just about everything they can to use third party alternatives. Google is of course most well known for its search engine that is number one the world over, and of course comes as the default and pre installed option on all Android smartphones and tablets. As with search providers on the web, however, there are viable alternatives if you wish to give Google the boot and try something else. Many of these come in the form of third party browsers or browsing apps that don’t necessarily get rid of Google, but at least give you the option to pick between several different options.

8. Search Now (Free)

Let’s start off with a few small third party search apps that you may well have overlooked when browsing the Play Store. These are typically very simple and offer one or two useful functions, but might well be worth checking out if you’re simply looking for a different way to search the web. Search Now, by Digital Life International is a real multitasker, allowing you to quickly search from your home screen while doing other stuff. You can then drag it around as you wish, or hide it with a longer. It supports most of the main search engines out there including Google, and will even allow you to search within your contacts. – Download from Google Play

7. Smart Search (Free)

Smart Search is another nice alternative to Google, but also works as a neat third party browser. As a browser it’s fairly simple but does claim that it is better than Chrome, Opera and Firefox – I’ll leave answering that claim up to you guys! The important thing though is that it supports many different sites to search on, including Bing, Yahoo, YouTube and a whole lot more. So if you’re the kind that often searches specific sites including social media ones like Twitter and Facebook, this is the app for you. – Download from Google Play

6. Yandex (Free)

Yandex is a Russian company that provides not only a search engine but many other different services. It’s the closest to a complete package we can recommend on this list, and represents the fourth largest search engine on the web at present. There is a localized English version if you, like us, are not of the Russian persusasion and there are many different features to choose from such as the ability to search through images and video, its own email and maps service and a whole lot more. – Download from Google Play

5. Bing (Free)

Why switch from Google, though? It’s a question we haven’t yet addressed in this article but one that is definitely worth considering. Google is the industry standard around the world, and is a company that has always preached against wrong – but that doesn’t stop them from manipulating search results to their own ends. Google will also keep track of everything you are doing, so as to better focus their Google ads – quite the underhand approach, I’d say. That’s not to state that other search engines won’t do the same, but Google is hardly perfect. Perhaps the closest to Google in terms of competition today is the Microsoft-backed Bing, which currently has a surprising market share of around 20%. Be honest: that’s more than you thought it would have, right? The app comes preinstalled on Windows Phones, and is free to download for Android. – Download from Google Play

4. Dolphin (Free)

I mentioned at the top of the list that some of these Google alternatives would come in the form of third party browsers, and that is indeed the case with Dolphine. Outside of Chrome, I’d place Dolphin as the best browser for Android devices at present. The app will provide you with many of the features that you’re only used to getting with your desktop browser, and also allows you to pick and choose the search engine you want to use when searching the web. – Download from Google Play

3. Yahoo (Free)

Yahoo was always the go to alternative back in the day if Google didn’t come up with what you wanted – alongside the mighty AltaVista, of course. Many people are not aware of it, but it should be noted that the Yahoo search service is not built from the ground up, despite existing for such a long time. Instead, it utilizes the Bing search results and places this engine inside the app almost like an engine being placed in the shell of a car. Fortunately, that shell is a lot more attractive and boasts better design than the actual Bing app so this one is worth considering ahead of it. I’ve mentioned this once or twice now but it bears repeating: Yahoo is responsible for some of the best looking apps out there right now in terms of clean, smooth interfaces and usability. The Yahoo news app is similarly excellent, and their weather app is also worth checking out if only for this reason alone. – Download from Google Play

2. WolframAlpha (Free)

WolframAlpha describes itself as a computational knowledge engine, which is a phrase that might turn some users away immediately. In fact, if I’d come across it while searching the Play Store I might even think it was some kind of app designed for maths or computer geeks rather than a viable option among Google alternatives. In a way, that’s exactly the kind of user that this app is aimed at but it does stand on its own two feet as an excellent search engine, too. Wolfram Alpha mainly curates the data that it pushes rather than caching its web pages, and as a search engine it curates this data from many different and reliable sources. It’s one of the best reference apps around, and is pretty much a must have if you are a college student and often search the web for detailed info in your given field.  – Download from Google Play

1. DuckDuckGo (Free)

The award for fastest growing search engine on the web at present is DuckDuckGo, which has grown so quickly precisely because it has a transparent approach to user privacy in a way that Google does not DuckDuckGo is an aggregated search engine, meaning that it pulls its results from many different sources but most important of all does not keep track of your actions and then shadily use this info for its own gain or – heaven forbid – sell this information on to the highest bigger. While there are ads on DuckDuckGo, the website and the app represent a strict one per page policy that ensures you won’t be bombarded by personalized advertisements. There is also a neat voice search feature which will speed up your searching time. – Download from Google Play