[Annie_M]

After reading this article here on iMore: "Apple privacy exec asked why Google remains its default search engine", and then "You Can Now Help Save The Planet", I am curious to learn more about the Ecosia search engine.

Have any of you used it regularly, and if so, what are your thoughts about it.

[Ledsteplin]

I've been checking it out. Looks good so far. I think I like it better than DuckDuckGo. I'll give it more time, before I consider making it my default.

[Dgray2712]

I’ve never even heard of it until now. I will look at it though.

[Just_Me_D]

I’ve never even heard of it until now. I will look at it though.

Same here. I’ll check it out at some point. Right now, DuckDuckGo remains my search engine of choice.

[JandN2639]

Yes. My main issue with it is that it only offers a single page of results.

[Ed7789]

My main search engines are DuckDuckGo (personal) and Bing (Professional).

I did switch it out on my laptop. I will try it out for the next month, and I will check back in on the 28^th of February.

[dmoskaluk]

I'll give it a whirl over the next few weeks. Lots of home-time as we lock down again from 3 Feb.

[Annie_M]

I’m going to check it out on my iPad as well!

[dmoskaluk]

I’m going to check it out on my iPad as well!

I put it on both iPhone & iPad. Not quite ready to set is as default but let's see!!

[Just_Me_D]

I was briefly looking over their privacy policy and decided to poke with it.

“We don’t store your searches permanently”
--Okay. Well how long do you store it?


“We don’t create personal profiles of you based on your search history.”
--Okay, so what do you create personal profiles based on?


“We actually anonymize all searches within one week.”
--So is it safe to assume the searches are NOT anonymous prior to one week?


“We don’t sell your data to advertisers”
—Okay, but what about non-advertisers, government entities, etcetera? Do you sell the data to them?

[dmoskaluk]

Is there a search engine that does not at least 'dip a toe' into some or all of those behaviour albeit in a limited way..If so, how do they survive?

[Just_Me_D]

Is there a search engine that does not at least 'dip a toe' into some or all of those behaviour albeit in a limited way..If so, how do they survive?

I’m sure they all dip a toe here and there. I just get a kick out of how they try to tell you what your concerns are or what they should be and then word their privacy policy accordingly.

[dmoskaluk]

In a world where even 'the lawyers have lawyers' really nothing at all is a surprise!!

[dmoskaluk]

They do have a widget available- so seem to wish to make a go of this.

[Ledsteplin]

I’m going to check it out on my iPad as well!

I keep having issues with Safari. Had to reset my WWF password, and the screen froze in Safari. Couldn't reset it. Pasted the log in site in Ecosia, and it worked perfectly. I've had other issues with Safari. Often times videos won't play. Safari has decent features, but it's just too buggy. I'm gonna try Ecosia as my default. Wish me luck!

[Ed7789]

I have used Ecosia for a couple of weeks. I switched back to DuckDuckGo a couple of days ago.

I decided to go back to DuckDuckGo, because Ecosia didn't bring much more value to my searches.
There were no cases where Ecosia failed and DuckDuckGo succeeded. They were pretty much on par for me.
Where it fails is in the interface, it has "No automatic dark mode" which I rely on.

Note that I'm not a huge web browser search engine user in day-to-day use. I often know the addresses for the sites I visit, like https://forums.imore.com :P

[Instamixes]

Hello Annie,

I am not aware of this search engine.
Can you please tell me something about this?

[Annie_M]

Hello Annie,

I am not aware of this search engine.
Can you please tell me something about this?

It's an alternative to Google. Supposedly, it helps protect your privacy as well as the environment. In all truth, I keep forgetting to use it.

[Ledsteplin]

It's an alternative to Google. Supposedly, it helps protect your privacy as well as the environment. In all truth, I keep forgetting to use it.

I've been getting a lot of freezing up in Safari while trying to enter passwords and other things on sites. Can't reset passwords. So, been using Ecosia more. Apple Support says they're aware of the Safari issue. Apparently, it doesn't affect all iPhones. Does mine and a bunch of others.

[anthonyFerg92]

Haven't used it on a regular basis but it was working fine when i did.

[Ledsteplin]

I've been getting a lot of freezing up in Safari while trying to enter passwords and other things on sites. Can't reset passwords. So, been using Ecosia more. Apple Support says they're aware of the Safari issue. Apparently, it doesn't affect all iPhones. Does mine and a bunch of others.

This issue ↑↑ has apparently been fixed in iOS 14.5. Finally, after about 6 months!

[Lee_Bo]

Looks interesting. I may have to try it.