Can't set Brave Search as default search engine on Chromium

Hi. I recently have been unable to set Brave Search as the default search engine on Android Chromium browsers.

After searching using Brave Search, it refuses to appear under Recently Visited search engines.

I have tried with two browsers, Kiwi Browser and Vanadium, both based of Chromium.

This issue seems recent as I was able to set Brave Search as the default on Vanadium about a month ago.

So the following instructions do not work?

And another reference:

They indeed do not work

Is Brave Search listed among the selectable search engines?

If not, you may need to use the Add Custom Search Engine function and enter:

https://search.brave.com/search?q=%s

And for the title:

Brave Search

Most mobile Chromium browsers don’t allow explicitly adding a new search engine. They instead rely on OpenSearch to detect search engines the user searches with. These search engines show under Recenty Visted (which Brave Search does not).

If anyone has any suggestions, please do mention.

Sounds like your issue is with those other Chromium engined Internet browsers. But maybe somebody here at the Brave Community, will know. @Mattches ?

Hi. I did further testing and it appears it is an issue with Brave Search on Chromium browsers both desktop and mobile.

I tried searching using Brave Search on Windows 11 Edge and Brave Search would not automatically appear under suggested Search Engines (see image).

Whereas, the search engine Startpage immediately appears after a single search query using it, as seen in the image.

For those still struggling on Android, here is a fix:

  • Disable JavaScript in your browser settings
  • Run a search with Brave Search
  • Brave Search should now show up under recently visited search engines
  • After selecting Brave, turn back on JavaScript

Worked on Vanadium and Kiwi Browser. Unfortunately did not seem to fix the issue on desktop Chromium (Edge).

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Thank you for reporting this. I’ll be passing this onto our devs for review but I’m glad you found a workaround in the interim.

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