Google will ask EU citizens which search engine they’d like to use

Next year, Google will give its European Android users the freedom to set up their phones with the search provider of their choice.

“Search providers can apply to be part of the new choice screen, which will appear when someone is setting up a new Android smartphone or tablet in Europe,” the company said in a blog post on Thursday.

The chosen provider will be supported on Android’s search box on home screens and run as the default in Chrome, if users have the browser installed.

This comes after Google gave European users the option to download preferred browsers and search providers from the Play Store earlier this year, after the European Commission found that Google practiced anti-competitive behaviour by forcing Android customers to use its own services.

Google also released an updated Search algorithm that improves its “systems’ understanding of what information remains useful over time”, to help keep Search relevant.

Feature image: Shereesa Moodley/Memeburn