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Google could soon be asking a whole lot more of you to set your browser and search defaults
- Chrome’s working on a new dialog for choosing your default browser and search.
- The interface is not yet functional, and development notes indicate the backend has yet to be completed.
- While Google’s asked about browser and search options before, Chrome integration could open those up to new users.
Nobody can touch Google when it comes to search, and while there’s a bit more competition for browsers, Chrome is pretty darn comfortable in the top spot. That’s good news for Google, but not as great if your focus is on there being a vibrant marketplace full of lots of solid options. Google’s faced pressure from regulators for years to make Android as a platform less about doing everything with Google services, and more one where users are encouraged to choose their own providers. Today we’re checking out some changes in the works for Chrome that appear to be a response to just that kind of encouragement.
Thanks to the work of the European Commission and other government bodies, Google’s been asking users in certain markets to choose their default browser and search service for the past five years. Those efforts are only intensifying in 2024, as the EU’s Digital Markets Act takes effect, bringing us new screens for selecting browser and search preferences, and changing how certain Google services operate.
Even with all these options in place, it looks like Google is trying to really make sure it has all its bases covered here, and MSPowerUser reports on an in-progress change to Chrome that’s all about — you guessed it — setting search and browser defaults.
Evidence for this change appears as a recent commit on the Chromium Gerrit, where it discusses work on a dialog box for configuring default browser and search selections. It’s clear this is a work in progress, as the commit notes that this interface tweak is not yet functional, and that it still needs to be hooked up on the backend.
Notably, this method for making your selections will be integrated into Chrome. We’re not yet sure how Google might plan to surface this screen, but it could be used as a follow-up that’s intended to give a second chance to users who tapped right through the selection screens during initial Android device setup without thinking twice.
The other big possibility there is that by making this a flag in Chrome, Google could be thinking about asking Chrome users everywhere to make these choices — and this time, maybe stay one step ahead of regulators before they spin up their next antitrust case. That would be a very interesting move on Google’s part, and we can’t wait to see what ultimately comes of this change as development finishes up on it.