I also need clarification. When I first set it up, I chose Brave as my browser, and Duck Duck Go as my search engine. When I got to the desktop, I had Brave installed (normal) but also the Duck Duck Go browser. I uninstalled it because I didn’t need two browsers. But I ended up with the date instead of the Duck Duck Go search bar on the main page… how do I change that? While I’m at it, if it can save me from having two browsers installed, I would rather select Brave as the search engine for the home bar.
It’s a real shame and rather clumsy of Fairphone not to offer this change in the settings. It shouldn’t be very complicated. I really hope they’ll fix this in the future. Or even offer to remove the forced search bar or the date that replaces it if you disable the associated app.
I dont think other phones give you the ability to later on select the default browser and search engine from the same menu as what you have seen when setting it up. Or is there any?
If you want to change them later, you can install the apps yourself that this menu would install, and set the browser up as a default, and place the widget of the search engine on the launcher manually.
I dont know which is the default launcher on Fairphone’s stock OS, but otherwise it is often Quickstep, both on CalyxOS which I use on mine, and I think even on Google Pixels and possibly other brands.
If you generally like it but want more settings, the Lawnchair launcher is a modification of it that is more customizable.
If you were meaning the change as bringing the search bar back in the full app list, this launcher has it configurable, and DuckDuckgo is one of the selectable search providers.
But if you were meaning the change as bringing back the DDG search widget, that was always provided by the DDG Browser, so you cant have one without the other. What you can do is remove the DDG Browser’s icon from the launcher front pages.
But did the DDG search widget have any additional functions compared to Brave’s?
This my search screen. Both bars open search duckduckgo “browser”. I believe i hid google chrome, you cannot uninstall it. I can still retrieve chrome back by going to apps and unhide. When i said hide i mean disabled and enabled. Then i set duckduckgo as default search engine. I might have to add ducks widget hence i have 2.
I came across this has disabled another app ( not sure which one,) but the phone failed to work correctly.
In case you know someone who can assist you with the ADB shell, that’s the way how you can change your search engine. But you’ll need a computer with ADB installed which is probably not the easiest exercise for inexperienced users (sorry, I concluded that from the issues you are having):
