Removing google searchbar

2 posts were merged into an existing topic: FP3 : Fairphone Open OS?

I tried the usual step: long click on it, config of the launcher, try every options in parameters and finally deactivate Google search and all google product I was able to deactivate in Applications menu. The seachr bar is still there, but inactive.

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True. But imo i tried everything in all the settings, just like NicoM above. Plus, if it weren’t impossible, wouldn’t anyone here come up with a solution? :slight_smile:

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The number of people who have their Fairphone 3 already seems still very limited, especially among the forum regular techies who perhaps ordered one (don’t know, perhaps we should make a list) :slight_smile: .

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My answer is a bit out of topic, but we should be able to identify who got a FP3 just with profiles of the forum, but so far it is just FP1 or FP2 :wink:

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Look here:

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Just looked on the screen of GlassRat and found no search widget like my below one. I mean the “Suchen” and not the DuckDuckGo one:


How did you remove it?
I tried to remove (without root) Goo**e and succeeded also there but the white field “Suchen” can neither be removed nor shifted. It is also not possible to put the DuckDuckGo widget over this field.
Any idea?

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I’m using Nova launcher rather than the default launcher. No search bar by default.

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Lawnchair also solved my problem. Thanks!
Would be nice if no extra app is needed. On my tablet search bar can be completely removed without new launcher.

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I have the same problem,and I don’t wanna use Lawchair, just want to disable the bar?

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There are is no option to do this with the stock android launcher that Fairphone uses by default. This is also an issue on Google phones (see here for example), where the advice is the same: switch to a different launcher. If contracts with Google for the use of Android allow it, Fairphone could have chosen to include a different launcher by default, but that then of course would lead to cries of bloatware and non-standard features being included. If you do want the official android launcher, but without the search bar feature, the Google’s android team are the people to talk to (as any Fairphone changes here would mean it is no longer the stock launcher) - perhaps if there’s enough feedback Google will push an update that allows disabling the bar.

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:rofl: the humble people of Google, listening to feedback, doing what their customers want them to? I doubt “feedback” will force them to do that, maybe “feedback” from the court. What annoys me the most about the feature is not that you can’t disable it (that by itself is annoying); it is that you cannot switch the search engine it uses. I mean, seriously… WTF? How is that not anti competitive behavior? I think the best route to deal with it, is to write members of parliament about this problem. Who though?

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Just installed Lean launcher. It’s lightweight. I haven’t look at all the settings. My main goal was to get rid of the google searchbar.

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I removed the Google searchbar by uninstalling the Google app with the adb (Android Debug Bridge) on my FP2. This should also work on the FP3.
Here (https://www.xda-developers.com/uninstall-carrier-oem-bloatware-without-root-access/) is a tutorial for this.

Additions to the tutorial

You can also find the package name in the URL of the the app in the web Play Store (https://play.google.com/store).
E.g. for the super-duper Google app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox -> com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox

If you like to use the Google app and only want to remove the home screen searchbar, you can easily reinstall the app from the Play Store.

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Just adding links to source (GitHub) and Google Play Store for Lawnchair, Lean Launcher, and Launcher3 (aka “Rootless Pixel Launcher”).

Lawnchair:

Lean Launcher:

Launcher3:

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This worked, but now I have a(n ugly) black search bar on the same location.

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I’d rather have the most ugly searchbar from wherever than the one from gougel… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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While I love supporting open source, I couldn’t find out how to set a custom home panel with Lawnchair, so I use Nova. This was possible on older stock Androids and it’s a function I find really useful.

Is there a way to do it with Lawnchair? Then I’d switch back!

As stated on the F-Droid page the launcher is apparently not maintained anymore.
Though the underlying problem seems to be something else.

Other launchers you could use: OpenLauncher, the Fairphone 1 or 2 launchers (downloadable from F-Droid)