XSearch for Safari App Reviews

Worth it despite issues. Being able to switch between search engines by typing a letter or so before search terms is amazing forbthe price. Current issue: unable to successfully save my own queries. The "done" button (to save) doesn't work. (Perhaps this would be less important if I could duplicate and then modify certain searches?)

Finally, I can use a custom default search engine in Safari!. This has been the #1 thing stopping me from using Safari as my main browser and xSearch has made it possible! I was initially looking for macOS, but I was excited to find that it was also available on iOS and iPad OS. After testing, I'm pleased to say it works just as well there. Give it a try if you need a custom default search engine or want support for multiple engines (accessible by keyword). You won't regret it!

doesn’t change default search engine on ios. it doesn’t really do what it claims to to. there doesn’t seem to be a good option.

Bug | Email Links don’t work. When I click on a link in an email client (eg gmail, spark, apple mail) it takes me to a search engine and puts the URL of the link I clicked on in the email in the search engine as a search. The expected behavior is to open the link address — not to intercept every link sent from an email client to iOS Safari. I love this app and will change my review back to 5 stars once this issue is resolved. Unfortunately, there is no support email listed that I could find so I am forced to communicate this way through the review section…

Thank you for making this app!. This app is a daily convenience. The functionality is so good and the implementation is so natural that I feel as if Apple should have the feature as a standard setting in Safari for searching. This app and NOIR for dark mode websites in Safari really improve the user experience. Thanks to both developers. Phenomenal software.

Safari extension adds functionality I have been looking for for years. Seriously amazing.

Perfect! A must have!. I’m fairly techie but ran into a few hurdles setting up the app. Emailed the developer and he promptly got back to me. A few back and forth emails and I was good to go. Definitely recommend!

macOS support please!. Great app! Makes searching on my iPhone a breeze. One ask, please support Safari on macOS!

Yuck. This app is NOT worth paying for! It does NOT do what it is Said to do it messes EVERYTHING Up

great app but….. please support for older macos, too..i can't upgrade from mojave.

Great, but beware setup. Best two bucks ever. When setting up, multiple shortcuts for a single search engine seem to render it ineffective. For example, Duck Duck Go is set up with shortcuts d and ddg. Won’t work unless you get rid of one or the other.

It’s so worth it. It’s so helpful!

Fantastic. This is a wonderful application that replicates Chrome’s custom search engine functionality in Safari. Does what it says on the tin, and does it well. A must-have.

while cool it still uses the default search engine selected in safari settings. for example I wanted to use brave search , when you check privacy tracker default search engine will for a moment use the safari setting which is duck duck go then it goes to brave search

It’s not working and nobody will respond to my emails….. When I initially bought and downloaded the iOS Safari app, it appeared, I toggled it on and everything was fine. A few weeks ago it disappeared from Safari. The app still on my phone and appeared active but the extension, gone. I’ve deleted the app tried reinstalling it more times than I can count, each time trying something different thinking maybe it was something I had changed or did to make it disappear. But from the time it was actively working to the minute it disappeared I hadn’t changed,added, taken away, reconfigured anything in my phone. Since I can’t get a response from support or the developer, I’ve resorted to seeking help from chatGPT. No success. I had a similar situation occur back in February with the AdGuard AdBlocker iOS Safari extension. Downloaded it, it worked for several weeks, then it was gone. Weeks later it suddenly appeared and was working, then it was gone again. Support? Not at all. And I had bought the annual subscription as well. I believe this is more of an Apple situation than an app issue. It’s really disappointing.! No help, nowhere to turn, no recourse, thank you Apple.

Essential feature. I have not tested further, but it’s absolutely inane that such a useful and basic feature, which is in practically every other browser on the market, somehow did not make it into Safari. I will update the review if this extension end up disappointing.

XSearch. Either this is a straight up useless app or the developer needs to come up with instructions. What I saw depicted in the video below looks perfect what occurs on my phone is far from what I see as advertised. A guide on best utilizing the app could go a long way in making this app a more viable one.

Magnificent. Wow! It’s a must have app…

Great app, would love a Mac version. Edit: thank you for bringing this to Mac as well! I highly recommend this extension! Works great and the dev is very responsive. I really like the app, it’s simple but powerful. I hope you consider bringing it to Mac some time in the future.

Most convoluted backup system I’ve ever seen. I just want the latest changes on all devices. They all somehow constantly aren’t.

Amazing extension. Very useful with a good amount of engines in the gallery. If the app doesn't have the search engine you want, just make it yourself. Very easy to use and to make your own search engine for your favorite websites. Great job!

❌SEARCH… love at first 🅱️YTE❕. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤍🤎❤️🧡💚

Accesses user passwords! Security Breach!. The extension xSearch for Safari claims it doesn’t read user data. But we can clearly see it DOES invade our privacy and read our page content and passwords. This is false advertising and a security breach!

Needs better setup instructions. So I’ve had this extension forever but I’ve never been able to get it to work. Even making sure ONLY this extension was enabled and making sure the prefix was enabled and shortcut phrase was correct. Turns out, there’s an extra final step needed to get the extension to work. In Safari, when you tap the address bar, under the search section you should see an option that says “xSearch” with the icon next to it. You have to tap that and give xSearch the necessary permissions, or it will never work no matter what. Took me this long (months) to finally figure it out. Definitely need better setup instructions for this extension, as well as the ability toto re-access initial setup instructions in case a step gets overlooked.

Meh, Doesn’t Work At All On iPad. This app seemed really cool at first, until I installed it on my iPad too. It works fine on iPhone and Mac but doesn’t work at all on iPad. This is kind of a deal breaker for me. If you use an iPad, don’t throw away money like I did, look somewhere else.

Nope. App hijacked. I downloaded this app so I could use Brave Search. It worked for one day, and then Apple probably "caught me." The next day, nothing I tried (and there are many things to try, NONE of which will work) would allow me to use Brave Search. So save your money. Apple always wins.

Xsearch for safari. Love I

Perfect. Was looking to make Brave the default search engine. This did that and much more, thanks to the !bang shortcuts.

Misleading privacy statement in description. Direct quote from app description "One of the best things about xSearch is that it is built with your privacy in mind. We don't request any additional permissions, meaning we don't have access to any of your personal data, giving you peace of mind when using our tool." Yet, when I open the app, it tells me I need to grant permission to “see my browsing history on all sites [I] visit”. I’m sorry if I don’t trust a developer’s claims that all processing is done on device. Without proof, that’s just words.

Super useful!. This is super useful for both changing the default search engine in Safari, and handling keyword searches! One bug I came across with the default search engine feature is that clicking links in google docs opens the search engine with the url as the search text. Could you please fix this? Thanks!

Does not do what it claims. I wanted to replace the default search engine on Safari with Brave, and I followed instructions I found online and it never populated under settings.

Boken for Google. Love this extension, but its broken for google, even with no google shortcut set when I try to search in the google search bar it just redirects to the initial safari search bar query. not a big deal for me, just thought it'd be useful to report, thanks for the useful app though

Share extension. Please add option to open a new safari tab instead of the web viewer when searching using the share extension. Otherwise great app.

Fastest 2 bucks I ever spent. It’s a simple problem, and here’s an elegant solution. Does exactly what I want. It even has the ability to completely replace the default search engine with one of the engines in the app. It is a little quirky in some ways, for example if you use a non-default engine, click a link, then go back, the extension will override the back request and switch the search to the app’s default. However, I won’t dock anything cause the feature is hidden away under an “advanced” tab, likely due to quirks like this. The main app functionality works perfectly. Edit: Just poked around some more and there are different override modes for the feature I mentioned… that fix the problem I also mentioned. This is why I pay money for apps lol

A Must-Have App for Exclusive Search Engine Access. XSEARCH is a delightful discovery in the app store! I've thoroughly enjoyed using it, as it has significantly enhanced my productivity. I was frustrated with receiving only Google's curated results for my work research. XSEARCH offers access to updated and obscure search engines, offering a diversity and exclusiveness in search options that are unparalleled, reminiscent of exploring secret libraries filled with extensive and varied information. The interface is sleek and user-friendly, allowing for effortless navigation. Its performance is reliable, free from crashes or bugs, and it receives regular updates to introduce new features and ensure the search engines remain current. The app is widely acclaimed for its effectiveness and superior quality.

iOS 17 issue. App is not working after updating iPhone.

Works Really Well. Custom search engines with keywords, just like desktop browsers. It even has a big gallery so you never need to add one manually. By default, Safari will load its default search engine for a moment before this kicks in, but there’s a beta feature in app settings to make it work correctly. The translations on the settings screen are a bit rough though.

App. App

Perfect. If you have custom search engines this app does exactly what you want (and way more if you’re interested). This is so powerful and beautifully executed. Thanks so much!

Doesn’t work at all. Can’t override the default Safari search engine

lost all custom shortcuts after 1.1.0 update. great for active development, but shortcuts reset to defaults after 1.1.0 update. frustrating

Dude, GET THIS!. If you’ve made a habit of using google for tech stuff and DuckDuckGo for everything else uncensored, GET THIS! No more playing with default search settings, just type the search engine trigger in the address box before your search and that’s it.

GREAT. If you have Alfred on the Mac side …. I use Alfred on my Mac and I can port all of my often used web searches from there to my iPad. Thanks for this extension it’s great.

You need this. I’ve used this so long it has changed how I search. It’s wonderful and keeps getting better.

very good. so convenient

Great!. Very easy and nice design. Works perfect with no problems.

Learning. So far so good

Customized searches are such a great tool. Great implementation of a sorely need function in Safari. The built-in engines are useful but even better is the ability to add custom searches. I’ve started setting up shortcuts for all the sites I administer, along with some work databases I use every day. Im looking forward to seeing how far I can extend it: domain-based Google searches? Searches for Evernote? Google Docs? It’s very useful to have this easily accessible from Spotlight too!

Helpful. I like that its easy and simple

Pure Trash. I was unable to get the app to do anything. Should get my money back.

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Handy safari utility.. Handy safari utility for searching websites quickly from the URL bar. I liked being able to change my default search engine to brave also. I switched to CSE after using xsearch for a year or two as it’s open source and I can trust more that it isn’t collecting data. I’d very happily switch back to xsearch if it became open source with all the code viewable online. I’d also pay more than I did originally if it was open source.

Just so simple to use. I’ve been using this app when it first came out. And ability to switch search engines just by typing a letter in the front is absolutely amazing. Sometimes I I use Bing search engine and I just a simple as typing b in front in the search bar. Sometimes are use brave search engine which made it so easy to set up and now I just type in BR and it comes up. If you haven’t usef this all I highly recommend this app. Google is not the be all and end all. To have options that she can switch true on the fly is brilliant.

Does exactly what it says. A well implemented app that lets you use keywork searching in the address bar in Safari. Should be native in Safari but this is worth the investment cause it ain’t.

I can report it works!. Does what it says on the tin, and I’m happy to pay a few dollars for that. I tried out another app (Custom Search Engine), but that one is super unreliable. I did make the mistake of not setting the XSearch extension to be allowed “always”, so I thought it wasn’t working to start with. The only complaint is that when I am using Google and navigating between tabs (Web, Images etc), this causes XSearch to kick in and redirect me to my regular search engine, which isn’t helpful.

Amazing. Really great app that does exactly what it should and the developer was extremely quick to respond when I had a question regarding adding custom searches. Been using this for several months now and just remembered now to leave a review. Great app and is well worth the money for me as I use it many times every day.

Brilliant!. Coupled with an ad blocker and a Google AMP redirector, this combo is unstoppable! Honestly brilliant app!!!

Fake reviews. This app has many fake reviews and does NOT say here what it does. It’s deceptive and when you want a refund the dev basically tells you to go F yourself and denies it. Do not fall for this!

PERFECTION. This app is 5 bucks (au) - not a subscription, not some garbage - syncs, configures, automates. YOU THE MAN DEV! Will be synced to my devices forever

Very Handy. Complete control over search engines.

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Can’t work out how to add engine, the symbols needed at the end of the url are a mystery.. There are zero online walkathoughs or videos. Not even a manual.

Overrides searches you make on websites. I go to make a search on a website instead of my default selected one then my search gets forced to the website selected on xsearch.

Direct search speed. If you have searched for a website to seach on that website, you need this. Search any site directly with a shortcut. Example "rt movie" for rotton tomatoes, look at how the serarch is generated on the website and enter the url %s. Cross platform cloud sync works across iPhone, iPad and Mac, under Settings/Preferences.

Great solution to safari’s locked down search engines. I use this to ensure my Google searches go to my country’s Google site, which Safari won’t allow by itself. Works great and is easy to use.

非常好的扩展. 切换谷歌和百度搜索方便多了，谢谢作者！

No spotlight support?. I’m using another default browser. I’m trying to get safari to use a different search engine. It only uses that engine when I search via safari app directly but not thru spotlight. Kinda frustrating.

fantastic gem!!!. I wanted to use Perplexity as the default search engine on Safari to reduce random browsing. It works so much better than I expected! Because it supports prefix *and* suffix for the keyword, I can start typing my question and decide which engine I want to use after. Using “?” as the keyword makes it even more natural. Love this app!

appli $$$. application ne se retrouve pas dans mes abonnements et je dois payer...

Very useful. This app is simply a fantastic help in searching the web quickly. Just program your sites. It Syncs between the iPhone and Macs.

A waste of money. This does nothing more than create bookmarks, and it keeps them in another app rather than Safari.

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No explanation of how the app works. It is impossible to figure out how to configure this app, and there are no help files or info which makes the whole thing kind of useless, uness you just want a single default replacement

Awesome but can’t set a default. This is something I’ve been looking for because I like to use Start Page which is not able to be set as a default search engine natively. Only problem is, this app doesn’t have a way to set a default. Can’t you check for an empty string as the keyword?

Fishy?. Update 2025.06: Received response from developer, who explained what happened. This response should have been someone in release notes or popup screen in macOS, as this started happening around macOS 15.4, and wasn’t happening earlier. Keeping original review for historical artifacts. Something fishy started happening to this app. It’s been solid choice for years, but recently it started to request additional permissions. Going back to the app change log you can see that “improvements and bug fixes”, nothing about extra permissions. Therefore uninstalled and warning all users.

App is not functional. I am unable to get the app to work. Everytime I try to open it I get "The operation couldn’t be completed. (SFErrorDomain error 1.)". The app remains unusable on my Macbook Pro.

Great!. Started loving it on iOS and I'm glad it's on Mac now.

Extremely useful to enforce search behavior. A lot of people flip out at AI enriched search results and xSearch here can and will allow you to stick to traditional search methods with easy flags and shorthand when you’re conducting a search. It took me a little while to get the feel for it but I didn’t watch any videos about it or anything, because I am fine with AI enriched search but find Youtube completely insufferably agonizing to use and avoiding that sounds great to me too. easy access to Gemini AI Search, DuckDuckGo, bing Images all without having to change browsers or cramped mobile UIs. Just `^ai why is AI search controversial” and safari passes it directly to Gemini. Heck yeah.

Profile Mgmt between multiple devices is a nightmare. I have never seen such a horribly designed icloud interface. I just all my devices to use the latest profile.

Custom web search. I use Presearch, but Safari does not provide an option to set up a custom search engine. It's great that this app allows me to use that easily.

Brillian Utility. xSearch has become one of my "must have" utilities on all my macs. It's particularly helpful if, like me, you use Perplexity multiple times a day and you need to want to send queries to google, perplexity or wikipedia without lifting your fingers from the keyboard.

Great on iOS and macOS, broken on iPadOS. Title says it all. This app is *magic* when it works, which seems to only be on iOS and macOS. No amount of tinkering can get this thing to function on iPadOS, in my experience. Fix that and you have a 5 star app!

OK, it works, but it’s tricky to set up.. Ask Perplexity AI how to set it up.

CleanMyMac X. Very good so far; we'll see!

Broken. There is no way to add new search engine in the settings. Completely useless.

needs a youtube how to video. When I downloaded this I expected it to work like “context search menu”. I looked online for how to videos but couldn’t find any. This is my first time using extensions on safari and didn’t realize there was an app. I think a how to video would have made this a lot easier.

Awesome app, please bring override safar engine. Love the iOS aoo and now love that it's on MacOS. My one request is to please try to bring over the overiding safari engine to MacOS!

一个满分的app. 非常方便实用

Love, but latest update broke it for me. No longer works for me on the Mac, but still useful on my iPad.

Maybe the developer will answer.... But is see no way to use this. If you could see the screenshot, I have used the settings and done a search and get "engine already exists" for a common search. Set the default engine. Did a common search. For me it was a total waste of money, but then, I may be an idiot.

not working on ios 15. not working

太好. 使用实验功能“覆盖Safari引擎”的时候，没法用 Google 搜索图片了。 但我还是保留这个功能开启，有按类目搜索的需要的时候再来关闭。 其余非常不错。

Very Nice Application for Searching. Very nice tool

Waste of Money. This app is awful. After enabling it. Then it does nothing. In Safari you click the app icon that opens the dumb xsearch app. Save your money and don't buy it.

Don’t trap The snake. Classic title (Lol)

Safari search saviour. This app is awesome!!! Can we remove the limit that customer defined URL must include "%s", so user can add "shortcuts" for any frequently use URL. e.g. The customer search feature of Microsoft Edge browser on macOS.

Works really well. This is built into Chrome, so I was bummed when I needed to do it in Safari, as I have a lot of time invested in Safari across all my devices. This extension is really nice, is cheap, and gave the the exact features I needed. It also syncs to my ipad and iphone. I'm very happy.

nice！. verygood。

Doesn’t Work. Simply could not get it to work with Safari 18.2 on MacOS Sequoia 15.2. Following all of the instructions, multiple restarts, etc.

Cannot figure out how to add custom search.... ...nor is there any info on how to do it. "App Support" just takes you the the developer's website; clicking on the app takes you to the App Store. I am trying to get a refund, but this is not eligible, unless that is because the purchase ois still pending? HINT TO DEVELOPER: Create a tutorial on how to add customized search engines.

This is dumb. That's what I use to think when I seen this extension but after a while decided to try it since it got really good reviews and I'm trying to switch to DDG, SP, Yandex or Mojeek. I set DDG as my default in safari but occasionally I need to use google or a different engine instead of copying and opening google and pasting the search I can now simply bring up the search bar and put g or whatever shortcut I want in front of the search query and search that engine or website. It also makes searching apps like YouTube much easier since I can put the YouTube shortcut in front of the search and that will open the YouTube app from safari and search. Anyone considering this it's well worth the couple dollars there are hundreds of sites and apps such as Reddit, amazon, Wikipedia, Facebook, news sites, tech sites, shopping sites you can search right from the search bar in safari or add your own if one you need happens to be missing.

Works really wel, iCloud sync is very convenient. Amazing gallery of search queries that has pretty much everything I could want already. Works as you'd expect

Works as advertised. This was recommended in a Perplexity search when asking how to make Perplexity my default search engine. Low cost and does what you ask of it.

Perfect for privacy minded people!. I've been using DuckDuckGo as my main search engine for 80% of searches. But, lets be honest, their results aren't the best. Sometimes you just need to Google it. I'm so glad I found this bc I don't have to go to Google.com anymore and then search for the thing that DDG couldn't find. I just enter "g searchterm" and I'm there. $2 well spent! Plus, it works on my iPhone & iPad as well!

Makes Safari search great!. This app fixes one of the problems I had with Safari (the ability to use custom search enginges). Overide Safari search is absolutely astounding.

does what it promises. This little app does what it promises—nothing more, nothing less. Thanks!