Safari defaults to Google search in private browsing

I have Duckduckgo set as my search engine for standard and private browsing in Safari. It works fine in standard, but private browsing will only use Google.


I’ve cleared Safari history and cookies, restarted device, and tried turning these options off and on, but the issue persists.


Is there another setting I’m missing?

Posted on May 29, 2025 06:57 PM

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Posted on May 30, 2025 06:18 AM

Identical question and solution here:


Why does Safari only use Google in private mode instead of DuckDuckGo? - Apple Community


Excerpt:


atomicelroy wrote:

I fixed it by turning Also Use In Private Search to off, then manually selecting Duck Duck Go. Thank you.


Seems like a bug to me, but that workaround appeared to fix it.

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Safari defaults to Google search in private browsing

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