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How to Change the Search Default on Kindle Fire Tablets

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One of the tasks we like to do on a Tablet is Search. For some reason the very personal form factor lends itself to searching the Internet for information, content, or something to purchase. Whether we search in a browser, or from within an App, or from the Home Screen, Search is a function that many Tablet users will take advantage of. In fact, users seem to love to search quite a bit on mobile devices. Some data says that there is greater engagement from searches on a Tablet than there is on a desktop.

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On most mobile devices there is a default search engine configured. Unless you change that default you’ll be using the search engine the mobile device maker struck a deal to include as that default. Yes, money changes hands in those kind of deals. Most users don’t ever bother or even think of changing the default search engine on any device, much less a mobile one.

But you can switch those defaults to the search engine of your choosing. For example, if Bing is the default chosen by the manufacturer but you prefer Google, you can make that change so Google is the new default. On the Amazon Kindle Fire Tablets, Bing is the default search engine. If you’d like to change it, below are the steps necessary to do so.

Note that on the Kindle Fire Tablets there are two places you can initiate a general web search. You can do so from the address bar in the Silk browser, or you can choose the Search icon on the Category menu bar at the top of the Home Screen. It’s the magnifying glass located all the way to the left on the top of your screen.

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If you choose to search from the Home Screen, once you enter a search query a new search page opens up that gives you a field to enter your query as well as your recent search history.

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From that search page, you’ll be taken to the Silk browser for your results.

So, to change your search preferences on the Kindle Fire Tablets do the following:

First swipe down from the top of your display and choose Settings.

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Then choose Applications.

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At the bottom of the page you’ll see a list of Amazon applications that are installed on your device. Towards the bottom of this list choose Silk Browser.

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At the top of the next Settings page you’ll see Search Engine. Choose that entry.

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A pop up will appear and give you three choices: Bing (the default), Google, and Yahoo!.

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Yahoo! search is now powered by Bing so you might ask why the redundancy. There are some differences in the reported results are displayed differently on the Kindle Fire HDX I am suing.

To make a change all you need do is choose one of the three entries. Hit the back arrow on the bottom of the screen and your future searches will deliver results from the search engine you chose as the new default.

Other Kindle Fire HDX coverage and How-To’s

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. Travis S

    01/09/2016 at 8:55 am

    Doesn’t work for the homescreen search bar. Anyone know how to fix that?

  2. Oh jeez

    01/13/2016 at 7:27 pm

    Same experience here. Can’t change from Bing

  3. JB

    01/23/2016 at 6:32 am

    Same. Changed silk but not homescreen search. Any ideas?

  4. Beck

    03/14/2016 at 4:16 pm

    That’s what I want too.

  5. Paul

    04/26/2016 at 6:55 am

    Same problem. I don’t like being forced off of Google.

  6. Rick

    05/25/2016 at 8:54 pm

    Search is set for Google but still opens in bing. I hate being told what to think or do.

  7. whyme

    09/07/2017 at 4:38 pm

    And if I prefer something different, like DuckDuckGo, for example?

  8. Stephen

    01/05/2018 at 9:17 am

    Same here. Was able to change setting for Silk Browser, but search via the box on the home screen still uses Bing. I do NOT want to use Bing.

    Obvious work around is to open your web browser and head to your search engine of choice, but it would be very nice if we could change what is used by the search box on the home screen.

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