Goodbye Google Search? Apple ramping up efforts to make custom search engine

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Apple slips in its own search engine in the latest iOS 14 release.

Apple Search
(Image credit: Apple)

Due to U.S. antitrust authorities targeting Apple and Google's lucrative search engine deal, which makes Google Search the default search application in iOS, Apple is ramping up its own search engine development. 

The news is based on reports of increased activity with Apple's Applebot web crawler, as first reported by MacRumors this past August. It has been speculated that Apple had already begun in earnest to develop its search engine. 

In a Financial Times report syndicated by Ars Technica, it was stated "In a little-noticed change to the latest version of the iPhone operating system, ‌iOS 14‌, Apple has begun to show its own search results and link directly to websites when users type queries from its home screen."

The report continues, "That web search capability marks an important advance in Apple's in-house development and could form the foundation of a fuller attack on Google, according to several people in the industry."

The report also cites the hiring of John Giannandrea, the former head of Google's search, to improve the artificial intelligence capabilities of Siri and also the many job advertisements seeking search engineers over at Apple. 

As the Department of Justice continues its antitrust lawsuit against Google for what they've deemed a monopoly, the rest of us brace for what we hope will be a smooth transition to an Apple search engine that actually does the job. 

Mark Anthony Ramirez
Mark Anthony Ramirez

Mark has spent 20 years headlining comedy shows around the country and made appearances on ABC, MTV, Comedy Central, Howard Stern, Food Network, and Sirius XM Radio. He has written about every topic imaginable, from dating, family, politics, social issues, and tech. He wrote his first tech articles for the now-defunct Dads On Tech 10 years ago, and his passion for combining humor and tech has grown under the tutelage of the Laptop Mag team. His penchant for tearing things down and rebuilding them did not make Mark popular at home, however, when he got his hands on the legendary Commodore 64, his passion for all things tech deepened. These days, when he is not filming, editing footage, tinkering with cameras and laptops, or on stage, he can be found at his desk snacking, writing about everything tech, new jokes, or scripts he dreams of filming.