My (informal) 2025 theme: make the tech-based parts of my life better (by making the technology work for me)
Today's goal: Remove AI summaries from Google search results on mobile devices
You can do this more easily on desktops (I am not showing how because you can find it easily online) but I hardly ever use desktops and wanted to disable AI summaries on my phone.
Here's the UPDATED instructions (These are iOS specific and work in Safari, Android instructions UNDER these, not shown in video). The instructions do not exactly match what is shown in the video, as the app changed after I made this video unfortunately.
1. Download the “Customize Search Engine” app from the iOS App Store
2. Click on “default search engine”
3. Under “search URL” type in this text: https://google.com/search?q=%s&udm=14
4. Go into your settings app, search for "safari"
5.Go down to and click on "extensions"
6. Under "allow these extensions" select "customize search engine" and toggle on "allow extension"
7. Scroll down and look for "google.com" and change it from "ask" to "allow"
FOR ANDROID in Firefox: (taken from "AndroidAuthority.com")
"Open Firefox and go to the three stacked dots in the upper-right corner. Select Settings.
Select Search. In the new window, you’ll want to tap on Default Search Engine.
In the new screen, you’ll be presented with your existing options.
Tap Add Search Engine.
Fill in the name with AI-free Web and search string with google.com/search?udm=14&q=%s
Tap Save, and you’re done!"
Do you HAVE to do this? No! Why do I do this? I want to minimize my casual use of AI especially when I'm not even benefitting from it! And, I don't want search engine AI models learning from my searches
Don't forget to turn this into a digital literacy opportunity with your kids! Explain what an AI summary is. Search for something together- is the AI summary correct? Is it oversimplified? Is it helpful?
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