# Customize Search Engine — user reviews > 56 indexed App Store user reviews of Customize Search Engine by Cizzuk Shihu, rated 4.50/5 from 60 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/customize-search-engine/id6445840140/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/customize-search-engine/id6445840140.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 45 · 4★ 1 · 3★ 1 · 2★ 1 · 1★ 3 ## Newest reviews (12 of 56) ### 4/5 — Disable Google AI *2026-05-31, version 4.18* I can't find any clear directions on how to set up CSE to disable that ,deleted> AI in Google Search. Can anyone help with this, point by point? TIA! Looks awesome! Kudos to Kissuk! Wish there were clear instructions on this. I assume everyone is looking to disable AI. ### 4/5 — Works fine on macOS but not iOS *2026-05-21, version 4.17* See title. Using the same settings for both, for udm14. ### 4/5 — Works as expected, but… *2026-05-08, version 4.17* It causes rapid redirecting with google, causing google to *always* declare I am a robot and have to go through a captcha. This is extremely annoying. ### 4/5 — Awesome app, but recent problem with google *2026-03-15, version 4.17* First of all, I just want to say I love this app. I changed it to add &udm=14 to my Google searches to get rid of the AI overviews, I have tons of shortcuts like adding wbm before my url’s to open them in the Wayback Machine, etc. Amazing tool. However, I’ve recently been having a problem with my Google searches, where it basically searches ten times in a row as it keeps switching back and forth between All and Web. Because of this, I have to answer captchas every time I want to look something up, which gets annoying. Still a great extension though. ### 4/5 — I need help *2026-02-03, version 4.14* I can't search anything on it please tell me how ### 5/5 — Flipping brilliant *2025-07-30, version 3.10* For a while now I have been wanting to block AI results on my iPhone and iPad, unfortunately 3rd party browsers are full of AI and Safari won’t let you use a custom search engine. Well this app changes everything, I don’t like the environmental impact of AI, and this app works by redirecting your searches, so it will still make a Google AI search by default, but if you set it to Ecosia it won’t do an AI search and it will allow me to use the StartPage engine to get perfect results. I am so happy with this app, I am going to recommend it to everyone. ### 5/5 — this is great *2025-07-19, version 3.10* i hate the google ai search thing with a passion and the extension can be used to hide it, so thanks ### 5/5 — Life changing *2025-07-14, version 3.10* Finally I can just use google and not the useless AI summaries ### 5/5 — Seamless! *2025-07-05, version 3.8* Once you set it up it works seamlessly! Highly recommend ### 5/5 — Exactly what I needed. *2025-06-27, version 3.8* Works wonderfully to get rid of googles awful AI results on Safari! Followed these instructions: “Set it up like the below (suffix of search URL set to udm14), allow it always run on on google.com, and you are set. You can remove its little icon from the toolbar too, and it's completely transparent. Will work on your iPhone too in the same way.” Just make sure you follow the in app instructions very very carefully so it works! It took me a minute but it works. ### 5/5 — Perfect! *2025-06-16, version 3.8* Does exactly what it says on the tin. Would rate it higher if I could. ### 5/5 — PPLX SUPPORT *2025-06-10, version 3.8* I love using Perplexity and this lets me do that ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Ummm! No way! *2026-06-19, version 4.19* Setup requires me to enable google.com / Deleted Immediately! ### 1/5 — Couldn’t get it to work *2026-05-24, version 4.17* Great idea but I couldn’t get it work on my iPad Pro. I completed the set up twice, however I still kept getting google’s AI. It may be conflicting with another extension. ### 1/5 — Don’t use it *2026-04-25, version 4.17* I was liking it to begin with but then I realised that I might be leaking literally all my searches to Google? For instance I searched once with my normal search engine and suddenly found that Google had opened instead! I don’t think the issue is leaking to Apple like the developer says, it’s Google to worry about (Safari lets you turn off the Safari search suggestions anyway). Additionally, I don’t like the block page I see when I search with the blocker on. It’s sometimes there for several seconds before redirecting. And other times it remains stuck and search doesn’t work (this is still an issue on the latest version). I would personally recommend simply using xSearch. It has all the features of CSE without these bugs and glitches. ### 1/5 — Started out well *2026-02-26, version 4.17* I was liking it to begin with but then I realised that I might be leaking literally all my searches to Google? For instance I searched once with my normal search engine and suddenly found that Google had opened instead! I hadn’t turned on the blocker as I didn’t like the way I saw a block page before every search. I don’t think the issue is leaking to Apple, it’s Google to worry about. Additionally, I don’t like the block page I see when I search with the blocker on. It’s sometimes there for several seconds before redirecting. And other times it remains stuck and search doesn’t work (this is still an issue on the latest version). ### 1/5 — doesnt work *2025-12-23, version 4.11* doesnt work ### 1/5 — Does not work *2025-10-18, version 4.6* Safari froze while trying to use Brave Search ### 1/5 — Useless *2024-12-25, version 2.8* This did nothing. ### 1/5 — Doesn't work *2023-04-26, version 1.5* Doesn't work at all ### 2/5 — Doesn’t perform udm14 *2025-11-21, version 4.8* I got this app to avoid google Gemini ai results. When I open a tab, I get a blank search window, but when I perform the search, I get redirected through google regular search: a bunch of ads, Gemini results, idiots also ask, yadda yadda yadda. I just found a udm14 browser extension for chrome on Mac, and it is fabulous. Maybe this is really a problem with Safari? ### 3/5 — 1 glaring issue *2025-12-21, version 4.10* I installed this app specifically for the UDM14 Google search functionality. Although it “works”, there’s a big issue and dealbreaker for me where every new Google search I conducted, I now had an annoying, unremovable banner at the top of every Google search that said “Open in the (official) Google (search) app”. Once I disabled this extension, the unremovable “open in the Google app” banner completely disappeared, which is how it operated before. I even have Wipr 2 installed which gets rid of all ads including Google search ads and sponsored results. I thought this banner issue was perhaps out of the developer’s control, but that is incorrect! I just installed the “udm14 for Safari” extension, and after enabling it properly for Google.com, I now was able to get both the udm14 functionality working and the “open in the Google app” banner did not appear at all! Please fix this! ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — It just works *2026-07-02, version 4.19* This needs to be a function in Safari outside the 5 default engine options. I can finally use Google without the AI overview again without having to do it manually. Thank you for your work :) ### 5/5 — App crash during export settings *2026-06-24, version 4.19* When I try export as json, the app crashes every time. ### 5/5 — Take notes, Apple *2026-06-04, version 4.18* Other than the slight delay it adds by blocking then redirecting the query, it does exactly what it needs to do, works perfectly, and should be a basic feature of Safari. ### 5/5 — Works great! *2026-04-08, version 4.17* I can finally use startpage as my main search engine in safari on my phone, Mac & iPad! I hate google so much ### 5/5 — Does what it says on the tin, and does it perfectly! *2026-03-18, version 4.17* I rarely take the time to write app reviews, but I was so impressed with CSE and how effectively it took care of one of iOS’s biggest headaches: the search engine. AND it works in private mode too! As an active Kagi user, I could never find a great solution that was seamless with iOS Safari but this app is super easy to configure whatever custom search engine you want and it worked instantly. Super, super impressed. ### 5/5 — does exactly what I need *2026-03-15, version 4.17* Title This app lets me block those awful ai overviews just fine. Most apps are garbage, spam you with ads, or beg for money. This one doesn’t ### 5/5 — Great *2026-01-30, version 4.14* This is a fantastic, fantastic app, which I can use with Safari extensions to redirect all my queries, the opposite of everybody's review: directly to AI. For example, I use g.ai, which is Google's super‑fast AI mode, and it is absolutely brilliant. Thanks developer!! ### 5/5 — Fixes a major Safari annoyance *2026-01-10, version 4.12* Installation is a little fiddly, but it is well worth the time and effort. If you find Apple’s list of search engines too limited give this a try. There is no fee or link to donate-I would gladly pay for this functionality. ### 5/5 — Really great! *2025-10-29, version 4.7* Finally, a way to add site searches, or quickly switch search engines in Safari. Works really well, simple to use :) ### 5/5 — Best app ever ! *2025-10-26, version 4.6* Recently, I wanted a custom search engine on my Safari but the Safari settings had limited choice. But this app does what it should perfectly, flawlessly and absolutely free so this is the perfect app that you need to look for, but it’s a bit hard to set up at first (if you are not a nerd at tech) but it’s a one time problem. --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-19.*