# xSearch for Safari — user reviews > 255 indexed App Store user reviews of xSearch for Safari by 磊 汪, rated 4.40/5 from 227 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/xsearch-for-safari/id1579902068/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/xsearch-for-safari/id1579902068.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 180 · 4★ 16 · 3★ 4 · 2★ 6 · 1★ 21 ## What do users think of xSearch for Safari? Overall sentiment: positive **Pros** - 🚀 Convenient search shortcuts - 👍 Customizable search engines - 🔒 Respects privacy - 💡 Powerful search capabilities - 🤖 Syncs across devices **Cons** - 🐛 Setup issues - 🤔 Confusing instructions - ⚠️ Compatibility problems - 🔍 Overrides default search behavior - 🤷‍♀️ Inconsistent performance **Commonly reported bugs** - Crashes on iOS 15 - Unable to add custom search engines - Sync issues between devices - Unexpected search redirects **Most requested features** - Add support for more search engines - Improve setup and onboarding experience - Allow setting a default search engine - Expand compatibility to older devices/OSes - Provide better documentation and tutorials ## Newest reviews (15 of 255) ### 4/5 — Needs more documentation *2026-07-11, version 4.1.1* While writing a negative review about how this extension only works if you use Google, I realized that the extension needs permission to read your searches for each search engine you want to use it with. After fixing that in Safari settings, it works. I recall that there used to be something within the app or extension UI to help walk you through this, but now this app offers no help or explanation. It’s a shame. ### 4/5 — Don’t trap The snake *2026-06-21, version 4.1.1* Classic title (Lol) ### 4/5 — needs a youtube how to video *2026-06-17, version 4.1.1* When I downloaded this I expected it to work like “context search menu”. I looked online for how to videos but couldn’t find any. This is my first time using extensions on safari and didn’t realize there was an app. I think a how to video would have made this a lot easier. ### 4/5 — I can report it works! *2026-04-25* Does what it says on the tin, and I’m happy to pay a few dollars for that. I tried out another app (Custom Search Engine), but that one is super unreliable. I did make the mistake of not setting the XSearch extension to be allowed “always”, so I thought it wasn’t working to start with. The only complaint is that when I am using Google and navigating between tabs (Web, Images etc), this causes XSearch to kick in and redirect me to my regular search engine, which isn’t helpful. ### 4/5 — Intégrer le Français ! *2026-04-11* Mrs de programmation ou de la conception, comme il vous plaira, rien n’a redire sur l’efficacité de xSearch et ce, tout en sachant que l’anglais est minima de base mais il n’empêche que le Français pourrait être fort pratique pour une utilisation totale de l’Application pour certaines personnes !!! ### 4/5 — Needs better setup instructions *2026-02-18* So I’ve had this extension forever but I’ve never been able to get it to work. Even making sure ONLY this extension was enabled and making sure the prefix was enabled and shortcut phrase was correct. Turns out, there’s an extra final step needed to get the extension to work. In Safari, when you tap the address bar, under the search section you should see an option that says “xSearch” with the icon next to it. You have to tap that and give xSearch the necessary permissions, or it will never work no matter what. Took me this long (months) to finally figure it out. Definitely need better setup instructions for this extension, as well as the ability toto re-access initial setup instructions in case a step gets overlooked. ### 5/5 — Top must have *2026-01-23* Einfach holen macht alles was es soll ### 2/5 — Must have *2025-12-14* Pls add reverse image search capabilities in this app only eg. Search by Image. ### 5/5 — It is good *2025-12-03, version 4.0.0* Like duck duck go’s bang but more convenient ### 5/5 — 系统新增分组功能 *2025-11-26* 很不错的软件。希望新增引擎分组功能，搜索引擎太多了，分组管理会方便直观一点。 ### 5/5 — Helpful *2025-11-24, version 4.0.0* I like that its easy and simple ### 5/5 — 一个满分的app *2025-10-08, version 4.0.0* 非常方便实用 ### 5/5 — Very useful *2025-10-03* This app is simply a fantastic help in searching the web quickly. Just program your sites. It Syncs between the iPhone and Macs. ### 5/5 — Does exactly what it says *2025-09-26* A well implemented app that lets you use keywork searching in the address bar in Safari. Should be native in Safari but this is worth the investment cause it ain’t. ### 4/5 — Extremely useful to enforce search behavior *2025-09-22, version 4.0.0* A lot of people flip out at AI enriched search results and xSearch here can and will allow you to stick to traditional search methods with easy flags and shorthand when you’re conducting a search. It took me a little while to get the feel for it but I didn’t watch any videos about it or anything, because I am fine with AI enriched search but find Youtube completely insufferably agonizing to use and avoiding that sounds great to me too. easy access to Gemini AI Search, DuckDuckGo, bing Images all without having to change browsers or cramped mobile UIs. Just `^ai why is AI search controversial” and safari passes it directly to Gemini. Heck yeah. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — INJECTING ADS *2026-06-30* C’mon apple do something! They are injecting ads on safari using this extension!!! They are doing injection using the domain artisticsway.com/ ### 1/5 — Waste of Money *2026-06-13, version 4.1.1* This app is awful. After enabling it. Then it does nothing. In Safari you click the app icon that opens the dumb xsearch app. Save your money and don't buy it. ### 1/5 — doesn’t change default search engine on ios *2026-05-30, version 4.1.1* it doesn’t really do what it claims to to. there doesn’t seem to be a good option. ### 1/5 — Doesn’t work *2026-03-22* It is no longer possible to create a custom search engine, even with a valid URL and when xSearch has the necessary permissions. **Developer response:** This usually happens when the search URL is not configured correctly. To create a custom search engine, the URL must include a `%s` placeholder for the search query, for example: https://example.com/search?q=%s If the URL does not include `%s`, or if the website does not support direct search via URL, it will not work. If you’re unsure how to set it up, please contact support with the URL you’re trying to use and we’ll assist you. ### 1/5 — App *2026-01-15, version 4.0.0* App ### 1/5 — Nope. App hijacked *2025-09-08, version 3.3.4* I downloaded this app so I could use Brave Search. It worked for one day, and then Apple probably "caught me." The next day, nothing I tried (and there are many things to try, NONE of which will work) would allow me to use Brave Search. So save your money. Apple always wins. ### 1/5 — Perfect *2025-07-24, version 3.3.4* If you have custom search engines this app does exactly what you want (and way more if you’re interested). This is so powerful and beautifully executed. Thanks so much! ### 1/5 — It’s not working and nobody will respond to my emails…. *2025-06-10* When I initially bought and downloaded the iOS Safari app, it appeared, I toggled it on and everything was fine. A few weeks ago it disappeared from Safari. The app still on my phone and appeared active but the extension, gone. I’ve deleted the app tried reinstalling it more times than I can count, each time trying something different thinking maybe it was something I had changed or did to make it disappear. But from the time it was actively working to the minute it disappeared I hadn’t changed,added, taken away, reconfigured anything in my phone. Since I can’t get a response from support or the developer, I’ve resorted to seeking help from chatGPT. No success. I had a similar situation occur back in February with the AdGuard AdBlocker iOS Safari extension. Downloaded it, it worked for several weeks, then it was gone. Weeks later it suddenly appeared and was working, then it was gone again. Support? Not at all. And I had bought the annual subscription as well. I believe this is more of an Apple situation than an app issue. It’s really disappointing.! No help, nowhere to turn, no recourse, thank you Apple. **Developer response:** Hi, Thank you for reaching out. To clarify a few things: 1. We haven’t received any previous emails from you — not even in our junk folder. It’s possible it didn’t go through, but we’re glad you got in touch now. 2. Our app is a one-time purchase — there’s no annual subscription involved. If you paid for a subscription, it was likely for a different app, such as AdGuard, which you also mentioned. 3. As you suspected, the issue you’re experiencing is related to iOS/Safari, not the app itself. We’ve seen this happen occasionally, even with major extensions. The app is installed and active, but iOS fails to show the extension in Safari settings. 👉 In most cases, a simple iPhone reboot will bring the extension back. Please try restarting your iPhone, then go to Settings > Safari > Extensions to check again. If that doesn’t work right away, make sure iOS is up to date, and try reinstalling the app after rebooting. These iOS bugs are rare but unfortunately outside our contro ### 1/5 — funktioniert nicht:( *2025-05-14* funktioniert nicht:( ### 1/5 — Fishy? *2025-04-13, version 3.3.3* Something fishy started happening to this app. It’s been solid choice for years, but recently it started to request additional permissions. Going back to the app change log you can see that “improvements and bug fixes”, nothing about extra permissions. Therefore uninstalled and warning all users. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Indispensable *2026-07-25* Bravo au développeur pour cette application qui nous permet de changer de moteur de recherche très facilement pour chaque requête dans safari. On ne peut plus s’en passer une fois qu’on l’a adoptée. ### 5/5 — Works great and developer is very helpful *2026-07-08* I’ve been using it for a while and it’s been working great. It works just how I wanted it to. I had an issue with redirects and the dev was fast in his response and promptly fixed the issue. Highly recommend ### 5/5 — Excellent app *2026-06-29* Once you use this you cannot go back. One of those truly indispensable apps. Well done dev! ### 5/5 — A1 *2026-06-29, version 4.1.1* I don’t know how I ever managed without this extension. Excellent in every way. Clean, minimalist , easy to use. ### 5/5 — Excellent *2026-06-27* This is such an incredible app. Bought it years ago and the number of search engines that have been added since is amazing. Once you use this you can’t go back. Well done to the dev, nice work! ### 5/5 — Works brilliantly *2026-05-16* Needs better instructions on how to use it, it’s been trial and error for me. But it does work, and it’s great. ### 5/5 — It’s so worth it *2026-04-08, version 4.1.1* It’s so helpful! ### 5/5 — Great app, super nice dev *2026-04-07* This app probably delivers the best search engine customization possible in Safari. The dev is also super nice and responsive. I requested a feature (last search token) and within a day or two it was implemented and I was invited to the Beta. By now it’s in the release as well. Thank you! ### 5/5 — Super funcional *2026-04-04* Em Época de IA ### 5/5 — Very Nice Application for Searching *2026-01-30, version 4.0.0* Very nice tool --- *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 2026-09-12.*