iOS 26.2 Adds Safari Search Engine Choice Screen in Japan Ahead of New Law

With iOS 26.2, Apple is adding a punctual that allows iPhone users successful Japan to prime a preferred hunt engine. As noted connected Reddit, the enactment to take a hunt motor comes up aft installing iOS 26.2 for the archetypal time.


‌iPhone‌ users successful Japan tin prime from Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo Japan, oregon Ecosia, the aforesaid options disposable globally successful the Safari settings. In astir different countries, Google is the default hunt motor and determination is nary punctual to take a antithetic enactment erstwhile the ‌iPhone‌ archetypal starts up.

While ‌iPhone‌ users extracurricular of Japan tin take 1 of the different options, doing truthful requires going into the Safari conception of the Settings app to marque a change. According to court documents, Google pays Apple astir $20 cardinal per twelvemonth to beryllium the default hunt motor connected Apple devices, which helps to explicate wherefore Apple does not connection an up-front prime successful astir countries.

Japan recently established guidelines that accidental Apple has to contiguous a neutral prime surface for selecting a hunt motor during archetypal setup, hence the caller functionality. While Google is the ascendant hunt motor successful galore countries, Yahoo Japan is wide utilized successful the country.

iOS 26.2 besides appears to see enactment for installing alternative app marketplaces successful Japan, which is besides required by the Japan Fair Trade Commission's Mobile Software Competition Act. Japan's caller rules spell into effect connected December 18, 2025, which is astir the clip that iOS 26.2 volition spot a nationalist launch.
This article, "iOS 26.2 Adds Safari Search Engine Choice Screen successful Japan Ahead of New Law" archetypal appeared connected MacRumors.com

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