[MobileSafari] Making Google mobile the default search engine?

**burdell1** · 01-04-2008 09:55 PM

How can i make the iPhone formatted version of Google the default one when I use the google search within mobile Safari?

**burdell1** · 01-06-2008 06:56 PM

Anyone? anyone?

**otachi** · 01-06-2008 11:40 PM

its hard coded into safari, you want to use google for mobiles then go in safari and go to www.google.com then switch to the mobile version. it will set the cookie and all future visits will go right there, you can not change the button on the keyboard.

also this is worth a read

**burdell1** · 01-15-2008 06:13 PM

i know it is hard coded, but i was wondering if someone knows to reencode it so that version of google is the default

Former Bender · 01-15-2008 06:34 PM

Thread renamed.

You must Take the binary inside MobileSafari.app (make a backup first) and edit it with a hexeditor.

Search for the string

http://search.google.com/search?q=%@&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

and replace it by

http://www.google.com/xhtml/search?q=%@

The space left must be replaced by "." (020 in hexa), fill with "." until the second 8 of UTF-8.

Good luck.

**burdell1** · 02-16-2008 04:27 PM

Thanks! have you tried it?

**Jim Danner** · 02-20-2008 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by XianLi

Thread renamed.

You must Take the binary inside MobileSafari.app (make a backup first) and edit it with a hexeditor.

Search for the string

and replace it by

The space left must be replaced by "." (020 in hexa), fill with "." until the second 8 of UTF-8.

Good luck.

I wonder what happens if the localization is changed (in Settings... General... International... Region Format). Usually this changes the Google search URL to the local one (e.g. google.co.uk), so it presumably overrides the URL from MobileSafari.app. Do we have to change some other file if we're localized but still want to use the iPhone-optimized version?

**atomicshockwave** · 02-20-2008 06:12 PM

Here is the edited file: http://www.blunx.com/MobileSafari.zip

**Jim Danner** · 02-21-2008 12:40 AM

Here's a solution that does not involve modifying the Safari binary and allows the mobile (or some other) version of Google to be default even when the iPhone is localized.

It involves changing a value in /Applications/MobileSafari.app/GoogleTLDs.plist on the iPhone. This is a list of localization codes (like GB for United Kingdom, FR for France, etc.) with the Internet top-level domain (TLD) that the local Google variety uses (like co.uk with GB because it's www.google.co.uk there, etc.).

First you decide what your localization is (in Settings... General... International... Region Format). By default it's the US.
Then you decide which Google site you want to use from the search bar in Safari. I prefer www.google.com/m (the iPhone-optimized version of the American site).
Then you edit GoogleTLDs.plist to bring the two together. For example, to use www.google.com/m with UK localization, change the relevant part of the file from
Code:
```
    <key>GB</key>
    <string>co.uk</string>
```
to
Code:
```
    <key>GB</key>
    <string>com/m</string>
```

Another way of changing the plist is with the plutil command from Erica's Utilities (an Installer package): from terminal (or PuTTY), issue

Code:

plutil -s GB -v "com/m" /Applications/MobileSafari.app/GoogleTLDs.plist

Restart Springboard for the change to take effect.

**Rip** · 03-05-2008 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Danner

Here's a solution that does not involve modifying the Safari binary and allows the mobile (or some other) version of Google to be default even when the iPhone is localized.

It involves changing a value in /Applications/MobileSafari.app/GoogleTLDs.plist on the iPhone. This is a list of localization codes (like GB for United Kingdom, FR for France, etc.) with the Internet top-level domain (TLD) that the local Google variety uses (like co.uk with GB because it's www.google.co.uk there, etc.).

First you decide what your localization is (in Settings... General... International... Region Format). By default it's the US.
Then you decide which Google site you want to use from the search bar in Safari. I prefer www.google.com/m (the iPhone-optimized version of the American site).
Then you edit GoogleTLDs.plist to bring the two together. For example, to use www.google.com/m with UK localization, change the relevant part of the file from
Code:
```
    <key>GB</key>
    <string>co.uk</string>
```
to
Code:
```
    <key>GB</key>
    <string>com/m</string>
```

Another way of changing the plist is with the plutil command from Erica's Utilities (an Installer package): from terminal (or PuTTY), issue

Code:

plutil -s GB -v "com/m" /Applications/MobileSafari.app/GoogleTLDs.plist

Restart Springboard for the change to take effect.

This worked great and has made all the difference to using Google on my iPhone. Thank you!

When the Google mobile results display, there is a 'More Mobile' drop down in the top right. Is there a fix to make the News option default to UK news? Or better still to my Google custom news page?

Either would be great.

TIA