Google Trying To Attract IPhone Users From Safari With Its App

Google and Apple have an agreement to share results that keep Google Search (photo: x @googlesearchc)

JAKARTA - Google continues to attract more iPhone users to use its app. This goal is sought to reduce the potential impact if Google search engines lose their default status in Safari.

Google has been paying Apple billions of dollars to keep Search as the default search engine on Safari. However, Google is now facing an antitrust lawsuit related to this practice. According to a recent report, the tech company is trying to prepare for the possibility of losing the default status by encouraging more iPhone users to use the Google or Chrome app for search.

Currently, Google and Apple have a profit-sharing deal keeping Google Search as the default search engine in the Safari mobile version. Judges handling the US Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust case are expected to make their decision in the coming months.

According to a report from The Information, Google is trying to protect itself from the possible consequences of losing this case by encouraging iPhone owners to use their app for search. So far, Google has managed to increase the number of searches made through its app from 25% to 30% over the past five years. However, Google's goal is to get 50% of the search on the iPhone done through its app by 2030, and the company is struggling to grow beyond 30%.

To attract iPhone owners to switch, Google highlighted exclusive features in Google apps, such as Lens, in ads. It was reported that executives were even considering locking the AI Overviews feature only in their app, but ultimately decided not to.

This Google initiative makes sense, especially given that losing its position as a default search engine in Safari could cause the company to lose about 70% of the search conducted on the iPhone. Reducing dependence on Safari will also reduce the amount of money Google has to pay to Apple to become a default search engine. The defeat in this case will also cost Apple, which earned more than 20 billion US dollars (Rp 325 trillion) last year from their deal with Google