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How UK Android Users Can Change Search and AI Defaults

Change Chrome and Android search defaults now, and understand the UK CMA plan to add AI assistants to yearly choice screens.

September 25, 2026 Yum News

UK Android and Chrome users already pick a default search engine. They do not yet get a yearly prompt that lists AI assistants next to Google. The Competition and Markets Authority wants that to change.

On 23 September 2026 the CMA published strengthened proposals for Google’s Android and Chrome choice screens. The consultation is open until 9 October 2026. A final decision is expected by the end of the year. Nothing on your phone changes until that decision lands and Google implements it.

This guide covers what you can set today, what the CMA actually proposed, and how that differs from the Gemini assistant toggle.

What the CMA proposed

The CMA designated Google with strategic market status in general search and search advertising in October 2025. User choice was the last outstanding piece of a package first set out in early 2026. Publisher opt-out controls for AI features in search results were imposed on 3 June. Fair ranking and data portability requirements followed on 17 June.

The 23 September update would require Google to:

Show a choice of search services when someone first uses an Android phone or first opens Chrome.
Prompt that person once a year to pick the default search provider again.
Allow AI assistants onto those screens if they meet technical and security criteria.
Require listed search providers to attribute publisher content so people can reach the source.

The press release names ChatGPT and Perplexity as examples of services people already use as search. Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s chief executive, said AI assistants are not on Google’s current choice screens and that the update is meant to future-proof options as new services appear.

This is a consultation, not a live setting. Do not wait for a new screen if you want a different default this week.

Laptop and phone on a desk used for browser and search settings

Change the default search engine in Chrome on Android

Chrome stores its own search default. Changing it does not change the Google Search widget, Gemini, or another browser.

Open Chrome.
Tap the three-dot menu, then Settings.
Tap Search engine.
Select an engine from the list Chrome shows on your build. Common entries include Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and Yandex.

Type a query in the address bar and confirm the results page is from the engine you picked. If Chrome resets after an update, open this screen again. A yearly CMA prompt, if adopted, would sit on top of this control rather than replace it.

Desktop Chrome still lets you add custom search engines more easily than the Android app. On mobile, visit the engine in a tab, run a query, then reopen Settings → Search engine if you need an extra provider that is not listed yet.

The widget on many Android launchers is a separate product from Chrome.

Long-press the Google Search widget.
Remove it if you do not want Google as the first tap on the home screen.
Long-press an empty space, open Widgets, and add the widget from Bing, DuckDuckGo, or another installed search app.

Pixel and Samsung launchers name the widget drawer differently. Search the launcher help for “widgets” if the long-press menu is hidden.

The CMA proposal talks about first-run and annual choice screens for search services. It does not force every launcher widget to follow that choice. Treat the widget as a second switch.

Set or change the default digital assistant

Search defaults and assistant defaults are different systems. Gemini can be your assistant while Chrome still uses Google Search. ChatGPT can be your spoken helper while the address bar still hits Bing.

To point the system assist gesture at Gemini, follow the official path in How to Set Gemini as Default Assistant on Android. In short:

Settings → Apps → Default apps → Digital assistant app → choose the Google app.
Inside Google’s assistant settings, set Digital assistants from Google to Gemini if that screen still offers a choice.
Map Press and hold power button to Digital assistant only if you want the side key to open that overlay.

A future CMA choice screen that lists AI assistants as search services would not automatically rewrite this Default apps picker. Keep the two settings in mind when you test a new assistant.

Person reviewing phone settings while sitting at a kitchen table

What will not change on day one

Even if the CMA confirms the requirement by year end, expect a gap before a new screen appears on UK Pixels and other Android phones.

Google still has to implement the rule, pick which assistants meet the technical bar, and decide how Chrome and the system search provider stay in sync. The CMA text requires attribution of publisher content by providers that appear on the screen. That is a duty on those providers, not a new toggle in Settings.

You can submit views on the consultation through the CMA’s Google search and search advertising designation page before 9 October 2026.

Do not treat Reuters or other news summaries as the legal text. The source of record is the GOV.UK release and the case page linked from it.

Practical setup for a UK phone this month

Use this checklist if you want control before any new prompt exists.

Chrome address bar. Settings → Search engine. Pick the provider you want for typed queries.

Home screen. Replace the Google widget if the first tap should not open Google Search.

Assistant. Decide whether the power button and “Hey Google” should open Gemini, nothing, or another installed assistant. That path is independent of Chrome.

Gemini in Chrome. If you want page summaries inside the browser rather than a new default search engine, use the Gemini icon in Chrome where the feature is available. That is a browsing assistant, not the system search provider.

Work profile. A managed work profile can lock default apps. Check with your admin before you assume a personal choice will stick on a company phone.

Tips

After you change Chrome’s engine, search once from a new tab. Autocomplete can still show old Google suggestions until the session refreshes.
If an OEM skin hid Default apps, search Settings for digital assistant and default apps instead of walking a Pixel-only path.
Keep publisher attribution in mind when you try an AI search product. The CMA wants sources visible. If a tool hides links, treat that as a product gap, not a finished legal requirement.
Do not equate “AI assistant on a choice screen” with “Gemini is the phone assistant.” One is search. The other is the system assist app.

Conclusion

The CMA wants UK Android and Chrome users to pick a search service at first use and once a year, and it wants qualifying AI assistants on that list. Until the consultation closes and Google ships a screen, you already have three working controls: Chrome’s search engine list, the home-screen widget, and the default digital assistant.

Set those now. Watch the CMA case page if you care about which assistants appear later.