Chromium forbids users to delete built-in search engine to bring new "trouble" to developers, follow-up: "This feature will be restored in Chrome 98/99"

Recently, some foreign media reported that Google Chromium 97 "removed" the default search engine option in its latest update, which caused some controversy.

As we all know, browsers usually have a default search engine and many other built-in search engines. If the built-in search engine does not meet your needs, you can also replace or manually add other search engines. If for some reason users don't want to use these search engines in their browsers, they can remove them from the settings.

The removal of this option in Chromium 97 means that Chrome-based browsers such as Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi and Brave will no longer have the option to "remove" these default search engines after upgrading to Chrome 97.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the "Delete" option has disappeared from Chromium, while the "Set as Default" and "Edit" options remain. The reason for this change is that the developers felt it would be more beneficial for end users to remove this feature.

According to reports, as early as October 2021, Chromium developer Justin Donnolley initiated a proposal to remove the "Delete" button:

“Currently, you can delete a pre-populated search engine (e.g. Google, Bing, Baidu) in 2 clicks. Doing so is irrecoverably destructive because, even if you’re knowledgeable enough to use the Add dialog to recreate a pre-populated entry, you can’t set the suggest, new tab page, or other specialized URLs.
Deleting these should either be more difficult (confirmation dialog) or impossible (no delete option in the menu). My strong preference is to do the latter.”

That said, users can now delete pre-populated search engines (eg Google, Bing, Baidu) with just 2 clicks. Doing so is irreversibly destructive because even if the user has enough knowledge to recreate the pre-populated entry using the Add dialog, there is no way to set the Suggestions, New Tab page, or other specialized URLs.

Since removing these options might be more difficult (confirmation dialog) or impossible (no remove option in menu), he strongly recommends users to choose the latter.

As of now, only the Vivaldi browser retains the option to remove the search engine in the latest version 2549.3 (skip Chromium 97 and use 98), if the user is still using a Chromium 96 based browser, the search engine can also be removed.

While the developer's change may be well-intentioned, some users have complained about a new problem with the issue -- an issue where the browser automatically changes the user's default search engine to other services.

On the Chrome forum, a user named Filipa Nunes "complained" that because the search engine can't be removed right now, the default search engine will automatically switch to Yahoo no matter what he sets. In addition to this user, there are many other users in the same thread who had similar troubles to him.

After learning about these issues, Chromium developer Justin Donnolley said:

“I didn’t realise that users were using ‘delete’ as a solution and I apologise for the trouble users have had as a result. We are working on a solution to the problem of people’s default search engine being changed for no apparent reason. In the meantime, I’m bringing back the ‘Delete’ option in the UI. It should be added back in Chrome 98 or 99 (released in early February and early March respectively).”

He said that he did not realize that users adopting "delete" as a solution would cause these troubles, and he apologized for the trouble that users encountered. He said that efforts are currently underway to address the problem of users' default search engines being changed for no apparent reason. At the same time, the "delete" option will be restored in the UI in the future, or in Chrome 98 or 99 (released in early February and early March respectively).