Apple dropping Bing for Google search results in Siri and Spotlight

Apple has removed Bing as the default search engine for Siri web search results in iOS and in Spotlight on the Mac in favor of Google. The switch has already begun to roll out to iPhone and Mac users, and should be completed this afternoon.

“Switching to Google as the web search provider for Siri, Search within iOS and Spotlight on Mac will allow these services to have a consistent web search experience with the default in Safari,” Apple told TechCrunch in a statement. Apple is keeping Bing as the default search engine for images in both Siri and Spotlight on Mac, and YouTube will continue to handle video searches.

Apple has seemingly timed the change with the release of macOS High Sierra today, instead of with the release of iOS 11 last week. The move should help improve search results (unless you are in the “Bing is better than Google” camp) when Siri doesn’t have the answer to a question you asked. Google will also become the default search engine for the iOS search bar as well.