Ecosia Search Settings: Customize your search experience

Ecosia has a range of settings that can help improve your search experience. Please note that this article only covers the Ecosia search engine settings, and will not address both browser settings and Ecosia app settings.

In this article you will find: 

How to access your Ecosia settings

On Desktop: Click the menu icon at the top right of the Ecosia homepage > Select Settings from the dropdown menu.

On Mobile: Conduct a search or visit ecosia.org to access the settings page. Alternatively, select Settings below the search bar. You may need to swipe slightly to the right to see it on mobile.

How to customize your Ecosia Search Settings

Search region

This setting changes the region from which your search results originate. To ensure that you receive results relevant to your location, we recommend setting this option to your current location or the region for which you want results.

We strive to offer a wider selection of search regions so that our users around the world can find what they are looking for on Ecosia. Please note that we adopt the search regions from our search providers and therefore can only offer a limited selection.

Website language

Changing this setting will change the language of the Ecosia website. Please note that search results will continue to be displayed in the region you selected in the previous setting.

We strive to offer a wider range of languages so that our users around the world can use Ecosia in their own language. Please note that we use the search regions provided by our search providers and therefore have limited options available.

For users of the Ecosia mobile app: The language settings for the Ecosia app are determined in your device settings.

Preferred search provider

Ecosia is a multiprovider search engine. After setting your cookie preferences, you can select a preferred search provider from options such as Google or Bing. Availability may vary based on your device and browsing method. For further details, refer to our in-depth article on Search Results on Ecosia.

Safe search

In Ecosia's settings, you can set Safe Search to either "Moderate" or "Strict" to help filter out adult content. Please note that customizable Safe Search is not available in all countries. If the option is not visible, Safe Search is automatically set to "Strict."

AI Overviews (beta)

AI Overviews summarizes and highlights useful information above search results. You only see this option if the feature is available in your region.

Theme

Ecosia automatically displays in light or dark mode, depending on your browser settings. You can choose which mode you want to use Ecosia in and switch between light and dark mode at any time.

For users of the Ecosia mobile app: The theme settings for the Ecosia app can also be in your device settings.

New tab

Select this option if you want the search in your browser's address bar to open a new tab.

Auto suggestions

Select this option if you want the search bar to automatically provide search suggestions as you type.

Personalized search results

When the personalized search results setting is switched on it means that we can improve your search results based on your previous search history. To achieve this we pass an anonymous unique identifier to our search partner Bing. In the beginning the differences are subtle, but will be more tailored after some time.

You can disable this setting anytime via Ecosia settings or by activating Do Not Track in your browser.

Ecosia does not permanently store IP addresses or identifiers. Bing deletes them after a specified period of 18 months according to their privacy policy.

For more details, check our Privacy Policy.

Notifications

Select this option to receive notifications about your trees.

How to save your Ecosia Search Settings permanently

Ecosia Search Settings are stored within a cookie. If cookies are deleted frequently, settings might reset. Most browsers allow websites to store cookies for saving settings. Here’s how to ensure your settings remain saved:

Browser-Specific Instructions:


General steps for other browsers:

Open your browser settings and navigate to cookies & history (usually found in advanced settings).

  1. Choose Manage Exceptions and add https://ecosia.org .
  2. Save changes.
  3. Go to Ecosia settings via the menu icon and select your preferences.
  4. Click Save to store your settings permanently.
For further details, refer to our Privacy Policy to understand Ecosia’s use of cookies.
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