They for sure do. Takes 30 seconds, just go to Settings then Safari.

On iOS it’s only from a pre approved list. Want to use a less censored search like Brave? Nope, unless you use something other than Safari.

What browser allows you to specify a custom search engine? I just checked Chrome and it doesn’t on desktop.

Firefox, for what - 20 years now?

You can make any search field on any web site your default search engine.

It's confusing, but if you add a "Site search" and then set it to your default, it becomes a "Search engine".

Ah got it, thank you.

they do allow you to switch - maybe it refers to google paying to be the default search engine?

seems like these days most of the payment is 36% of ads in Google searches, but maybe there is also some money sent specifically for it to be the default.

They get paid a share of ad revenue their users generate if they make Google the default in all of their web search entry points. These are not separate. The deal is 1) "make Google the default" and then 2) "there's a revenue share". No 1 then no 2.