Google can't access things in the browser

[David.P]

Hello Community,

I am not seeing auto-complete (by Google) when typing in the address field or the search field, respectively.

Likewise, I can not access Google search by voice. If I try and to, I then just get the message [microphone icon] "no internet connection".

What could be causing this issue?

[Pathduck]

@david-p Hello and Welcome to the Vivaldi Community

Google is not the default search in Vivaldi, it's Bing. You can change this in Settings > Search.

Search suggestions in the address bar are disabled by default for privacy reasons. You can change this in Settings > Search > Allow search suggestions. I recommend also selecting "Only when using nickname" (for privacy).

For Google you need to add a suggest URL string - because Google does not really allow other browsers than Chrome to use suggestions:
https://www.google.com/complete/search?client=chrome&q=%s

For voice search, Google wants money from browsers to use their API. So Google Voice search won't work in Vivaldi. But Bing works though.

[David.P]

@pathduck said in Google can't access things in the browser:

For Google you need to add a suggest URL string - because Google does not really allow other browsers than Chrome to use suggestions:
https://www.google.com/complete/search?client=chrome&q=%s

Thanks, that worked!

@pathduck said in Google can't access things in the browser:

Google Voice search won't work in Vivaldi

Bummer...!
I use that all the time, particularly with languages other than my native language.

@pathduck said in Google can't access things in the browser:

For voice search, Google wants money from browsers to use their API.

Are you absolutely sure about this?

I know at least one freeware program that uses the Google voice API.

[Pathduck]

@david-p No, I'm not sure what the reason is, it's just what I've heard other users with direct access to the Vivaldi team say.

There's no setting in Vivaldi to make Google voice search work at the moment, and I have no idea if it will ever be available.

At least you can rest assured it's not just you

[David.P]

OK -- there is many threads about this, and a long one here:

@gaëlle said in Google voice search not working:

Thanks everyone for reaching out and being so patient with this issue.

Good news: Google Voice works since a few days on all builds.
It seems that Google enabled some permission that allows Vivaldi users to use it. In case it still doesn't work for you, let us know about it and please share which service is failing for you.

I can see no trace of any Vivaldi official ever saying Voice Search not working being due to fees for the Google API?

The freeware I know to use Google Speech API is QTranslate.

If Google voice search should not be possible in Vivaldi, I'm afraid this is a show stopper for me...

[pauloaguia]

On Android, if I had Vivaldi's search widget, I can use voice searches and even direct QR code reading.

I'm not sure if that voice search is through Google or simply voice recognition (which goes through Google anyway) and then sent as a regular search to Google, but it does work.