Qwant facts for kids
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Type of site
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Search engine |
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| Available in | Multilingual |
| Headquarters | |
| Owner | Jean-Manuel Rozan, Éric Léandri, Patrick Constant, Caisse des dépôts et consignations (20 %) Groupe Axel Springer (20 %) |
| Founder(s) | Jean-Manuel Rozan, Éric Léandri, Patrick Constant |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | None |
| Launched | July 2013 |
| Current status | Active |
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Content license
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Proprietary |
Qwant is a French search engine that started in February 2013. It's special because it focuses on your privacy. Qwant says it won't follow what you do online, sell your personal information, or change your search results based on who you are.
Contents
History of Qwant
How Qwant Started
Qwant was created on May 25, 2011, in Nice, France. The founders were Jean-Manuel Rozan, Éric Léandri, and Patrick Constant. The name "Qwant" comes from combining the letter "Q" (from "Quantities") and the English word "want."
The search engine first launched a test version on February 16, 2013, in 15 countries and 35 languages. The final French version was released on July 4, 2013.
Growing and Changing
When Qwant first started, it used some parts of Microsoft Bing to help with its search results. Over time, Qwant worked to use more of its own technology to find and organize information.
In June 2014, a German company called Axel Springer SE invested money in Qwant. This helped Qwant develop its own system for finding news.
On April 14, 2015, Qwant updated its look with a new design. The French Minister of Economy, Emmanuel Macron, even called Qwant "Google French on the move."
In October 2016, the European Investment Bank gave Qwant a loan of €25 million to help it grow in Europe.
Qwant also made important partnerships. In July 2016, it teamed up with the Mozilla Foundation, which makes the Firefox web browser. This led to a special version of Firefox optimized for Qwant. Later, Qwant apps for Android and iOS phones were released.
In February 2017, Qwant received more funding, including €15 million from the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, a French public financial institution.
By 2019, it was found that Qwant still relied on Bing for about 60% of its web search results. Qwant continued to work on using more of its own search technology.
In 2021, new leaders took over Qwant. They decided to focus on building a "private and secure" internet experience, rather than trying to completely replace Google.
By September 2021, Qwant was available in all European countries. It also became one of the top 5 search engines you could choose on Android phones. In June 2022, Qwant launched a browser extension called Qwant VIPrivacy. This extension helps block cookies and trackers on websites.
Qwant's Services
Qwant Junior
Qwant Junior is a special search engine made for kids aged 6 to 12. It doesn't show any ads and filters out violent content or online shopping links. It's a safe way for younger users to explore the internet.
Qwant Music
Qwant Music is a search engine just for music. You can use it to find artists, albums, and songs.
Qwant Maps
Qwant Maps is a mapping service, similar to other online maps. It uses information from OpenStreetMap. You can use it to find directions for driving, walking, biking, or public transport. You can also find places like shops and activities.
Qwant VIPrivacy
Qwant VIPrivacy is a browser extension. It helps you block trackers and cookies when you browse the internet. When you install it, Qwant also becomes your default search engine.
Qwant@Work
Qwant@Work is a service for businesses and organizations. It helps protect employees' internet use by limiting how much personal data is collected.
How Qwant Works
Qwant shows different types of results in one search, like regular websites, shopping sites, and news. It tries to give you results that are not based on your past searches or personal information.
Qwant makes money through ads that appear next to search results. It also partners with companies like Tripadvisor and DeepL Translator to make its results better. For example, DeepL helps Qwant offer translation directly on the search page.
Qwant is recommended by the French government for its focus on privacy.
Keeping Your Information Private
Qwant only uses a few cookies that are needed for the search engine to work. These are not used for ads. It also saves your settings, like your chosen theme or language, on your device.
Unlike some other search engines, Qwant doesn't change your search results based on your past searches. Instead, it shows results based on what's generally popular or relevant at the moment.
For a while, Qwant sent some information to Microsoft Bing Ads to help with search requests. This information was made anonymous, but Qwant didn't announce this until later. Now, Qwant is more open about how it handles your data.
Popularity of Qwant
Qwant has grown a lot since it started. In July 2013, it had 3.5 million visits each month. By early 2017, it had nearly 37 million monthly visits.
In June 2018, Qwant said it was the second most used search engine in France. It also claimed to be in the top 50 most visited websites in France and the top 1,000 worldwide. However, other websites like StatCounter showed that Qwant had a smaller share of the search market compared to Google.
In 2018, Qwant handled about 1.6 billion searches every month. Most of its users are in France, but it also has users in Germany, the United States, and other countries.
By the first half of 2020, Qwant was the fourth most popular search engine in France, after Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Logotypes
Versions of Qwant
Qwant has updated its design several times to make it easier to use and more modern.
- Version 4 (July 2018): This version changed the layout to be more like other websites.
- New Design (December 2019): Qwant announced a new design to make the experience simpler.
- Updated Interface (March 2021): A new version was launched to make the interface look fresh and work better on smartphones.
- New Identity (June 2022): Qwant updated its look again to help teach more people, especially younger ones, about why protecting personal data is important.
Discontinued Services
Qwant has also stopped some services to focus on its main search engine and map service.
- Masq by Qwant: This service was meant to personalize Qwant without collecting personal data, but it was stopped in September 2020 because not enough users found it helpful.
- Qwant Causes: This allowed users to support projects through their searches, similar to other charity search engines. It was stopped in April 2020 due to low use.
- Qwant Boards: This allowed users to share images, videos, and messages. It was stopped in August 2020 so Qwant could focus on improving its search engine.
- Qwant Junior Education: A version of Qwant Junior for teachers.
- Qwant School: A filtered version of Qwant for middle school students, similar to Qwant Junior but with slightly less strict filters.
Images for kids
See also
In Spanish: Qwant para niños
- Timeline of web search engines
- List of search engines
- Brave Search
- DuckDuckGo
- Startpage
