How to Turn SafeSearch Off

Manage safe search settings for Google, Yahoo, or Bing on your PC or phone

by Luis E. Chavez Saenz
Luis Chavez is a former Lifewire writer and a System Administrator with 5+ years' experience writing about technology for end users.
Updated November 10, 2019

SafeSearch acts as a basic filter that removes explicit content from search-engine results. Although it's a good for parental control, it's not 100-percent perfect. The major search engines—Google, Yahoo, and Bing—allow you to turn SafeSearch off to access all the results from the completed search.

How to Turn Safe Search off on a Computer

While the steps may vary, depending on the search engine you use, these steps are not browser dependent. You may use the browser of your preference and still follow these same steps to either disable or enable safe search.

The setting itself is browser dependent, however, so if you disable Google's SafeSearch in Google Chrome, you'll still have to disable it in Microsoft Edge.

How to Turn Google SafeSearch off

  2. Ensure Turn on SafeSearch is unchecked.

  3. Scroll to the bottom of the web page and select Save.

  4. Perform a Google search to see if SafeSearch is now disabled. To revert these changes, simply select Turn on SafeSearch in the Google Search settings.

Disable Bing's Safe Search Settings

  1. Open Bing.

  2. Select the Menu icon.

  3. Either select SafeSearch, or expand the Settings menu, then select More.

  4. Select Off, then select Save.

  5. Do a Bing search to verify the results.

  6. To revert these changes, follow the same steps, but select either Strict or Moderate, then select Save.

Turn Yahoo Safe Search off

  1. Open Yahoo and perform a search.

  2. Select the Menu icon, then select Settings.

  3. Select the SafeSearch dropdown menu, then select Off - do not filter results.

  4. Select Save.

  5. Do a Yahoo search.

  6. Similarly to Bing, to revert these changes, follow the same steps but select either Strict or Moderate, then select Save.

How to Turn SafeSearch off on Android

To disable safe search on Android, steps vary a little bit, especially for the Google search engine.

Turn Google SafeSearch off

  1. Launch the Google app.

  2. Tap More.

  3. Tap Settings.

  4. Tap Accounts & privacy.

  5. Tap the SafeSearch filter toggle to disable this setting.

  6. Do a Google search on your Android device.

  7. Repeat these steps to turn SafeSearch back on, but tap the SafeSearch filter toggle again to enable it.

Disable Bing's Safe Search Filter

The steps to disable Bing's safe search on Android are pretty much the same as on your computer.

These steps also apply to Bing search on iOS.

Within Bing, tap the Menu icon in the top right corner. Tap either Settings or SafeSearch, then tap Off to disable safe search. Tap Save.

Turn off Yahoo's Safe Search Settings

These steps also apply to Yahoo Search on iOS.

  1. Launch your browser and navigate to Yahoo Search.

  2. Tap Settings at the bottom of the screen.

  3. Tap the SafeSearch dropdown menu.

  4. Tap Off - do not filter results, then tap Save.

  5. Do a Yahoo search on your android device

  6. To revert these changes, follow the same steps, but tap either Strict or Moderate.

How to Turn off Safe Search on iOS

To disable safe search on your iOS device, the steps for Bing and Yahoo search engines are identical to disable safe search on Android. However, to disable safe search for the Google search engine, the steps are closer to the steps for doing so on a computer.

Open Google Search Settings. Under the SafeSearch filters options, tap Show most relevant results. Scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Save.