Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, has confirmed that the company’s Comet browser on iOS uses Google Search as the default for navigational queries. Srinivas emphasized that Google excels in these everyday searches, such as locating a restaurant, checking scores, or finding hotel deals, and that Comet is designed to complement Google rather than replace it.
The Comet iOS app, now free to download, combines Google’s speed and breadth in navigational search with Perplexity’s AI capabilities for more complex, multimodal queries. The Comet Assistant overlays any webpage—including Google’s results page—ready to provide advanced answers when simple navigational queries aren’t enough. Voice mode is also built into the browser for hands-free access.
Technically, Comet runs on the Chromium engine, the same open-source foundation behind Chrome and Edge, but Srinivas says the user interface is native to iOS, offering a polished experience comparable to Safari. The browser also includes native ad blocking and background video playback.
Srinivas’s remarks follow a high-profile moment last August, when he offered $34.5 billion to acquire Google’s Chrome browser—a bid nearly twice Perplexity’s valuation at the time. The proposal was ultimately rejected, and the Chrome acquisition did not proceed, with a September 2025 ruling affirming that Google does not need to divest Chrome or Android.
Rather than framing Comet as a competitor to Google, Srinivas positions it pragmatically: the browser knows when to rely on Google for efficiency and when to leverage Perplexity’s AI for deeper insights. This approach allows Comet to serve as a flexible tool for mobile users, balancing the speed of traditional search with the intelligence of advanced AI.
Comet is now available on iPhone, Android, Windows, and Mac, though a native iPad version has not yet been released.
