--- a/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/search/SearchEngineManager.java
+++ b/mobile/android/base/java/org/mozilla/gecko/search/SearchEngineManager.java
@@ -569,19 +569,23 @@ public class SearchEngineManager impleme
     private SearchEngine createEngineFromLocale(String name) {
         final InputStream in = getInputStreamFromSearchPluginsJar("list.txt");
         final BufferedReader br = getBufferedReader(in);
 
         try {
             String identifier;
             while ((identifier = br.readLine()) != null) {
                 final InputStream pluginIn = getInputStreamFromSearchPluginsJar(identifier + ".xml");
-                final SearchEngine engine = createEngineFromInputStream(identifier, pluginIn);
-                if (engine != null && engine.getName().equals(name)) {
-                    return engine;
+                // pluginIn can be null if the xml file doesn't exist which
+                // can happen with :hidden plugins
+                if (pluginIn != null) {
+                  final SearchEngine engine = createEngineFromInputStream(identifier, pluginIn);
+                  if (engine != null && engine.getName().equals(name)) {
+                      return engine;
+                  }
                 }
             }
         } catch (IOException e) {
             Log.e(LOG_TAG, "Error creating shipped search engine from name: " + name, e);
         } finally {
             try {
                 br.close();
             } catch (IOException e) {

--- a/mobile/locales/Makefile.in
+++ b/mobile/locales/Makefile.in
@@ -76,16 +76,17 @@ search-jar-common = tmp-search.jar.mn
 search-jar        = $(tgt-gendir)/$(search-jar-common)
 search-jar-ts     = $(search-jar).ts
 
 GARBAGE += $(search-jar) $(search-jar-ts) $(search-jar-common)
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # search-jar contains a list of providers for the search plugin
 ###########################################################################
 SEARCH_PLUGINS = $(shell cat $(plugin_file))
+SEARCH_PLUGINS := $(subst :hidden,,$(SEARCH_PLUGINS))
 $(call errorIfEmpty,SEARCH_PLUGINS)
 
 search-jar-preqs = \
   $(plugin-file-ts) \
   $(if $(IS_LANGUAGE_REPACK),FORCE) \
   $(NULL)
 
 .PHONY: search-jar

copy from mobile/locales/en-US/searchplugins/google.xml
copy to mobile/locales/en-US/searchplugins/google-nocodes.xml

--- a/mobile/locales/en-US/searchplugins/google.xml
+++ b/mobile/locales/en-US/searchplugins/google.xml
@@ -6,11 +6,12 @@
 <ShortName>Google</ShortName>
 <InputEncoding>UTF-8</InputEncoding>
 <Image width="16" height="16">data:image/png;base64,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</Image>
 <Url type="application/x-suggestions+json" method="GET" template="https://www.google.com/complete/search?client=firefox&amp;q={searchTerms}"/>
 <Url type="text/html" method="GET" template="https://www.google.com/search">
   <Param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"/>
   <Param name="ie" value="utf-8"/>
   <Param name="oe" value="utf-8"/>
+  <Param name="client" value="firefox-b"/>
 </Url>
 <SearchForm>https://www.google.com</SearchForm>
 </SearchPlugin>

--- a/mobile/locales/en-US/searchplugins/list.txt
+++ b/mobile/locales/en-US/searchplugins/list.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 amazondotcom
-google
+google:hidden
 twitter
 wikipedia
 yahoo
 bing
 duckduckgo
+google-nocodes