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Q: iOS 9 Spotlight Search not working properly

HI,

 

On my iPhone 5 32gb Spotlight Search is not working and hasn't been since around the time of iOS 8. When I search for keywords that I know have been used in messages from a year ago it only shows results back to the middle of this year. I have read a lot of threads about the issue and have tried the suggestions:

 

-changing the phone language which seems to have worked for some people

-sending myself emails from my iCloud account

-sending myself a text

-I have reset all phone settings

-restoring from backup

 

None of which have worked  I'm loathe to restore as a new phone as deleting all of my texts defeats the purpose of wanting to search my old messages

 

Amy suggestions?

 

Thanks

iPhone 5, iOS 9, null

Posted on Sep 17, 2015 3:53 AM

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Q: iOS 9 Spotlight Search not working properly

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  • by tyfromhagerstown,

    tyfromhagerstown tyfromhagerstown Sep 23, 2015 5:01 PM in response to ErinD
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Sep 23, 2015 5:01 PM in response to ErinD

    ALl of my contacts are iCloud and synced with outlook on a PC.

  • by djwduke,

    djwduke djwduke Sep 24, 2015 5:41 PM in response to Brophs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 24, 2015 5:41 PM in response to Brophs

    I tried all the suggestions in this post and it seemingly got better - then I turned off "Contacts found in Mail" from Mail, Contacts, Calendars in Settings  and bingo!

  • by CambridgeBoy,

    CambridgeBoy CambridgeBoy Sep 26, 2015 2:29 PM in response to Brophs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 26, 2015 2:29 PM in response to Brophs

    I have tried all the suggestions in this post and nothing works. My contacts continue to be improperly indexed by Spotlight. Oddly, Siri voice interface can find my contacts by name, but textual searches fail. Since I actually use my phone as a productivity tool rather than a game machine, the lack of rapid contact access is a huge problem. The fact they removed rapid favorites access from the task  switcher means even my favorites are no longer easy to access. So far, iOS 9 seems like a huge step backwards. No new functionality that I can detect, combined with significant removed or broken functionality. I wondered how long it would take Apple to start it's slide after Steve Job's death. I guess the answer is about three years.

  • by tyfromhagerstown,

    tyfromhagerstown tyfromhagerstown Sep 26, 2015 2:44 PM in response to CambridgeBoy
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Sep 26, 2015 2:44 PM in response to CambridgeBoy

    CambridgeBoy

    The best I can suggest for you is to use the search within Contacts. I find that this one will find all contacts. Not as convenient as spotlight search (if it worked).

  • by djwduke,

    djwduke djwduke Sep 26, 2015 3:09 PM in response to Brophs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 26, 2015 3:09 PM in response to Brophs

    I have an update from my original post.  The "fix" did not hold for some reason.  In other words, Spotlight Search began to work properly after I turned off "Contacts Found In Mail" in Settings - now, two days later, Spotlight Search has stopped working altogether. Clearly there is something else going on that is probably not fixable at the user level.

  • by bealert,

    bealert bealert Sep 27, 2015 4:00 AM in response to bealert
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 27, 2015 4:00 AM in response to bealert

    Hi, since my previous post, ios 9.0.1 arrived and updated my iphone 6, no more problems with searching by spotlight.

    Thanks Apple.

     

    Regards

    bealert

  • by tyfromhagerstown,

    tyfromhagerstown tyfromhagerstown Sep 27, 2015 4:13 AM in response to bealert
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Sep 27, 2015 4:13 AM in response to bealert

    9.0.1 did not improve the spotlight search for me.

  • by Will Turner1,

    Will Turner1 Will Turner1 Sep 28, 2015 2:41 PM in response to Brophs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 28, 2015 2:41 PM in response to Brophs

    This answer works for a brief time, but does not work forever.

     

    9.0.1 did not resolve this problem, nor in my testing did either beta of iOS 9.1 (beta 1 or beta 2).

     

    Still open bug, all solutions are only temporary, bug will re-appear after several days. Several other threads show other solutions.

  • by jradamsjr,

    jradamsjr jradamsjr Sep 28, 2015 7:12 PM in response to Will Turner1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 28, 2015 7:12 PM in response to Will Turner1

    Agreed. I have searched the internet and tried several fixes and nothing works including 9.01 This was an incredibly useful feature - the ability to quickly dfind contacts without having to open any apps. major step backwards if Apple lets this stay like this. Very dissapointed.

  • by neilnbj,

    neilnbj neilnbj Oct 1, 2015 11:42 AM in response to djwduke
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2015 11:42 AM in response to djwduke

    This worked for me after trying all other options. ios 9.0.1

  • by jradamsjr,

    jradamsjr jradamsjr Oct 1, 2015 1:46 PM in response to neilnbj
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2015 1:46 PM in response to neilnbj

    Not for me on iPhone 6

  • by Adb1987,

    Adb1987 Adb1987 Oct 2, 2015 2:02 AM in response to katesuth
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2015 2:02 AM in response to katesuth

    I Had the same problem since upgrading to IOS 9 and this very simple 2 second fix has resolved the problem. Thanks

  • by Will Turner1,

    Will Turner1 Will Turner1 Oct 2, 2015 8:02 AM in response to Brophs
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2015 8:02 AM in response to Brophs

    Still seeing this problem on both the 9.1 b2 and 9.0.2. Have tried all the fixes. They appear to work for a while, but whatever is corrupting the spotlight searches or breaking the link to contacts eventually resurfaces and the searches stop working. Resetting the phone sometimes works. Turning off all other search results sometimes works. Messing with the contacts app or removing one kind of contacts from the search sometimes works. But none of them work for more than a day or so.

     

    Has anyone fixed it permanently?

  • by koyeung,

    koyeung koyeung Oct 4, 2015 5:18 AM in response to ErinD
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 4, 2015 5:18 AM in response to ErinD

    my problem is if the contact links a Google and iCloud contact, information from iCloud contact is not searchable.

  • by mike1jen2,

    mike1jen2 mike1jen2 Oct 6, 2015 4:21 PM in response to Brophs
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 6, 2015 4:21 PM in response to Brophs

    I am having the same issue. It is strange, if I search for a "Mike" as an example, I have a lot of Mike's in my database, and a few of them do come up on the spotlight search, but not all of them and in most cases, the Mike I am looking for doesn't show up. I haven't changed anything from how I would do contact lookups previously...looks as if Apple may not have thought doing contact lookups is important and removed the ability in IOS 9 simply not do contact lookups?

     

    If that's the case, please add it back!  I use it constantly all day long!

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