Spotlight Search is gone from IOS13 ?

Agreed, that is the big problem: removing something as ancient as this for no reason and with no notice or clear advice in what the (old, but new to many of us) new method is, and that it requires a gesture of which many were ignorant and others find very difficult to use on the ipad: remember that there is typically a different orientation used on an ipad so that top and middle are more difficult to distinguish.

But the worst aspect is that the removal of Spotlight from the swipe right screen is nowhere documented, and thus happened with no warning.

All the gestures and features of iPadOS are all very comprehensively documented by Apple within the iPad User Guide for iPadOS. The full document can be downloaded, for free, within the Apple Books App.

Yes, the are changes - and new ways of doing things - but with a few minutes of reading they are all accessible to those who invest just a little time to read and learn.

Change happens - embrace and enjoy.

There is nothing to embrace if they take away things. I can't go to a non-dock app without "closing" my active app first. I wouldn't be surprised if Spotlight would return to the widget screen in a future update. There is no reason it can't be there. Maybe RAM usage on older devices? Ok then put it back there in the iPad Pros!

Sure: Those features that exist now are well documented.

What is not documented is the lack of existence in 13 of what was very recently still available. I may be wrong, but i do not think that anywhere in the userguide is this change documented. I suspect that there is no reference at all to the method of using Spotlight that was used by many over the decades, or to its current disappearance, and how we should cope with this unannounced change. Fully documenting all changes, with reasons, is a very important part of the Caring Software Development of maintainable and usable systems.

No problem with necessary change, but please document it fully, including what is no longer available.

Please, please, please!

Swiped down in the Middle of any iPad Home Screen -- but NOT from the Top Middle.

Confusing? Nahhh -- Down the center in between columns of app icons -- just not from the top.

So, I guess it's from the Middle Middle of a Home Screen. It does work this way.

Good Lord! An hour on the phone with Apple and they couldn't tell me this! I just tried it and it works. Unbelievable! Really!

Now to find out why any new picture I take with the iPad Camera since ipados is more than 8 mgs. They are not being compressed. Old pictures from before are OK. New ones present a real problem trying to email them. Often too big for other's system.

Thanks to those who found it, like everyone else I’m used to gestures starting at the edges of the screen so the first middle was top middle, confusion reigned for a bit 😂.

Start your swipe from dead centre of the screen people, no edges.

As another poster has said, why isn’t the search bar accessible from any app?

If you intergrated it with the widgets and had it swipe down from top left it would be top left for search and widgets, top middle for notifications and top right for settings without interfering with left and right swiping gestures in apps and still making everything accessible. A far superior arrangement.

Thank you!!!

I also kept doing from the middle *top* (swiping from the middle of the screen full of applications makes no sense to me as a shortcut). Swiping for shortcuts has always been from the edges. *shakes head*

EASY ANSWER: From ANY PAGE on your iPad, “flick-swipe” at the middle of the iPad. That means that around the middle area of your iPad, just quickly flick downward with your first finger a short way. The search bar will pop up and appear in view over whatever page you are on. It will also show some history. Type into it as usual and it will do its usual helpful thing. Hit your Home button to go back to normal. Note, the term Spotlight Search no longer appears anywhere on my iPad, so I assume it is automatic and no longer within Users’ preferences.

Yes - that would be the User Guide that is referenced on every new device.

The pointer, to the User Guide, is present in the Essentials section of native Tips App. Also, for out-of-box new devices, a link is included within Safari Favourites.

Unfortunately, this essential resource is often overlooked.

> Unfortunately, this essential resource is often overlooked.

One possible reason for this is that it is most obviously aimed at new users.

When upgrading the OS, there is no obvious reason to look fir this resource;

also, no warning is given to check here for changes, such as a sudden and

unannounced loss of the old method of doing something (or even when the

new method was introduced on the iPad).

In software projects I have worked, we always produced a listing of all changes,

however trivial, whenever a new version is released. A good idea?

I understand exactly what you mean. Others don’t get it. It was fine in iOS 12 but there’s this disparity in iPadOS 13 with iPhone. I found only 1 solution, which is assistive touch, set it to spotlight search, and you can access it in any app without having to go to the home screen and swipe down. Seems trivial but I’m searching on iPad all the time and it adds up.

trailfinder wrote: "It's only taken me three months to find!"

It's mentioned in the iPad User Guide here:

Use iPad to search for content

õ¿õ¬