iOS 14 doesn't allow you to search for foreign language apps with English keyboard anymore?

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Level 1

9 points

iOS 14 doesn't allow you to search for foreign language apps with English keyboard anymore?

I live in China and have several apps on my phone which are titled with Chinese characters. Like 美团 for example. Until iOS 14 I could search for those apps with the English keyboard by simply typing out how they sound which is how chinese characters are typed out on English keyboards. To search for 美团 in spotlight I would simply start typing "meituan" in English and the Chinese app would come up as a possible result. Now when I type the name of any Chinese app with the English keyboard selected I get no results. I have to enable the Chinese keyboard in order to search for a Chinese app, the funny thing is with the Chinese keyboard enabled the app will show up in the list even before I've selected the Chinese character. If I just type "me" then the meituan app will show up just as it had before with the English keyboard. This is frustrating because I regularly need to search for apps in both languages and I used to be able to do it all with the English keyboard until iOS 14. Now I have to switch keyboards anytime I want to search for one thing or another. It would be nice to not take away functionality like this. It worked fine. Anything I can do?

iPhone XS

Posted on Sep 29, 2020 12:13 AM

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Answer 1

Here_we-go Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 5, 2020 11:04 PM in response to ryane77

Ok, whoops. I just updated to 14.0.1 yesterday and hadn’t tried it again. It’s working like before now. I can now search for Chinese apps while the English keyboard is enabled now. Sorry!

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Answer 2

ryane77

Community Specialist

Oct 5, 2020 12:38 PM in response to Here_we-go

Hi Here_we-go,

Thanks for the post! Being able to search for apps is certainly important. You're in the right place to get assistance with this issue. First, to verify, it sounds like you're finding that apps titled with Chinese characters do not appear in your search results unless you enable the Chinese-language keyboard. Is that correct?

Have you updated to iOS 14.0.1 yet? If not, see if that helps, and be sure to back up beforehand:

How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

If you find the issue persists, let us know; is this happening when you search with Spotlight by swiping down on your Home screen, or when you search by swiping all the way left to the Today view?

Also, is "Show App in Search" under Settings > Siri & Search turned on for the app in question?

Let us know what you find!

Kindest regards.

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Answer 3

ryane77

Community Specialist

Oct 8, 2020 3:56 PM in response to Here_we-go

Hi there Here_we-go,

We appreciate you letting us know the issue seems to have returned. With that in mind, we recommend using this link to Contact Apple Support in order to look into this further.

Cheers,

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Answer 4

Here_we-go Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 8, 2020 9:15 AM in response to ryane77

Hey ryane77,

Looks like I spoke too soon. So I am able to search for Chinese apps with the English keyboard enabled if the last thing I searched for in spotlight was a Chinese app with the Chinese keyboard enabled. So if I searched for “meituan 美团” with the Chinese keyboard enabled, then don’t search for anything else and go about my day for an hour or whatever then if the very next app I search for with the English keyboard enabled is a Chinese app, it will show up in the results. But... after I use the English keyboard to search for anything in spotlight once, then I will not be able to search for a Chinese app with the English keyboard enabled the next time and every other time after that until I use the Chinese keyboard to search for an app once again, then I get one chance at using the English keyboard to search for a Chinese app until I use the Chinese keyboard once more...You get the picture yeah?

So strange, I can’t imagine it was a conscious decision to change spotlight to make it work this way, doesn’t make any sense.

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Answer 5

Here_we-go Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 5, 2020 10:46 PM in response to ryane77

Hello,

Yes I am on 14.0.1. It seems as though the functionality has been removed or at least omitted in iOS 14. When typing chinese and many other languages you simply type how it sounds in English letters, like to say hello you “ni hao” and then the chinese characters will appear and you continue typing. Before iOS 14 when searching for apps in spotlight I could simply type the way the app sounds and it would be there. Now they do not appear. I must switch to the chinese keyboard for any chinese apps to appear even though I don’t have to type out the full name, only part of it like it used to be with the English keyboard. The funny thing is the English keyboard still works when searching for the apps in the app drawer, just not in spotlight. Why would that be?

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