“Find on page” not working since IOS 16 update

To clarify the problem more, the issue doesn't have to do with the Safari browser. It has to do with viewing documents that are stored either on the Apple device or iCloud. Safari isn't necessary to open the files. I see the issue when I open any PDF and press Cmd+F to find characters. I used to be able to search a 700 page PDF, but since the update, after two characters are typed in the search field, first the search field and document disappear, and then the document appears without any search results. Again, this has nothing to do with Safari or web browsing at all.

I’m also having this issue on an iPhone SE 2022 and it’s been occurring since before ios16. I’ll try to find a word on a page in Safari, it might show “(on this page) 5 matches” but when I try to parse through the results by tapping “find” the dialog box closes and doesn’t show me the results.

After you have typed the word you are searching and have scrolled down to “on this page”, put your finger on the left side icon with the magnifying glass

Now HOLD your finger on that icon for a good 2-3 seconds, THEN release

The search function should pop up. It did for me

Outside of Safari I also can’t search a large PDF by pressing control + f on a keyboard. If I type any text in the search box, there’s no search or count and on screen the PDF seems to reload. I wonder if it’s PDF protection against keyword searches?

Thank you NuttyNightBird! As I describe at length above and in another thread, I could NOT get Find on Page to work on Safari webpages since the upgrade to iOS 16. The link you provided mentions two other options that do work. So for the benefit of any other readers with the same issue I had…press Command and F simultaneously or type the term you are searching for in the URL and select On This Page from the box that drops down.

[Edited by Moderator]

Thank you very much. Now it works perfectly again.

Go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Experimental Features > ReadableByte Stream, then turn ON ReadableByte Stream was the Solution.

Small hint: I could work around the problem before, if I held the IPhone in landscape mode, then the search worked without problems.

No, Ashar, it's not that complicated. A website is opened with Safari. A word or phrase is entered into the search bar. "On this page" gives the number of occurrences. The user should click "Find xxx." But Safari reverts to the website without finding any occurances, and apparently not even searching the page.

What they are saying is:

When searching for a word in the search bar, you type in the word you are looking for while on a web page in the search bar, after you type it in, you scroll to the bottom and it will say something like “on this page (11 times)”, you click on that and it doesn’t find the word and more. It used to highlight every time on a web page that that word you used is.

This is and has been happening for the past few iOS updates to me as well on my iPhone 14 Pro Max on web pages. What’s up Apple? There should be enough people having this same issue for you to address this!

It wasn't working for me on either web pages or pdfs. iOS 16.5.1, iPhone 12 Pro. I tried turning on Settings > Safari > Advanced > Experimental Features > ReadableByte Stream (then restarting Safari) and it still didn't work. I turned that back off and "Find on page" started working! So for me, the feature was restored by toggling ReadableByte Stream on/off.

Solved - iPhone iOS 16

Solution 1 - “Find in Page” is added to the Action Icon (the same icon you’d hit to share, copy, etc.). Works beautifully.

Solution 2 - as before, type what word you want to find in the address bar, scroll down to “Find in Page” and touch & hold the icon to the left . Release after about 3-4 seconds. I don’t know why this is, but it works for me. Touching it momentarily doesn’t do anything.

Solution: On my iPhones, I got it working per what’s been shared previously. Press and hold the Find icon for a few seconds before releasing. Has worked every time for both my phones.

I see I already responded to this just a little while ago. Old age and CRS.

I am having the same issue. And it’s not just Safari. “Find” no longer works in Pages, Notes, etc.

Are you actually able to type words into the search bar? Because my search bar doesn’t appear anymore, so nothing happens when I type.

This is the exact issue I have. I can type something but zero results even when I see it.