Since this iOS 17 update I can no longer search my messages on my iPhone but I can still search on my iPad… HELP!!! It’s been 2 additional updates since the 17 update and it still isn’t working!!!!
iPhone 14 Pro Max, iOS 17
I had this issue as well and I was able to fix it! I figured out that for me, it was because not all of my iMessages had downloaded from iCloud. This is how I fixed it:
1. Before bed, I put my phone on the charger and was prepared not to use it for the rest of the night
2. Settings —> Apple ID, iCloud+, Media & Purchases (at the top) —> iCloud —> Show All (under Apps Using iCloud) —> Messages —> toggle off “Sync this iPhone” —> click “Disable and Download Messages” —> wait a minute or so, then toggle back on “Sync this iPhone”
3. Open iMessages app (there should be a message at the bottom of the screen that reads “Syncing with iCloud”)
4. Set my phone down without locking it (still plugged in) and didn’t touch it for the rest of the night (I don’t know if the “without locking it” part was necessary, it may still work if you lock the phone but this is what I did [I had my auto-lock display settings set to “Never”])
5. The next morning, I tried searching a word I know I’ve used a lot over the years and was able to see everything :)
Hope this helps! Good luck!
Have you taken your phone into Apple to see if they can assist you? Maybe you’re overlooking something so obvious because you’ve been so stressed over it. I would see if they would allow you to test another phone with your data and see if your data is corrupted at a certain point in the indexing or updating portion. I don’t recall what model your phone is either. I would def take it in and let them get their hands on it. I have years and years and years of texts especially and I was so lost and terrified that my data was lost for search purposes. So I get it.
Just throwing ideas out here but what if you temporarily increased your iCloud storage and uploaded all of your info to that and then attempt to do the whole process again. I did this at the end and I don’t know if it was timing or what - but that is when my phone finally would index. My phone acted totally diff once I added the iCloud storage even tho I have largest capacity at 526gb. No logic here but I was just scared of losing my data because my phone was acting like it had no storage at all. I just kept feeling as if it was going to dump all of data so I made so many diff backups. I hate this for you!
I would maybe go through online support and have it escalated to supervisor - I did this up several people - before they figured out the fix was coming in an update. I see there is an update even today I just got notice of - perhaps this addresses something. But back to online support - when you get to a supervisor of a supervisor and they still aren’t able to assist - then ask if this can escalated as a team to your local support and collaborate? There has to be something that they collectively can do to figure this out.
Just updated to 17.1 and all of my old texts are back and searchable!!
Sooo now my phone updates to the 17.0.3 and I still can’t search words in my text, my emails can’t go to designated folders like it use too… and now THE FONT SIZE CHANGED ON MY PHONE from the original. This is to much Apple!
Very very broken… Several people have tried once I brought it up to them and nothing comes up on the iPhone when searching text messages for a word. I can search all pics entering a word.
I even had some techs in the store try and they were unsuccessful as well.
On my iPad which is now running iOS 17.0.3 the search is fine. I can go back to 2019 messages searching a word.
Same here. This is big. I have followed steps of turning off Siri & Search and in iMessages based on old articles I've found and nothing solves this problem. I use search a lot in iMessage for personal and work purposes. iMessage search is basically useless right now.
I’m glad I’m not alone. I have done everything you said you have done as well. I also use the search for work and personal. My emails use to remember certain words so when I move the message the folder would automatically appear but now it doesn’t and now I have to scroll all around just to find the folder. And now my caps button would stay highlighted, it goes to lowercase. I can’t compose a long message, then want to edit it because the curser won’t allow me to move up. It’s just frustrating.
I hate this new update! I often need to search my text messages for work related questions and NOW I CAN NOT. It shows me message from the day. I need my messages from a month ago. I do not have time to search through all of this! HELLLLPPPPP!
Hi, This has been extremely frustrating. I logged a complaint with Apple support and I have an assigned case #. They called me and said Apple is aware of the problem and that it will be fixed in an upcoming update. This was when I updated to 17.0.3. They did not specify whether 17.1 will fix this.
I have not yet updated to 17.1
Has this issue been resolved in 17.1?
Thanks in advance.
Okay. But I tried the indexing 2 weeks ago and it didn’t work. But I’m not sure what the correct indexing procedure is. I did these 3. And nothing worked.
Method 1.
Restart Your iPhone
Try restarting your iPhone, waiting for several minutes and connecting your device to the Wifi network. Then check whether your device finishes indexing.
Method 2.
Toggle on and off Messages button in iCloud
Open Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Toggle Messages on and off, and then on. After the steps, wait for some time to check.
Method 3.
Toggle on and off Siri & Search in Settings
Step 1. Go to Settings, and tap Siri & Search.
Step 2. Scroll to the Messages app, and toggle off all Siri & Search options if they are already on.
Step 3. Power off your iPhone, wait for a few minutes, and power it on.
Step 4. Go back to Settings, tap Siri & Search > Messages, then toggle green all options.
Step 5. Finally go to the Messages app and check if the indexing is finished.
iOS 17.1 definitely fixed it for me. Sort of. Before message searches would only return back to September, 2023. Now with iOS 17.1 I get results back to 2016. I have messages dating back further than 2016, but they don’t show up.
Same! I have spent hours trying to fix this through suggestions on forums and then apple support - escalated to manager of managers to no avail. I have done all the suggestions, tips and tricks and nothing works. I work off my phone and searching texts is a huge part of making my job easier. I feel crippled without this function. Apple keeps telling me it shouldn’t be long and they are aware. I just updated iOS 17.1 - no fix! I have asked if I can somehow go back to ios16 and they tell me it is not recommended as it can cause a new host of issues. Thankfully I had my old phone still from August - ios16 so when I have to I will search my texts on that one. Not ideal but it’s better than nothing. I am quite confused how the data is all there( I hope) but not recognized….one has to scroll for days to locate. This has stressed me to no end and I just cannot imagine them releasing an update this messed up. This is a critical feature now rendered useless. Any new suggestions anyone ?
I have no reasoning why - but it literally took me dozen attempts to manually index by toggling off and on to sync. Weird thing is sometimes it would act like it was syncing and I would go back and check and it just stopped as if it had finished. And maybe a few more things were added - of which none of the items added made sense. All over the place in terms of date range. Just keep repeating this manual process and for some reason - one day it clicks and works. Trust me - I feel your pain and I was so close to smashing my phone and throw myself on the floor screaming. Searching my texts and photos is the brain of my work! I was helpless.
Did the manual indexing work for you. I’m on the latest iOS 17.3. Very frustrating.
How do you manually reset the indexing??
Can’t Search Messages since iOS 17 Update!
