Pull down search not working on iPhone

I experienced the same issue.

I saw the spotlight search, but it was not responding. But my failed attempts would appear as "recent searches".

In the App Library, hitting enter after typing something would open the first app in the library.

What worked for me: Turning off Siri. Both voice activation and by side button.

Long story short, trying to update all apps in the App Store may fix it.

I just fixed it, but I’m not sure if it applies to everyone. My iOS version was 18.0. Suddenly, one day, the pull-down search and the app search menu stopped working. I tried updating to iOS version 18.1, but it failed. Then I tried rebooting my iPhone several times, but that also failed.

Then I clicked on the App Store and realized I had 20+ apps that were not updated. While I was trying to update those apps, I tried the search function again, and it worked.

I don’t understand why; it might be one of the solutions and may not apply to everyone. It may be an iOS bug.

Go to settings, scroll down to an app, siri&search, show app in search, enable. You need to do this for every app you want to appear.

My impression is that the default behavior has changed, or there is somewhere a general setting I am unaware off.

This helped my issue

Settings > Siri & Search > turn on show suggestions and turn on show recents

I updated my operating system to the latest version and it started to work again. I’m on iOS 18.2 beta but it started to work since iOS 18.0 general release version.

I found this to happen on apps that I had Face ID enabled for so what you can do is either reinstall the app or disable Face ID for the app and reenable it then I was able to search for the apps.

Guys. Please disable Apple improved search under settings-> search and switch off the phone. It will work. You can re-enable the same.

This worked for me, at least temporarily:

Go to Settings::Apple Intelligence & Siri

Scroll down to “suggestions” and tap the “Reset Hidden Suggestions” link:

Jordmannn wrote:

I typed Facebook and Facebook is not appearing even though I have the app.

It works just fine for me - note I do not have the app. (iPhone 15 Pro, iOS 17.2.1)

Presumably you have something blocking your search at Settings > Siri & Search. Or perhaps your iPhone storage is full, which it would be if you have less than 6GB free.

I think I may have figured it out. Do you have the phone link app on your windows pc or laptop? I just added it recently and now I turned it off in settings on my lap top and all of a sudden I can search again! Worth a try for sure. Hope it helps!

Start your downward swipe from the middle of the Home Screen.

Mine doesn't work from time to time - or maybe all the time, it's just that I may not be testing it all the time. For example, today:

I have someone listed by their first and last name as an additional contact in an entry in my Contacts app. Neither searching within the app, nor using universal search, could find this person. Yet she is there.

I have had similar incidences of other searches not finding info that is definitely in my phone - also on my Mac too.

I know from old support sessions with Apple (regarding a Mac) that sometimes they say that the Mac isn't indexing properly. I don't know how to sort this out on a 'phone.

But basically, Apple's "universal search" isn't quite fit for purpose. It's all very well finding me results from the internet, but when it can't even find info that's on my own device, that's bad.

Anyone affected similarly is advised to contact Apple Feedback, as that is the only forum via which customer bug reports or enhancement suggestions are guaranteed to be read by the technicians who can actually do something about it.

Set Settings > Home Screen & App Library > [Search] Show on Home Screen = “on”.

Then you may simply tap the “Search” oval near the screen bottom.

Your original post said toggling Settings > Home Screen & App Library > [Search] Show on Home Screen temporarily enabled your pull-down search.

What I suggested is to actually use the search oval and not use the pull-down search.

When I turned phone off then on it worked again