Why is my iPhone Search not working after iOS 18 update?

Hello, ever since I updated my iPhone to iOS 18, I’ve been experiencing several problems with the search functionality across the device. I can’t search for photos in the Photos app, I’m unable to search through my messages, and the search bar in the system settings doesn’t seem to work either. I’ve tried restarting the phone and freeing up storage space, but nothing has worked so far. Has anyone else experienced this issue or found a solution?



[Re-Titled by Moderator]


Posted on Oct 6, 2024 8:50 PM

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86 replies

Jan 12, 2025 7:58 AM in response to isaac_mons

I spoke with an Apple support person and together we tried a variety of solutions and one worked! Do the following: close all open apps. Then go to Settings - Apps - Reminders - Search - toggle off the two options of Show App in Search and Show Content in Search - wait a few minutes - toggle back on and the search now works properly in Reminders! I had this issue since I updated to ios18 and no update fixed it and now it works!

Oct 13, 2024 1:47 PM in response to isaac_mons

I've had this issue since iOS 18 officially launched as well. I never ran the beta and I've tried pretty much everything at this point, but spotlight search itself keeps being unable to list any apps, contacts, messages or anything else for that matter. Whenever I do restart my phone and try typing something into spotlight search it seems to work for a brief moment. The results that I get however, are totally irrelevant to what I actually typed. Adding insult to injury is the fact that the search function is completely non-functional in the Files app, or any stock Apple app for that matter. It's been a feature that I've always been massively relying on without ever encountering bugs or any sort of issues. This, along with the rest of the bugs that I've encountered so far feels like Apple actually shipped beta software, which is quite embarrassing and something that I never expected from this company.

iOS 18.0.1 running on an iPhone 13 mini with plenty of storage left.

Oct 10, 2024 12:20 PM in response to Estaten520

Same here. Can’t get anything to come up on search in calendar. This has been so frustrating. I will never buy a new iPhone when it first comes out again. This 16PRo has been nothing but glitchy. Drops off wi-fi even when wi fi is on all other devices. Search doesn’t work. I keep turning it off and on hoping that will fix the issues. No luck so far. Hope a new update to iOS comes out soon.

Oct 14, 2024 3:43 AM in response to isaac_mons

Calendar search function is falling apart. If it yields any results about events I know should be on the calendar, they will likely be only three most recent ones. I've done all they things relayed to syncing settings, turning Airplane Mode off/on, but nothing seems to work. Fortunately, the missing events can be found on my PC-version of Goggle's calendar, whose sync is properly set. What's up Apple? Do you plan to fix this rather serious problem in an upcoming update soon?

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Why is my iPhone Search not working after iOS 18 update?

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