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

keri-lynnfromrussell wrote:

I really don’t think these problems, are due to the storage issue.

At a complete Loss here with this.

Have you tried freeing up space to see if the problem is resolved? There's not a whole lot of point in posting here for help if, when a number of people give the same suggestion, you don't follow it. Even if it's only to prove then wrong.

I appreciate all the advice, tips that have been given. I’m not trying to prove anyone wrong here either. I’m just confused as to why all of a sudden this happens and I had more apps/pictures/emails/ . I have done this yes, I have deleted and offloaded so many things since January. I’ve never encountered such problems like this, in the 20 years of having apple products. Problem is, when I delete photos, they instantly come back to as if I never deleted it. This was before all my pictures disappeared off the phone all of a sudden. So many different things happening back to back.

I’m running iOS 18.4.1 so totally up to date. Have this issue esp with emails. It says some results may not appear and then pulls up….nothing, or only a couple of messages. In the past, force quit brought them back but seems not anymore. I read somewhere it said to delete and reinstall my mailboxes but aside from being a pain in the butt to do, this isn’t a sustainable solution. Anybody else?

Ok - this may help. We have 4 phones and 4 iPads of various versions all fully up to date and setup the same way. They spread from the latest pros to a couple of iPhone 13 minis (Apple build a new small phone!!). One device - an iPhone 13 mini - has all of the symptoms described in this thread. Including - and this is new - loss of app search. Hence my reply to this post. We are fully apple tech literate users and I have headbutted this issue for a few weeks now with no success. What I don’t understand is what is causing this on only 1 of 8 devices…..

I will come back if I find the answer.

Unfortunate circumstances wrote:

How?

It seems unlikely that the person who posted that back in December will answer. But, at a guess, you'd need to ask the Genius bar what they did. If that's an option for you, you might want to consider it.

I'm in the same spot I was in several months ago. I do not use my iPhone to search for items - I only use my MacBook Pro 16 which I keep my software updates current and am at Sequoia 15.4.1. I have most of my photos in Pictures but if I do a search for the names. (not numbers) it will only take me to documents. Before updates I could put in a name and it would bring up every file with the name or partial name. I wish Apple could provide some assistance with this as it has really effected my business.

marcg007, “Settings/Privacy and security/Location Services/System services/suggestions and search: turn the switch to off then on.

it will take a while (the more stuff you have, the longer it takes), but it will re-index your entire device.” …How long does it take, and how do you know if it’s doing anything? Mine doesn’t appear to be any different when I do this. Thanks

Yes. I’m the guy who posted the original solution regarding search and it worked for me. However, it doesn’t appear to have worked for everyone. Also, I have run into this calendar situation so not sure what that’s about.

I have the same issue, cannot search photos on 16 Pro Max

i also can't use search at all! photos app, spotlight search, app search, nothing. iPhone 14 pro

Everyone, I finally can search photos now!

I’m also having this issue with my M2 iPad Pro. Never realized how much I use spotlight search until I couldn’t hope there’s a fix soon.

how???

Last night, I restarted my phone once, it didnot work.

This morning, I did not do anything but I can search photos now. No clue how it got solved.

My iPhone 14 Pro Max got shutdown while updating iOS 18 can’t turn on