since updating to iOS 26 I can’t search for anything in settings. Even if I search for a word I can see on the screen like battery it says “no results”I have switched of phone and restarted it but it still does not work. It was fine before the update. Any advice?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Search in Settings
iPhone 16, iOS 26
mike_kr wrote:
I have the same problem on iOS26.2. None of the suggestions here worked for me. Toggling the settings in Search, toggling the beta on off. Or reset.
Fixed! Spotlight Search
After days of frustration (tried restarts, toggling settings, language change, even full erase & restore – nothing worked), I finally fixed the Spotlight bug where it only finds apps but nothing else (no deep settings, contacts, messages, photos, etc.).
The combo that actually worked:
1. Changed iPhone Language to English (US) (Settings > General > Language & Region > iPhone Language).
2. Went to Settings > Siri & Search.
3. Turned OFF every single option at the top (Suggest Apps Before Searching, Allow Notifications, Show in App Library, Show When Sharing, Show Listening Suggestions).
4. Then, for every individual app in the list below, turned OFF all options (Show App in Search, Show Content in Search, etc.).
5. Restarted the phone.
6. Spotlight immediately started showing deep results again (settings shortcuts, etc.).
7. Turned all the individual app search options back ON (while still on US English).
8. Restarted again and left it on Wi-Fi for a bit – everything still working perfectly.
9. Finally switched language back to English (UK) – restarted – and it’s still 100% fixed.
This seems to fully force-rebuild the corrupted content index that gets stuck on some devices.
(iOS 26.2 iphone 16 Pro Max
After updating to 26.0.1 then toggling Show Recent Searches, Show Related Content off and on under Search per Soulsurvivorla66 post. I can now search settings. This didn't work under 26 but now does.
Been having the same issue with my 17 Pro.
What worked for me was the following.
Changed the Preferred language to English US. Change the Keyboard to English US. And then I just left it like that for an hour or so. No reboots.
Tried searching in settings and it worked.
Changed all my settings back to English South Africa and all is still good.
I have iphone 15Pro and had the same problem with iOS 26.4. I tried many things that I saw online but none worked. I reset and erased everything and restored from a backup but that didn't fix it. I read that it had something to do with indexing. It all works perfectly fine on my wife's exact same phone but she has a slightly earlier version of iOS. I read that indexing after an iOS update can take days so I waited. Still nothing. The only difference between the two phones that I could see was that her phone only had a couple of Gb of system data and mine had 32GB of system data. Reseting/erasing and restoring from backup got system data down to 15 Gb. Anyway, when iOS 26.4.1 came out I updated (not OTA but by connecting to computer). That fixed things and search seems to work now. You might want to look at settings>search>settings and make sure that "show app in search" and "show content in search" are turned on.
Thank you for your solutions. I fixed this issue (after reading your suggestions) by simply removing the second language from my phone so English (US) is the only option. The settings search immediately started working again. I checked iMessage and it still allows me to use the Spanish keyboard/spellcheck.
This is the only thing in this list that worked. Update to 26.0.1, then turn off Show Recent Searches, Show Related Content, then turn them back on. Thank you!
Same issue. I went to Settings, General, Language. I had English and Latin??? So I deleted Latin and my phone restarted and now my search feature works again! Yay!
What worked for me doesn’t make sense. I went to Settings - Siri - I toggled off "Suggest Apps Before Searching” and it works. I didn’t even toggle back on. 🤷🏽♀️
sorry for that , if the device is unresponsive or any app is it , you should try to force restart the device to check , otherwise if the issue periste , i advice u to backup the device and restore it using a MAC or PC and it works , it can be issue with the software
I tried all of the above and it didn’t work. AI I found me a solution though.
Plug your phone in
make sure you’re on Wi-Fi
go to settings wait 10 seconds
then type something in the search field that worked for me.
It does the Indexing of words, so it takes time. Reset all settings work!
Toggling Beta updates off Or on worked for me as mentioned by others.
Found another way that worked for me, and didn't involve hours of work:
So I did what the top post suggested and it worked. With one difference. In the Siri suggestions I only turned off Siri for “settings” app and left all the others untouched. And it works. So hopefully this will save time ;)
Nothing worked for me so I reset the phone and reinstalled each app clean. This fixed the problem and also gave me the chance to tidy up unused apps and other clutter. It wasn’t the ideal solution and Apple support wasn’t helpful but I’m happy with the outcome now that I’ve finished.
I’m happy to report that when you change the whole OS language from X to Y (delete X from the list) and let it rest for a day, like a normal day from 7 am to 9-10 pm and change it back for the desired language let it rest for the night on charger will (probably) fix indexing and searching issues. For me it worked. Have a great day.
iOS 26 search in iPhone Settings not working
