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iphone spotlight search

I don't know when this started, but on my iPhone 4S running iOS5, the spotlight search has stopped working. You can "swipe" to the left and see the keyboard come up, and you can type normally, but nothing happens. The only thing that makes it work is quitting all open applications and powering off/on. But even then, it only works a SINGLE time, then back to the same issue. Anyone know of any fix or is this an iOS5 issue?

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2), iPhone 4S, iPad 2, Airport Express

Posted on Oct 24, 2011 4:16 PM

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67 replies

Nov 20, 2011 7:47 PM in response to macsterd

Yes I found out the same. I turned off the spotlight search on emails and just search emails inside of the email account and it works, but I would much prefer Apple fix it so it works the way it is supposed to.


Also another disappointment is that Invitations don't work. When I had a Blackberry I would put down an appointment in my calendar,and invite someone and then they would acknowledge that they got it and that it was ok with them. That way I knew it was in both of our calendars. This does not work on the iphone. There is no way to get an acknowledgement that the other party saw it, and once they invite you - even if they delete it, the only way you can get it off you phone is to go into the ical on a computer and delete. No way to delete it on the actual iphone 4S.

Third headache - sometimes the dictations work perfectly on the text and emails, and sometimes nothing happens at all, the dots just keep flashing.


Hope Apple fixes the above three problems - then I would find that the phone is pretty awesome, even if the emails are still not as steady and reliably coming through as on my BB.

Nov 20, 2011 7:52 PM in response to Ruth23

To turn off Email search goto Settings->General->Spotlight Search and uncheck "Mail". Since I have done that Spotlight Search does seem to work properly. If I need to search email I just use the search bar in the Mail program. Hopefully Apple will get this resolved quickly. I have not tried working with draft emails so I can help you there........Good luck...............Greg

Nov 27, 2011 9:34 AM in response to atlbmoc

Finally A Solution.

I have been unsatisfied using the uncheck mail setting workaround (need to search my mail) until I finally found a permanent fix for the "spotlight search not working" problem:

1) Under Settings/General/Spotlight Search: uncheck everything

2) Turn off (completely shutdown) iPhone

3) Turn on iPhone

4) Go back to Spotlight Search Settings (as in step 1) and check everything (including Mail)

5) Turn off (completely shutdown) iPhone

6) Turn on iPhone and try the spotlight search - give it a little time to index for the first time. Everything will be included in the search and it seems to be stable.

Nov 29, 2011 8:47 AM in response to Adam Pitts

I have had the exact same problem since October with the iPhone 4s. After talking to Apple they advise to wipe the phone completely and then restore IOS5. After doing this if the spotlight search worked then try restoring the backup. If this then didnt work the issue was my backup.


After doing this the spotlight search worked for about 2 weeks and has now stopped again. When phone is first powered up the search works but only once.


I have tried all the above mentioned solutions and none work!


I can only hope that if enough people log this issue Apple will take notice!

iphone spotlight search

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