Q: Searching in Contacts doesn't work after iOS 9.1 update

I Have the Same Problems on iPhone6 9.1 and 9.2b1  and iPad air2 9.1 with Exchange 2010

Pretty sure this is an issue with exchange accounts only.  Having the search problem on my iPhone 6 after upgrading to 9.1.  I only have one set of contacts active from an Outlook.com account.  Search results blank.  When I switched on the contacts for my iCloud account, the search function worked regardless of which groups were selected. Then turned the contacts back off for the icloud account and deleted them from the phone.  Search function again didn't work.  Not the first time IOS and exchange have not worked well together and hopefully Apple will fix it. 

Here's another work-around that seems to fix the problem.  I use an exchange connection for my contacts on Outlook.com and was having the search issue on both my ipad and iphone.  Fix is to turn on the contacts from my icloud account (which are empty so it doesn't mess up my contacts when I use the phone) and as long as that group is checked, the search seems to work. I don't have to check/uncheck the group each time I open the contacts app, as the icloud group stays checked when I close and re-open contacts.  I tried the same solution with an empty set of google contacts and that didn't work.  

on the iOS 9.2B2 i thik the Problems is resolved... i dont have now any search Problems on my ip6 !

OMG you're a genius

So far so good on squam1's solution.  I use Exchange for all of my contacts and that includes a large corporate address book which I usually don't show (in Groups).  For the last few weeks every time I go to search in either the Contacts or Phone app it doesn't work.  If I go to Groups and turn it off and back on then it works until I need to search again and then I have to do it again - clearly not a good workaround.  Just tried this solution where I turned on my iCloud contacts (I only have a handful as I don't really use iCloud) as well as my normal Exchange contacts and all seems good (for now).

The contacts app seems smart enough to link any contacts that I have in both iCloud and Exchange so they only appear once.

Apple definitely needs to fix the native bug though.  I've been using the iPhone for 6 years or so w/ Exchange contacts exclusively.

"Reset All Settings" Helped me. Thx!

Thank you very much. It's easy Solution for this problem.

Ok, I tried everything on this forum to no avail.  After messing with my phone last night I was finally able to find a fix that sticks.  First, we need to know if your phone shows (Group) in the upper left hand corner of the contact app.  If it does, then you will need to go to Settings, Mail/Contacts/Calendars, and click on each account listed, then disable contacts.  It will ask if you want to delete them from your phone, confirm.  (Only do this if you know they are backed-up).  Afterwards, close the Contacts app and reopen.  Ensure you now see a refresh arrow where (Groups) was in the upper left hand corner of the screen. If you do, go back to Mail/Contacts/Calendars under settings and re-enable the Contacts under each account you would like.  Close the contacts app again and restart. Now, select (Groups) and uncheck the individual groups and click done.  Then click on (Groups) again and re-check the individual groups, click done.   You will now be able to search.  Perform a soft restart by holding the top button and the menu button until you see the apple icon and you should be fixed. 

If you already see the (Refresh Arrow) in the upper left hand corner of the Contacts App. Perform the same steps only instead of disabling the contacts under each account.  Enable them, perform the steps after and end with disabling the contacts under the accounts.

This helped me also.  Thanks

Try this solution. Was a permanent solution for me. The scrjs "Groups/done" approach was only a temporary solution. Problem reappears if close your apps.

Close all apps. Go to "SETTINGS-> GENERAL -> SPOTLIGHT SEARCH". Turn "SIRI SUGGESTIONS" off.

Solution found on another website, so I can't take credit.

This definitely worked for me.

This worked for me!  Thank you.

I confirm, it's fixed in iOS9.2b2 (I'm on beta 3 now), I don't know when 9.2 will become public.

I think you are kinda on the right track here. I currently have Contacts via Exchange and Google. I normally only keep Google checked for contacts. This means that the "Show All Contacts" is still displayed as I am not showing all contacts. If I select to Show All Contacts and then quit the Contacts app, it remembers that setting the next time I load the app and the search works without issue. As soon as I select to only show Exchange or Google, whenever the Contacts app is opened, the search issue persists. For some reason, if only one group is selected for displaying of contacts, the search thinks that no groups are selected until you either go to Groups and hit Done or you change what groups are being displayed.

I might just go to deleting all my personal contacts in Exchange (since they are all in Google anyways) and then leave it on Show All Contacts. That will also let me search the full Exchange directory as well.

This is a bug that should be fixed by Apple though.

- Merg