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Level 1

13 points

spotlight search doesn't work on iPhone 6 iOS 9.2.1

When swiping the home screen right, it displays Siri suggestions, nearby restaurants, etc., and news. However, when I type in a query I basically get no results. Once in a while some random suggested app from the Apple App Store will show up – I can't figure out why that particular app and not others that might also match. But I get no apps or contacts or notes that are on my iPhone, and no web search results, as well as no ability to send the query to a web search engine. It's been this way for months now, through a couple of updates to the iOS. I have tried turning off all spotlight options and turning them back on again, restarting, cursing. Nothing works.

iPhone 6, iOS 9.2.1, spotlight

Posted on Mar 9, 2016 2:43 PM

26 replies

elcpu

Level 7

31,488 points

Mar 11, 2016 6:12 PM in response to Yigal Arens

Yigal Arens wrote:

Thanks to elcpu and ckuan who tried to help!

Your are welcome. Another alternative is to take it to an Apple Store. Good luck Yigal.

May 4, 2016 9:59 PM in response to Yigal Arens

I had the same issue, I tried everything as suggested but did not help.

Then my wife took the phone and did something which is exactly opposite to my intuition ,

She turned on all the apps in the Setting> General > Spotlight Search > Search Results list and surprisingly my search started working for everything .

May 6, 2016 12:38 PM in response to nileshfrompalo alto

same mysterious healing here. I wonder if it will last.

DJDaveR

Level 1

9 points

May 6, 2016 2:44 PM in response to nileshfrompalo alto

This also worked for me. However, a day later it stopped working again.

I was able to get it working again by forcing a bunch of apps closed. A bit of a pain in the butt, but a least I can get it to work again.

May 9, 2016 8:05 AM in response to nileshfrompalo alto

I just tried and it works. Hope it will last, thanks!!!

DJDaveR

Level 1

9 points

May 11, 2016 11:12 AM in response to DJDaveR

Also, the Twitter app seems to be the biggest offender for causing my spotlight searches to stop. Force quitting (double tap and swipe up) twitter seems to get spotlight going again. Might be just a coincidence, but seems to work for me.

May 17, 2016 8:14 AM in response to Yigal Arens

I just upgraded to iOS 9.3.2 and the search started working again. Hopefully it will continue to work...

May 29, 2016 7:18 PM in response to Hamiditized

Annoying bug. 9.3.2 doesn't fix. All he restores and force restarts are only temporary.

Killing a bunch of apps brings search back - but annoying.

Turning on camera, then going to spotlight brings search back - but annoying.

Any real and permanent fixes ?

Thanks.

Jun 6, 2016 12:46 PM in response to Yigal Arens

I turned off Bing Web Results in Settings>General>Spotlight Search and it all started working for me

Jun 6, 2016 1:27 PM in response to Jaideep10

Thanks,. I'd be surprised that works permanently.

If you double click home screen and kill all the active apps, the search starts working again for awhile, but then will stop again. If you turn on the Camera app, go back to Spotlight, the search will start working again - but only for awhile.

Oops, I already above in my earlier post. Have a great day !

Jun 6, 2016 1:46 PM in response to Delawaredave

I hope it continues working! It's been working for the last 3 hours and looks like it fixed the issue. I've never used bing web results anyway. Hopefully they fix this in the next update.

spotlight search doesn't work on iPhone 6 iOS 9.2.1