Spotlight Search Not Working on iOS 12.1

OK - I did not turn on Passcode or Face ID for the last few days and search has worked fine. Just now, I thought I will turn on Passcode first and then test. Indeed turning it on brings the problem back. As soon as the phone locks and so the passcode needs to be entered to access, the search problem comes back. Turn off passcode, restart the phone and search works fine even after phone locks. Might have to do a factory reset and see if that fixes it.

12.1.3 did not fix it for me.

I almost only open apps via spotlight so this is highly annoying to me.

Can’t leave my phone unprotected by turning off passcode or Face ID too much sensitive data.

Apple, please!!!

Has been fixed for the last 4 or days after I did an 'Erase All Content and Settings' after backing up via Itunes. After the phone was reset back to factory settings, I restored and problem seems to be fixed. A major pain to have to do this.

OK, I went through this painful process of 'Erase All Content and Settings' and restore. I did the iCloud restore though.

It will take a week probably until the faces of my 30K iCloud photo library will be scanned, but so far, since 24 hours, the spotlight problem has been fixed for me.

Thanks!

Tried everything suggested and finally after two months of this I erased iPhone restored back to factory then restored from iTunes backup and thankfully, spotlight search is back to finding everything without delay. I had almost given up and was looking at other phones because I use spotlight almost every time I use my iPhone. I have the 7plus and did not want to give it up. It took about two hours out of my day but worth it.

This is a ridiculous solution. Not ok for this bug to sit there and inhibit a primary way to use the iPhone. Apple should step up and fix. I have not the time or inclination to implement the above solution.

Spotlight Search on my iPhone 8 stopped working since I installed iOS 12. I did all fix suggestions from restart, change the language ... to factory reset. Nothing helped!!! This is definite software bug and many users are reporting the same issue. On top of that I started to have search issues on my MacBook too.

It seems that with each new version of iOS things are getting worse. Possible we are at the beginning of the end of Apple era. This has been going on since iOS 12 was introduced and it is absolutely unacceptable from Apple to ignore the bug that long. Even suggestions like "erasing everything, setting the phone up as new and then erasing again and restoring it" do not work and are just misdirecting.

If this issue persists a I will be forced to switch to android and/or windows devices as basic search function is essential!!!!

I have the same issue. I have an Xs Max with IOS 12.1.4 installed. I wish had never upgraded from my 6+....this has been an issue ever since I did a few months back.

Has anyone taken their phone in to see what they say?

Same issue. After I restart the search starts working. Once the phone gets locked and a passcode is needed the search problem comes back. Contacted apple support a number of times and they suggest to reset and restore. Don’t have the time to do so. Apple should know better

My issue is slightly different. Search in Calendar stopped working with iOS 12 update. Now it only shows events from the last year. With 20+ years of calendars events this is a disaster. Suggestion to wipe and restore is too much of a PITA since I have a UK phone number on an e-Sim and a US number on a hard sim. The wipe would eliminate the e-Sim and the only way to fix it is to go back to a store in the UK to get another eSim. Simply not practical with the amount that I travel. Please fix this Apple.

Apple "Recommends" this answer yet it wasn't actually a fix. If you read Jeff Collier's follow up post from Nov 30, 2018 it states that the reset and restore solution lasted 48 hours and then the issue came back. THERE IS NOT SOLUTION TO THIS BUG. It is endlessly aggravating as the Spotlight Search tool is the primary way I access apps on my phone. One user in this thread mentioned it is aggravating enough, and Apple's response and lack of fix is lacking such that it is rationale for moving to an different platform other than iOS. I am beginning to concur, especially since this latest update to 12.1.4 STILL did not resolve the issue. I was so hopeful ... yet those hopes have been dashed again. APPLE please help.

I did this with a lot of pain for losing so much time and productivity, but it didn't solve the issue: it started being the same way after a day of regular usage! does anyone know if apple has acknowledged the bug?

I had this issue for a few weeks, until now, on my iphone.

I tried everything except a total reset: switching languages, disabling random stuff in the Siri options, upgrading (I'm in the beta program). Everything to no avail.

Then I enabled the console logs, and I've noticed that one of the last things before the searchd started behaving kind of weirdly was a problem with getting a SB (springboard?) icon:

Feb 25 16:41:27 nameofmyphone searchd(SpotlightServices)[13663] <Notice>: loaded canned models

Feb 25 16:41:28 nameofmyphone searchd(AppPredictionInternal)[13663] <Error>: Could not get SB icon state

I then used iTools 4.0 (the free version) ---> Toolbox ---> icon fixer and... magic! Right now search works and is super fast. It's only been 15 minutes, but I haven't had such a fast search in some time. Hopefully it will last.

What is iTools 4.0. Did the problem come back after u lock and unlock the phone?

on my phone if I disable the passcode then the search function keeps working. Although you have to restart the phone once.

I confirm that it wasn't fixed by installing iOS 12.2 Beta 3. After that I erased and reset my iphone and restored from back up. i got search back again. maybe that's the only solution.... I am not sure what happened that for a few of us messed up seraches.