How to fix iOS Spotlight Search not working

Apple users may come across issues with Spotlight Search after upgrading to the latest version of iOS. In most cases, the issue is that Spotlight is not delivering any results, or that the search function is not working as it should. There are different possible errors that can affect your experience with Spotlight. We will take a look at the most common issues and how to fix them.

Spotlight is not displaying Contacts

You may notice that Spotlight is not showing you Contacts. If that is the case, you can try the below steps:

1. Open Contacts
2. Tap Groups
3. Tap “Hide All Contacts” and then “Show all Contacts”.

Search not working correctly

If Search is not working as it should and it is not able to find items, you can try this:

1. Go to Settings, then General and Spotlight Search
2. Disable everything in the search results
3. Press and hold the on/off button until the slider appears, slide the red slider to turn off the device.
4. Turn the device on. Go back to Settings, General and then Spotlight Search. Activate everything.

You are only getting blank results

Another issue that you may come across is that no search results are being displayed. If there are no search results, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings, then General and select Language & region, followed by iPad Language or iPhone Language, depending on the device.
2. Choose a language (different to the one you normally use) and tap Done. Tap Continue to confirm your selection. Then you can go back to your original language.

Additional tips

If you are still having issues with Spotlight Search, there are other options that may help.

It may be that you need to update the iOS version on your device. You can do this by going to Settings, then General and Software Update.

Another option is to send an email to yourself from your iPad email address.

You can also restart the iPhone or iPad by pressing and holding the on/off and the home buttons at the same time, until you see the Apple logo.

You can reset Location and Privacy. All that is needed is to go to Settings, then General, Reset and Location & Privacy. You can Reset All Settings. Just keep in mind that when you do this, all your settings, including Restrictions, Wi-Fi settings and Touch ID will be deleted. If you wish to go ahead and do it, you just need to go to Settings, then General, followed by Reset and Reset all Settings.