Spotlight Search Results Blank, or Spotlight Not Working in iOS 8? Here’s a Really Silly Temporary Fix
Spotlight gained many new features and improvements with the latest version of iOS, but along with those changes came a curious bug that seems to randomly prevent Spotlight from working at all on an iPhone or iPad with empty search results.
The situation is difficult to reliably reproduce since it does appear to be completely random, but the symptom is always the same; Spotlight is summoned as usual by pulling down on the Home Screen of iOS, but no matter what is typed into spotlight, nothing is returned at all, you get just a blank screen with no search results. Even searching for something obvious like “phone” (which should reveal the phone app as well as anything that mentions “phone” including emails, messages, apps, something on wikipedia or the web, and whatever else, returns absolutely nothing – the keyword or text you type doesn’t matter, nothing works in Spotlight when you hit this bug.
Having experienced this regularly on an iPhone 6 Plus with the latest version of iOS available (8.1, more on that in a moment), I have found a really dumb workaround to resolve the problem consistently: Send yourself an email from the iPhone to your iPhone email address
Yes seriously. I know that sounds absurd, but sending your iOS device an email actually makes Spotlight search start working again. All you need to do is send yourself an email to whatever mail account is setup on the iOS device, and once the new email is detected by iOS Mail app (as indicated by a Notification or the new mail chime), suddenly Spotlight works again.
This is very obviously a bug with Spotlight, but based on emails and comments we’re getting here, it seems to be fairly widespread, as users report that Spotlight has either stopped working entirely or that Spotlight won’t return any results they were accustomed to seeing, instead users get the entirely unhelpful blank screen. Some users have reported that changing the Search results priority can also resolve issues with iOS Spotlight, but that was less reliable in testing. What makes this bug even more odd is that the iOS 8.1 release notes specifically mention a fix for Search not displaying results is included, but perhaps that was a different problem than this one.
I figured out this silly email trick accidentally when troubleshooting the blank Spotlight results problem by emailing myself a few notes. Once the new mail notification came through, Spotlight magically worked to show search results again. I have been able to replicate the fix on multiple occasions, which, while fairly goofy, is helpful and certainly preferable to the other solution that works to repair Spotlight malfunctioning in iOS, which is to reboot the iPhone (or iPad).
If Spotlight is showing you a blank screen without any search results or is randomly not working for you in iOS, give this a try, and let us know if it works for you too. Be sure to mention what iOS version you’re on too.
My iOS version is 9.3.4
The email trick worked well. I had blank screen for spotlight search. I sent the email, restarted the phone n now it works like a charm. Appreciate the workaround trick.
Help! “Notes” are not showing when I search spotlight on my iPhone 6. IOS9. I have tried disabling all the sliders in general/spotlight search and reboot. Did not work. I tried changing the language and setting it back. Didn’t work.
Any suggestions?
Worked for me. Ios 9.3.2 july2016
Worked for me. I sent a brief message to me using xyz@me.com from xyzz@icloud.com AND xyzzxx@me.com
This fix did not work. ios 9.3.1 iPhone 6.
I have been quite annoyed with this problem for some time, and early in this thread (2014) someone said something about memory that made me wonder if the amount of open apps has an impact. I had probably 50 or so apps open, and once I closed them all, I was able to use the search again… yeah! for me.
I love my phone, but I freakin’ hate the level of stupidity some of the problems I’ve been having, derives from and how simple it would be to just tell me that the search doesn’t work because I have too many applications open…
smdh
Running 9.3.1 on my 6, and I still have this problem regularly (but rarely if ever on my iPad Air 2). Can’t believe it is still an issue, but delighted that this fix, however temporary, still works. Thanks!
Shame on Apple that this ugly bug still exists in iOS9.3.1 in 2016 even on iPhone 6S+ and other devices.
Has anyone actually found a permanent fix?
Yes, closing some apps will bring it back.
So will changing from US English to Canadian English.
So will removing events.
So will rebooting…
…but then, it starts acting up again in no time.
It started for me about three weeks ago (was PERFECT before) and now, it sucks.
Upgrading to ios 9.3 didn’t help.
So annoying!
Yes! That worked for me!
This very issue has come back to haunt me many times in the past, and then righted itself for no apparent reason when I wasn’t looking.
I have so many apps that Spotlight Search is often the quickest way to find one, so this fix has made my day – thank you!
Incidentally, this time, there was an obvious (obvious now, thanks to you!) reason it happened to begin with – I had recently disconnected my email account from my iPhone. I only ever use Gmail and the Gmail app so I reckoned I had no reason to have the phone connected to my email account. I’m currently living on mobile broadband alone so I wondered if the phone was using a significant amount of precious data downloading my Gmail to its own Email app which, in fact, I never use.
Who knew it would have affected Spotlight Search!
Thanks again! DC
Shame on Apple that this problem that I started having with an iPhone 6+ on iOS8 still occurs on iPhone 6S+ with iOS 9.2 etc. latest versions. Totally annoying and shameful for a key part of the use of a smart phone, Search, not to work and require the kinds of workarounds we original Mac users ridiculed Windoze users for having to do.
IMRAN
I had the same issue on iOS 9.2 and it actually worked. Many thanks, you saved me a fresh install!
October 2015 – iPhone 5 – IOS 9.0.2 –
Worked using xxx@me.com email to send & receive
Have had this issue for a while and assumed upgrading iOS would solve the issue… it didn’t. Finally decided to search the tubes for a fix, HUGE THANKS!!
Even if someone emailed themselves, and “accidentally” solved the issue, few people would associate the relationship and assume the issue magically fixed itself.
NICE JOB FIGURING THIS OUT and TELLING US ABOUT IT!!
Mine IS not working after typing 2 letters. First 2 letters shows results, after 3rd, blank.
Using iOS 9.0.1
Tried all fixes around the web and blogs.
Just go to General>Language & Region>iPhone Language and change to English (Canada) then change back to English (U.S.) and hit done and it will then pinwheel for a few seconds and should be good to go. I have iPhone 6+ and updated to iOS 9 and spotlight just quit working. Still way too many bugs…annoying I know!
The email trick didnt work for me. Iphone5s
I found this bug recently and the interesting thing I found is that the beginning of this error occurs when you type in your name (the name of device owner) in the spotlight. Afterwards spotlight would not display whatever you type in. Also in that state if you open email or browser it keeps loading forever. All you have to do is close the email app and reload it and then if you enter anything other than your name spotlight works again. I know it is your name because my name doesnt work in my device and my moms name wouldnt work in her device. Something very weird
Ik also happens randomly for me on the iPhone 6 Plus. What helps is going to another app like safari. Then I change the keyboard. When going back to Spotlight,it works again.
Thanks so much! The strange fix took care of my blank ‘Spotlight’. iPhone 6, IOS 8.4. Apple needs to get on its horse and fix a lot of these issues before releasing it. Where’s the update to 8.4? It bogs and hangs way too much. I tried IOS 9 Beta 1 and it needs A LOT of work to say the least. I had to get rid of it after 3 days as this or that didn’t work. Just wait until that’s fully released. I know they’ll iron most out, but they need more people on top of this.
YAY!!! The email trick worked!
That’s some crazy ios voodoo, but I’ll take it! Thanks osxdaily!
The thing that seems to work for me (on an iPhone 4s) is just typing in the search string very quickly – or – because I can’t type long strings very fast, typing the text elsewhere, copying and pasting it into the search box!
For me it seems that the gradual narrowing down of search results as you continue typing letters in doesn’t work. After the 2nd or 3rd letter it just gives up & returns no results.
Nothing else suggested here worked for me.
Thanks Claire, I have the same problem with my iPhone 5s, tried everything without success. But your tip on copy/paste is a nice way of dealing with the problem!
I tried emailing myself and using a “, and Spotlight is not working. I just upgraded to this iPhone 6. Is there a setting for Spotlight in Settings?
I pulled down the spotlight search, typed a single quotation mark, then, BAM, it started working. I removed the quotation mark and it still works. Thanks for the tips!
Sending mail to myself worked. Wonder how you found it out. Hats off to you ….
Probs useless but I tried unticking the options for spotlight search but I don’t think that really helped then I just turned on my restrictions and that basically fixed it…
It worked! I was so surprised, but I just sent myself an e-mail and spotlight search reappeared! Thanks!
The trick that works on my 5s is to back out the last letter or 2 in the search term after finishing typing it.
So for example I’ll search “masterson” and get no results, then I hit delete once or twice and magically “masters” will fins results. Once it starts working I can even add the “on” back in.
WOW. this has bugged me for months. Not able to search my message content for client details. just sent an email to myself using same email account and BANG. working. Thankyou. Just been able to contact a customer that i could not find due to this.
That worked !!! God bless u
I have iOS 8.1.3 and the email sending worked perfectly for me. Thanks for the help!
8.1.3 didn’t fix the problem for me. iPhone 6.
Now this works for me.
Disabled all search options under general …. spotlight.
Held power and home button down for around 10 seconds till iphone restarted.
Enabled all search options.
Restarted the phone (6plus) as above
all good now…
Hope this works for all
I have a 5s and restarting the phone also worked. Running iOS 8.12 with only 2GB available memory after the reboot.
Surprise! Sending myself an email worked. Let’s see how long.
Just tried sending myself an email. That didn’t work for me, but turning it off and on again did.
Maybe it is a memory issue?
Jay
I’m on iPhone 6 with iOS 8.1.12
I have noticed on a couple of occasions the search feature won’t return apps in the search.
I sent myself an email and this resolved the problem for some reason too. Weird.
Amy
This issue just surfaced on my brand new iPhone 6 (just received it 2 days ago). Initially go no results. Then started getting results from my contacts only.
Switching off the phone didn’t work. Had to reboot using home+power buttons.
I’m on iOS 8.1.2
Worked like a charm! Thanks-saved me time consuming google search &/or trip to Apple Store.
Instead of the emailing method you can just switch off your iPhone and wait, and then turn it on again. The spotlight search starts working.
I had the same problem. I sent myself an email. Still didn’t work. Shut down and rebooted and it worked. I had tried just rebooting before and it didn’t work. Thanks.
I have an iPhone 6+. Emailing myself didn’t work. Removing events from spotlight search settings WORKED. Reboot also works. Thanks
None of the solutions worked for me, but I discovered that the problem occurred after I installed some new apps.
I removed some different apps and Spotlight is working fine. I just had to many apps installed.
I have the same issue with one of my iphone plus not the old one
Sometimes it works sometimes stop works
Why?
Any solution
Sent myself an email through the iMessage and Spotlight search started working. Hope it doesn’t go back to not working.
Thank you!!!!!
Restarting my phone brought it back.
Message to myself works consistently
Oh… And a restart! :-)
Email to reset Spotlight worked only once I turned on the notification chime etc
I have the same problem with Spotlight not working. Tried the email trick and it fixed the problem, so thank u for that weird yet effective fix. Come on apple. I’ve had iPhones since the iPhone 3 And every one since and loved them but hated my 5s and I’m not terribly impressed with my 6 plus. The 5s literally stopped working after a year and 2 months right after the warranty expired :-(. It won’t even turn on at all now. So I got a 6 plus. The 6 plus has had issues as well. Spotlight stops working. I have to reset my network settings every now and then. What happened to the most reliable products Apple? Sounds like things have gone down hill since Steve Jobs isn’t in charge anymore. I think my next phone may be a galaxy or some other besides an iPhone. Sigh. Well thx for the fix and listening to my rant. God bless u all and happy new year!
iPhone5/8.1.2
Was annoyed with the failure of spotlight as the search is a very reliable tool sifting thru the maze of data on the phone.
The email trick don’t work for me.
Tried rebooting that failed too.
Closing all was no help.
Tried Settings>General>Reset>Reset All Settings
~ ~
~ ~
Voila!!!! It Worked.
Another tested and working solution is to change the language of your phone by going to settings>general>language and region
Once you change the language, go back into settings and change the language back to English. Spotlight will start working again.
Spotlight search for me stopped working after I disabled the phone recents and favorites that now show up at the top of the screen when you double tap the home button.
The only solution that works is restarting my iphone6… I cant do anything without spotlight search
I am using an iPhone 5c … I turnd off my phone (Power+Select) .. Then I turned my phone back on, Now Spotlight works again. I’M Happy!!!
None of these suggestions worked for me!! I just restarted my phone and now Spotlight works again. It hasn’t work in 3 days!! I actually love Spotlight because it finds everything I need 😃
I tried:
o unchecking events: no better
o sending an email to myself (gmail): still not working
o closed apps: no better
o hard restart (power and select key): ITS WORKING!
So, I don’t know which actually fixed it, but the end result is it’s now working.
I can imagine a world where Apple learned about regression testing before releasing “upgrades”. I guess I am just idealistic, because they are trying to compete with Microsoft.
Well, okay…. So I didn’t even send myself an email — one came in while I was reading this and indeed the spotlight search began working again. But — I get HUNDREDS of emails a day … if this was actually the thing that fixed it, it would never break.
The only real answer here is that SkyNet Has become self-aware and knows when people read your article. There I said it.
I am using ios 8.1.2 on iPhone 5c
I tried emailing myself but it didn’t work for me :( is there anybody who can help me?
I discovered the problem the first time I took the iPhone 6 plus outside, when I was trying to find out when the next bus was whilst holding an umbrella (I missed it). I began to wonder if the whole thing was a big mistake, but I’ve got over it since (the bus app is now on the lower half of the front screen :-D )
I get this issue all the time and it’s extremely irritating. locking the phone by clicking the power button then unlocking via Touch ID normally resolves it for me.
iPhone 6 plus 128gb , iOS 8.1.2
I tried to disable events in the spotlight category and rebooted the phone. it works…. for now. hope it stays that way.
plus i re enabled events after reboot and events can be searched. again, hope it stays this way.
iphone 6 128gb iOS 8.1.2
Thanks that worked, not sure specifically which it was…sent myself email nothing happen but I read suggestion about force quitting and held down home & power button & then shut it off rebooted worked fine, thanks!
Thanks for the post, so far what really worked for me is power on and power off, a simple restart, but very soon the bug also restarts…
The force reset worked for me and nothing else worked.
The email trick worked.
I also found that disabling Swype keyboard resolved this completely.
I’m super surprised and so glad that your fix of sending an email to my phones iCloud account fixed it.
To find iCloud email address: settings>iCloud scroll down to advanced and click mail.
Only hard reset did the trick for me.
On 4s + iOS 8.1.2
Turning events off worked for me. Thanks!
I tried a lot of things but nothing worked. Then I did “Reset All Settings”. Now spotlight search is working, though it’s headache to customize all settings again.
The email thing didn’t work. I did a hard reset. Spotlight started working again, but apps wouldn’t pull up in spotlight. I had to close about 5 or so apps that we’re opened then it started working. iOS 8.1.2 on IPhone 6. This is a little bit ridiculous if you ask me!
Thanks for the post, which makes me know that I was not alone. The email trick didn’t work though. I think iOS is losing its status as a more reliable mobile OS. Some small annoy bug likes this used to be the nature of Android or others. BTW, my cure of this is to soft reboot.
My iPhone 5 with the same iOS 8.1.2 have this same problem.
Nothing works for me.
I m disapointed with Apple.
My phone is a 6+
The issue is still there even on iOS 8.1.2 (iPhone 6 Plus). Haven’t had this issue on iPad Air 2. If it is a memory issue they should provide us with 2GB memory upgraded iPhones!
I updated to iOS 8.1.2 and it solved the issue.
I tried everything here. Restarting, settings, self emailing… Fix? Close all your apps. There’s one app that’s causing this issue… Or too many apps that’s filling up the ram and causing spotlight to stop working to protect performance or cause of a bug… Either way, just close all your apps, and then if it happens again look at apps open and try to figure out which one might be the problem…
It worked perfectly! I wasn’t able to see the applications in the results pane, just after sending myself an email, Spotlight worked again.
Excellent spot (no pun intended) – fix resolved issue immediately – iOS 8 and Yosemite have introduced so many bugs it feels like Apple and Microsoft have switched positions! Unlike the hardware itself Apple’s software quality is increasingly bug ridden for relatively little functional gain – a disappointed IT veteran
LOL, the e-mail trick actually worked!
There is a solution for this!
Go to Settings -> General -> Spotlight Search -> Tick the option which you wanna include in the search. Hope this helps ☺️
Yup the email fix worked for me.
IPad air 2 on iOS 8.1.2
Thank you, I could search everything but local apps on my iPad, your fix worked a treat
I’m on version 8.1.1 iPhone 5S. This trick did not work for me. rebooting did help. Thanks
Only thing that seems to work for me is the power snd home button reset.
6plus should not have gone on sale, its bug laden, my batt started off as a 2 day life span, its already at 20% come end of day now and even in a very thick strongs armoured case, its bent a little.
Freezes, orientation locks – i’ve had a 4, 4S, 5 snd now this and I think and android is more likely than a 7
You’ll hate it. Just sayin’. Two points to back up my claim:
1. My father-in-law went from 5S to an Android. He had been an avid iPhone user since 3G. He hates it. Hard to use, not as fast, and constant “updates.”
2. I got a “free” andriod tablet as part of a deal with my phone company. It does not hold a candle to my 2nd gen iPad. I suspect the phone would be the same. The Android OS just isn’t there, yet.
The email thing or the settings option helped. I rebooted and it works now
I tried the email approach but it didn’t work. Again iPhone 6 plus.
Hi,
Same problem here! Restarting the phone brings the spotlight back to work.
I have 8.1.1 running on an iPhone 6 and the mail trick did not work for me. Not only that, but I just restarted the phone and now Spotlight is showing some returns but not all (previously it was a blank screen). No apps show up in the returns at all, only websites and less important things.
6plus with 8.1.1 would not show apps, reboot and more no change, email to myself worked. Thanks!!!!
Another option you can try is resetting the settings on your iPhone by going to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings, it will not delete any data but just put the settings back to default.
It works! Thanks
Performed a hard reset and wallah spotlight search was back in action.
Btw this was on ip6 on 8.1.1
This worked for me, too. I have a 6 plus and I’m running 8.1.1. This would suggest that the issue may be memory as a hard boot will often clear it.
Emailing myself did not work for me 8.1.1 on 5s.
(That’s on iOS 8.1.1 on iPhone 5S.)
Weird. Spotlight was working fine fir me, EXCEPT it wouldn’t find installed apps. Emailing my Apple account address restored that capability.
Note to self:
;)
I thought you were joking until I tried it… And worked!
iPhone 5S, 64 GB, Gold. iOS 8.1.1 (12B435).
Thanks a lot.
Can’t believe the email trick actually worked!
I only got my iPhone 6 yesterday so I don’t think it’s a RAM issue as suggested in this thread!
Hope there’s a permanent fix soon.
I’m using iPhone 6 with iOS 8.1.1
Sending myself an email worked for me as well. Not sure whether this fix will be permanent but even if not, I know how to fix again next time.
Yet another example of paying customers putting up with sub standard junk from Apple which they (Apple) blithely fail to fix or even acknowledge. The iPhone search issue, together with the Mac Mail not working properly with Gmail, really spoil my day. These and other unfixed issues (like the shenanigans when trying to print from my Mac) are really trying my patience and my 35 year loyalry to this formerly great company is approaching its end.
My feelings exactly. Original Mac bigot since 1984, can’t stand the steady decline in UX consistency and utter disregard for reliability with shameful bugs continuing through models and OS revisions.
Brilliant – sent myself an email as advised – now when go info spotsearch my apps Stuart appearing again!
Cheers
I have this on an iPhone 6 and iOS 8.1.1.
– Tried mailing myself (Yahoo) – no joy
– Tried shutdown/startup – nope
– Tried disabling events – nope
– Tried “.” search to scroll through apps – hope
– Tried killing 5 apps – nope
– Tried Home-Power reset (with events still off) – that worked
They are shocking bugs
Exactly the same on my iPhone 6 (iOS 8.2): Worked after last step (the restart).
Holy crap! That fixed the problem I was having. Much thanks!!!
Oh, I also I forced a power down and restart by holding the home button and the power button down through both processes…so not sure which of the three worked. I also knew an Apple rep who helped me tremendously when my daughter’s iPhone 6 had a major hangup when we first got it, so I asked and was told the following:
• restart the phone – silly, but more effective than you’d guess.
• reset all settings – just know that this does not erase content or media but it does put settings back to default, so you’ll need your wifi password and you’ll have to reselect your ringtones and background pictures, for example.
• Back up the device (http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203977 – I strongly recommend iTunes over iCloud for this since we’re troubleshooting) and then restore it per these instructions: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201252 (When it finishes put your back up back on.)
I tired the email to myself, also checked off Events from Spotlight and thought it didn’t work. Went to lunch. Came back – and it worked! Not sure which one worked, but apparently it just needed some time, that’s all…
Tried the email and that didn’t work, tried removing events from the search and that didn’t work. closed most of my “open” apps, rebooted and that got it to work with some things but not with others. Applications won’t work at all.
this is on an iPhone 6 plus. FYI. This has been the most buggy iphone I have ever owned and I have owned everyone but the 3G.
Wow. That worked. Awesome and thanks.
I had the same issue but none of these solutions worked. I appreciate the hints and tips though and understood it to be a RAM issue, so I forced a power down and restart by holding the home button and the power button down through both processes and since then it works fine.
This helped but did not allow the app search. It searches everything else though. I did verify that applications was checked in spotlight.
Closed my apps and it worked again.
The bug may be in a particular app that makes spotlight search hang.
This is the one that worked for me. After attempting the email trick, the scrolling trick, and reboots, it was closing all my apps that made it work again.
Hello, I am using iPhone 5 on ios 8.1.2, faced the same problem for quite a some time which was annoying, tried every other thing on this thread but dint work but doing what u suggested; that is restarting my phone solved the issue, I am glad; thanku :)
Sending myself an email fixed it for me.
Random!
ios8.1.1 on iPad Air.
I lost my spotlight search after just updating to 8.1.1 on my iPhone 5S. I fixed it using your trick of sending myself an email.
Thanks a lot
I found a solution to this that works for me on iOS 8.1.1
If you go to Settings > General > Spotlight Search – Disable “Events”. I went through and tested each one and discovered that the issue went away when I didn’t include events in the spotlight search. Hope this helps!
If this doesn’t fix your issue, go through and add each spotlight search result category until you see the issue. Remove the problematic search result and keep testing.
The screen comes down while searching, home wifi not working iphone but working on ipad. Its getting wifi but not able to open web pages
I tried the old entering a period . or slash / trick into spotlight and I scrolled through the entire list of things on my iPhone 5s running iOS 8.1 and I exited spotlight and tried looking for something again and it seems it really is a memory issue because it takes several seconds for results to appear, that is the results (at least on my end) aren’t necessarily blank or not working, it’s just that it takes several seconds for the results to come up which is of course an inconvenience and I hope Apple addresses this issue because it’s a crippling issue if you rely on spotlight to quickly find something on your device.
I found a different fix. If I scroll through my apps and back to the home screen, spotlight works again. It is quite annoying.
Thank BFoosh!
This fix seemed simplest and it worked immediately! I can search for everything on my iphone 6 plus..even apps, notes, contacts..everything comes up just as before!
Wow it works. Thanks. but it breaks again in 10 minutes. iOS 8.2 where are you?
I have also experienced Spotlight not working on iOS 8.1, or not finding proper results. I also have an iPhone 6 Plus, my hunch is that this is a memory issue, this thing only has 1GB of RAM so why it may appear “random” I would bet that it only happens when RAM has run out and Spotlight has no memory to run. Test it by then opening another app, then Safari – watch all your tabs be blank and have to refresh (this is another RAM problem, the iPhone 6 has too little RAM, period). Then try Spotlight again, no worky!
Just a hunch.
I have same iOS 8.1, same issue. I don’t think it’s a RAM issue. I closed all the apps and still Spotlight didn’t work. I restarted with no apps on, and Spotlight came back up.
After updating to ios 8.4, I can no longer find songs even inside the music app, because some songs do not show up in search results but remain hidden inside “albums” or “songs” groups: you have to make additional clicks on “albums” or “songs” to reach the song you are looking for… This means ios 8.4 should make even less sense to users than older systems because the simple task of finding your music has become so complicated. I don’t think many users will be able to find some of their music at all, while the spotlight search function was simply killed before this new problem was introduced. Now you have to figure out those additional clicks to find your music… I don’t believe it will be easy for many. The Apple software specialists are doing great job… The ios system has never been glitchier…