iPhone iOS 11 GM Search Functionality Broken, or Just Me?

[chriscrowlee]

On iOS 10 and prior, when i'd swipe down to search for an app on my device (say I wanted to open the gmail app instead of opening a sub folder and scrolling through pages to find it), I'd type "gm" and it'd automatically show any app beginning with gm, so gmail would pop right up. Now, anytime I want to pull up an app i have to type the full name... ie "gmail" will then show it, but "gma" won't. I was hoping they'd fid it... but doesn't seem to. Wondering if there's a setting I'm missing?

Posted pix showing "gma" vs "gmail" in the search...

 

[deep1]

Having same issue on my 7 plus , it is broken and most used feature by me as I don’t remember what folder the apps are in.

 

[chriscrowlee]

Having same issue on my 7 plus , it is broken and most used feature by me as I don’t remember what folder the apps are in.

Same, it's driving me NUTS. I also notice the search isn't searching the APP NAME like the previous search, but it's searching the APP FILE NAME... like if you want bank of america, you have to type bofa because that's the IPA's name.

Super super annoying. Used to take me 2 seconds to load infrequently used apps, now I spend all day looking through folders when I need to find an app... ugh I hope it's fixed soon. Did you report it?

 

[scjr]

I just tried this on my iPad 10.5 and iPhone 7+ and it finds Gmail instantly. I typed in GM and GMA.

 

[chriscrowlee]

I just tried this on my iPad 10.5 and iPhone 7+ and it finds Gmail instantly. I typed in GM and GMA.

Screen shot? I have replicated the issue I discussed on TWO iPhone 7+, and an iPad Mini 4.

 

[deep1]

Didn’t get chance to report it as was hoping it will get fixed in GM.
Here is result of Speedtest app.
Can’t post the screenshot but can not find app.

 

[scjr]

Screen shot? I have replicated the issue I discussed on TWO iPhone 7+, and an iPad Mini 4.

Here you go.

 

[chriscrowlee]

Here you go.

You have auto-suggest on, that's why you're getting those results. I don't want it doing google-search every time I do a search. That was never necessary before. And why in the world would typing "GM" bring up inbox? That's the issue, you're not getting the actual normal search result, you're getting a suggestion.

 

[scjr]

You have auto-suggest on, that's why you're getting those results. I don't want it doing google-search every time I do a search. That was never necessary before. And why in the world would typing "GM" bring up inbox? That's the issue, you're not getting the actual normal search result, you're getting a suggestion.

Ah, didn’t know that. Thanks.

 

[deep1]

You have auto-suggest on, that's why you're getting those results. I don't want it doing google-search every time I do a search. That was never necessary before. And why in the world would typing "GM" bring up inbox? That's the issue, you're not getting the actual normal search result, you're getting a suggestion.

Here you go.

Go to setting- Siri & Search and see what app setting is off then search for that app in spotlight to see what is returned.

 

[chriscrowlee]

Go to setting- Siri & Search and see what app setting is off then search for that app in spotlight to see what is returned.

Yeah thats a separate search functionality ... that's so when you search in Siri and Spotlight, it'll search supporting apps contents (ie emails within gmail or files within dropbox). Yes, it'll bring back the search, along with everything inside the app, but that's not how it used to work. Guess it's just a difference in the way Apple is doing it maybe. Seems yet again they make us take the one size fits all they feed us.

 

[scjr]

Go to setting- Siri & Search and see what app setting is off then search for that app in spotlight to see what is returned.

Shut it off and the bug exists.

Thanks for pointing me there. I will report as well.

 

[chriscrowlee]

Shut it off and the bug exists.

Thanks for pointing me there. I will report as well.

Funny I had all mine off by default. I turned just one app on to test it (gmail) and it enabled the search for ALL the apps. Now I have 201 apps enabled to search and the only way to disable it is to go app by app and disable it.

Ouch, and I was just praising the GM iOS 11 yesterday haha

 

[thislsmadness]

On iOS 10 and prior, when i'd swipe down to search for an app on my device (say I wanted to open the gmail app instead of opening a sub folder and scrolling through pages to find it), I'd type "gm" and it'd automatically show any app beginning with gm, so gmail would pop right up. Now, anytime I want to pull up an app i have to type the full name... ie "gmail" will then show it, but "gma" won't. I was hoping they'd fid it... but doesn't seem to. Wondering if there's a setting I'm missing?

Posted pix showing "gma" vs "gmail" in the search...


View attachment 718078 View attachment 718079

Partial name searches seem to be working fine for me.

 

[chriscrowlee]

Partial name searches seem to be working fine for me.

If you turn off suggestions, they stop working.

 

[thislsmadness]

If you turn off suggestions, they stop working.

Siri suggestions? I dont use those.

 

[chriscrowlee]

Siri suggestions? I dont use those.

It's on by default, so unless you've turned it off, you're using it. Type GMA and let's see a screen shot.

 

[thislsmadness]

Yeah I turn it off because I don’t need all the extra clutter since search is nothing but an app launcher for me. I don’t use gmail so that won’t do anything.

 

[chriscrowlee]

Yeah I turn it off because I don’t need all the extra clutter since search is nothing but an app launcher for me. I don’t use gmail so that won’t do anything.

I don't have my iPad in front of me, but have replicated it on 2 iPhone 7+... you might want to try on a phone.

Edit: Just had a friend on GM 11 and iPhone 7 also replicate the issue. I'm guessing you have search within apps turned on and don't realize it.

 

[thislsmadness]

Looks the same on my iphone

What settings is that because this works rxactly how i recall it working in ios10 for me

 

[chriscrowlee]

Looks the same on my iphone

What settings is that because this works rxactly how i recall it working in ios10 for me

Yeah you have in-app search turned on... go to Settings>Siri & Search, then scroll down and look at each app. All your apps will say "Search & Siri Suggestions" ... this is why it's working for you. Whenever you search, it's searching WITHIN apps as well as the app's title itself. That's always been the way it worked in iOS 10. If you turned it off, the search should still search for the actual app. That's my point.

I should be able to search for an App name without searching for all the files within dropbox, or gmail, etc.

 

[thislsmadness]

Yeah my apps do say that. However, I don't see any specific mention of turning off "in-app search", which potentially means that this is intended behavior. In fact, the way the setting reads you are turning off the ability to search for the app at all, so being able to still type out "Gmail" to invoke the gmail app might be the bug.