iOS 14 Spotlight Search not showing apps and contacts

[Newbie2020]

Interesting, did not know it was calculated like that.



This is honestly more of a bandaid than a true fix....you are correct that they intended to avoid extreme cases where adding the App Library ruins a user’s experience having to rearrange a ton of pages worth of apps, but


However - if you let’s say... go into App Library > type in an app name > hold down on that app to bring up typical X button for apps > if you move around or engage with an app icon within the Library, it automatically brings back that entire page you had hidden...and screws up the order. Idk exactly how but happened multiple times pre-reset.


To those still suffering from this issue, I saw an interesting post on Reddit worth checking out

“
I reported this many betas back and pretty sure it was linked (at least originally) to number of apps (I had like 1700 installed). Long story short, I got a feedback reply (my first ever) Monday saying code was added to fix it in beta 6. It’s not fixed for me.

I originally report it on July 8th and as of just last week it said None for recent similar reports, however today it says “more than 10”!

Deleting apps fixes it every time, originally I had to delete like 800, testing every 50 or so. But as of beta 4, I think, I now only need to delete like 2-5 apps to fix it each time. It’s a pain in the ass but having a working spotlight search is worth it. Even with this issue I’m totally loving iOS 14.”

Try it and see if maybe that helps??

Thank you! Just deleted a bunch of old
Apps (~10) and spotlight is working.

 

[yukong]

I have been dealing with this problem ever since loading IOS 14 Beta 2. Today I found this thread. I had tried every other solution except wiping my phone and restoring. I was just about to do such but found this thread. Thank goodness I did. I just deleted 20-30 apps and now Spotlight works! I can find apps and contacts and all now. Hallelujah! Thanks all for your comments.

 

[Dirk Kramm]

So how many apps do you have right now? I deleted also a bunge but still no luck :/

 

[Deniska]

Who install iOS 14.0.1? What about spotlight issue ?

 

[h2o pete]

Important point to note — the number under Settings > General > About > Applications does not include offloaded apps, but offloaded apps are still indexed. Meaning, if this is a problem relating to indexing a large number of apps, this number isn’t a totally accurate way to determine how many apps it‘s actually indexing. Not sure if there’s a way to get the total number of apps overall (besides counting), but this number would allow for a much better comparison and would also let us see if there is a true cut-off point.

Figured out a way for anyone with a Mac: Mac Configurator > Actions > Export > Info > Device Information > Installed Apps.

My total is 1,699 (of which 1,157 are offloaded)...

To those still suffering from this issue, I saw an interesting post on Reddit worth checking out

“
I reported this many betas back and pretty sure it was linked (at least originally) to number of apps (I had like 1700 installed). Long story short, I got a feedback reply (my first ever) Monday saying code was added to fix it in beta 6. It’s not fixed for me.

I originally report it on July 8th and as of just last week it said None for recent similar reports, however today it says “more than 10”!

Deleting apps fixes it every time, originally I had to delete like 800, testing every 50 or so. But as of beta 4, I think, I now only need to delete like 2-5 apps to fix it each time. It’s a pain in the ass but having a working spotlight search is worth it. Even with this issue I’m totally loving iOS 14.”

Try it and see if maybe that helps??

Good to hear that this is working for people, I'll give it a go.


EDIT: As with many others, the 14.0.1 update fixed this issue for me. Quite surprised that Apple patched this so quickly, but very pleased. Interestingly, didn't see any mention of it in the release notes.

 

[Rivvvers]

Who install iOS 14.0.1? What about spotlight issue ?

I’ve just tried it on my iPad mini and this update seems to have fixed the issue

 

[Deniska]

Great. I am recharging my iphone and will update.

I’ve just tried it on my iPad mini and this update seems to have fixed the issue

 

[Dirk Kramm]

Ota Update or have you updated with a computer involved?

 

[Rivvvers]

Ota Update or have you updated with a computer involved?

OTA update

 

[Ohok]

same here , no apps are founded, region language change, new app toogle search de re activation , less then 100app restarts hours of time of my precious life, none is working. Time to take some big resolutions in front of this new slavery

Hi all,

since upgrading to iOS 14 yesterday my Spotlight search seems to be broken. It’s not showing apps or contacts anymore. Restart didn’t solve the issue. Is there someone else experiencing this or has someone found a solution perhaps?

 

[Rivvvers]

After the 14.0.1 update specifically on my phone, the search was completely non functional, no results would return.
Just did a quick power down in the normal way and it was all working after the restart, including apps and contacts

 

[MrDAT]

14.0.1 fix searching for me

 

[erio]

Yes, they FINALLY fixed it! I can now tell my friends and family to update their iPhone to iOS 14.0.1

 

[Deniska]

I’ve just tried it on my iPad mini and this update seems to have fixed the issue

After the 14.0.1 update specifically on my phone, the search was completely non functional, no results would return.
Just did a quick power down in the normal way and it was all working after the restart, including apps and contacts

Wait several minutes after update. Index will build soon.

ios 14.0.1 is great update for spotlight !!The problem now fix.

 

[Dirk Kramm]

Thats good news! I will try later as well!

 

[Labyrintho]

14.0.1 fixed it for me! Thanks for the prompt attention, Apple!

 

[Dirk Kramm]

Worked for me as well! Thx Apple!

 

[taldi]

Still not working for me, with iPhone X and 14.0.1, who else has the same problem with the new update?

 

[ziggytrade]

Awesome stuff guys! Glad to hear that both my suggestion as well as iOS 14.0.1 has been fixing this issue for some of you guys. It’s a strange yet refreshing feeling for me to be starting over....

I have one more thought to share upon reading the responses of those who had my suggestion of deleting some apps fix this issue for them. In regards to there being a “maximum” of some sort in place for apps/indexing of Spotlight: Does anyone else recall (or did you notice) reaching a certain # of pages of apps before you maxed out?

Around a week or two ago (before iOS 14) I had reached the point of having so many pages of apps on my phone (again) that I was going to one by one load them into folders so I can condense the number of pages.....but when I started at the last page and started moving apps into folders, more and more apps would just appear. What I came to notice was that it was exactly what you guys are sayingc where at the least, my Home Screen (many pages worth of Home Screen) had maxed out.

I know we have been talking about it in terms of Spotlight and indexing, but I think there’s many levels to it where at some point they just simply had to max you out with the way iOS internals were structured...how many pages could I really expect to be able to just have apps lined up top to bottom? Now with iOS 14, we SHOULD be able to load an infinite number of apps if we’re talking along these lines of some sort of hidden “cap” or maximum.

hmmmm...this has been a very interesting experience overall. Very happy that our discussion has found the ears of others and has been helpful!

 

[ziggytrade]

Still not working for me, with iPhone X and 14.0.1, who else has the same problem with the new update?

Did you try the other idea of deleting a bunch of apps and seeing if that fixes it? Looking like a large number of people had one or the other (deleting apps or iOS 14.0.1) do the trick.

 

[taldi]

Did you try the other idea of deleting a bunch of apps and seeing if that fixes it? Looking like a large number of people had one or the other (deleting apps or iOS 14.0.1) do the trick.

I have only 168 apps.... i tried to delete a few but still doesn't work.

 

[merdi]

Who install iOS 14.0.1? What about spotlight issue ?

I just installed 14.0.1 and that resolved the issue with search not showing apps as suggestions. ?

 

[VoltusV]

I also updated to 14.01.1 and the Spotlight search problem solved, both on my iPhone and iPad Pro

 

[Henry B]

Hi all,

since upgrading to iOS 14 yesterday my Spotlight search seems to be broken. It’s not showing apps or contacts anymore. Restart didn’t solve the issue. Is there someone else experiencing this or has someone found a solution perhaps?

FIXED!!!!
14.0.1 update fixes this!!!!!! Wooohoooo!

Hi all,

since upgrading to iOS 14 yesterday my Spotlight search seems to be broken. It’s not showing apps or contacts anymore. Restart didn’t solve the issue. Is there someone else experiencing this or has someone found a solution perhaps?

 

[Dirk Kramm]

I have only 168 apps.... i tried to delete a few but still doesn't work.

Did you try the reboot, changing location etc tips as well?
What I habe heard the most issues are solved with the 14.01 release regaring spotlight.