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A bug impacting search functionality in the Messages app for some iPhone 15 users appears to be fixed in the second beta of iOS 17.1 released this week.

iOS-17-Messages-Feature.jpg

Some early adopters of iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models have complained that the Messages app's search tool only displays recent messages after transferring content from another iPhone. The issue has been mentioned by several users across the MacRumors Forums and Reddit since the devices launched earlier this month.

The bug is present on all iOS 17 versions up to the first iOS 17.1 beta, but many affected users said it has been fixed as of the second iOS 17.1 beta. It may take up to a day for the device to index and restore the older messages. Some users said they needed to open the Settings app, tap on Messages, tap on Siri & Search, turn off all of the settings shown, restart the iPhone, and re-enable those settings in order for the issue to be fixed.

iOS 17.1 is expected to be released in late October, so users not interested in installing the beta might have to wait a few more weeks for the fix.

(Thanks, Ray Wong!)

Article Link: iOS 17.1 Beta 2 Fixes Messages Search Bug on iPhone 15 Models
Can anyone help me and tell me what my risks are if I download a beta app. Thank you
 
Messages in the Cloud has been so buggy for the past few iOS and macOS updates. For some reason, even if disable/re-enable all cloud services, log out and in, etc, my images and threads only download properly on one device. And my iPhone keeps showing there are images to download but after tapping, they just disappear and don't appear in the grid view. Honestly shouldn't be this hard, I've wiped my device so many times. As the messages app on Mac simply saves an SQL Database, I have no idea why the iPhone has so much trouble loading it.
 
Can anyone help me and tell me what my risks are if I download a beta app. Thank you

I’m assuming you meant a beta version of iOS. If you have to ask you don’t want to download the iOS beta.

The risks are bugs, data loss, etc. Apple doesn’t recommend running betas on your primary device because there is the chance it will render it unusable; requiring a Mac/PC to fix it.
 
Can anyone help me and tell me what my risks are if I download a beta app. Thank you
Pros: You get to use the new features early.

Cons: Some random things might not work properly. For example, if I touch an autocorrected word (blue underlined) while typing this comment, Safari crashes.

In general, betas have been much more stable in recent years. They used to be much buggier.

If you change your mind, you can revert back to 17.0.3 only if you have a backup from that version, otherwise you’ll either have to reset and start as new, or wait for public release in a few weeks or however long that may be.
 
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I’m assuming you meant a beta version of iOS. If you have to ask you don’t want to download the iOS beta.

The risks are bugs, data loss, etc. Apple doesn’t recommend running betas on your primary device because there is the chance it will render it unusable; requiring a Mac/PC to fix it.
Yes to beta of iOS and thank you. I will unfortunately wait. This happens to me every iPhone and I am exhaustausted trying to find a fix.
 
Pros: You get to use the new features early.

Cons: Some random things might not work properly. For example, if I touch an autocorrected word (blue underlined) while typing this comment, Safari crashes.

In general, betas have been much more stable in recent years. They used to be much buggier.

If you change your mind, you can revert back to 17.0.3 only if you have a backup from that version, otherwise you’ll either have to reset and start as new, or wait for public release in a few weeks or however long that may be.
Thank you!
 
Messages in the Cloud has been so buggy for the past few iOS and macOS updates. For some reason, even if disable/re-enable all cloud services, log out and in, etc, my images and threads only download properly on one device. And my iPhone keeps showing there are images to download but after tapping, they just disappear and don't appear in the grid view.

I would expand that to iCloud in general has been buggy the last few releases. Once you get “bad data” in your iCloud account you’re basically screwed until Apple fixes iOS/MacOs (if they ever do). Apple’s old “solution” was to wipe your device and set it up as new, but that was before iCloud. Now the only way to work around some bugs is to create a new iCloud account.

A good example of this is ScreenTime. There’s garbage data in my iCloud ScreenTime data that I can’t get rid of which causes ScreenTime iCloud syncing of setting and data to not work. This is true even on my new iPhone 15.
 
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I would expand that to iCloud in general has been buggy the last few releases. Once you get “bad data” in your iCloud account you’re basically screwed until Apple fixes iOS/MacOs (if they ever do). Apple’s old “solution” was to wipe your device and set it up as new, but that was before iCloud. Now the only way to work around some bugs is to create a new iCloud account.

A good example of this is ScreenTime. There’s garbage data in my iCloud ScreenTime data that I can’t get rid of which causes ScreenTime iCloud syncing of setting and data to not work. This is true even on my new iPhone 15.
Yeah, I agree. Right now my watch hasn't been tracking sleep and I see like a hundred devices in my health data sources list I can't remove.

It's ludicrous in particular for messages because you can literally see every message by going to ~library/messages and the whole messages database is there stored neatly and always perfectly downloaded. Considering iOS has had a file explorer and uses the same SQL database there shouldn't be this much of a disparity. Not to mention the disable and download all button on iOS does nothing and toggling on off messages in cloud is likely to get you some files, but remove most smh.... sorry for the rant I've wiped this iPhone 15 like 40 times this week.
 
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Some users said they needed to open the Settings app, tap on Messages, tap on Siri & Search, turn off all of the settings shown, restart the iPhone, and re-enable those settings in order for the issue to be fixed.

Not really the best fix then. What happens if you transfer from another device after updating, do you still need to do this or does it work right away?
 
I would expand that to iCloud in general has been buggy the last few releases. Once you get “bad data” in your iCloud account you’re basically screwed until Apple fixes iOS/MacOs (if they ever do). Apple’s old “solution” was to wipe your device and set it up as new, but that was before iCloud. Now the only way to work around some bugs is to create a new iCloud account.

A good example of this is ScreenTime. There’s garbage data in my iCloud ScreenTime data that I can’t get rid of which causes ScreenTime iCloud syncing of setting and data to not work. This is true even on my new iPhone 15.
Aww man. Nervous to read this as I’ve had the content from my iMessages disappear/ reappear/ not sync properly when I upgraded from my 12PM to 14PM. Fixed it and, Of course, with the new iOS 17 here I am yet again. Still on my 14PM btw. Should I not hold my breath that with the new update this issue won’t be resolved? Sigh
 
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Search has been broken so since a 16 dot release. It always returns results for apps you set not to search. 17 has made it worse, now it returns calendar results of holidays in 2024 and 2025 when you set it not to search calendar.
 
I"m
@Banglazed just commented in another thread that Apple told them via Feedback app that there was a change/fix implemented in iOS 17.1 beta 2.
I'm on 17.1 beta 2 and the issue still persists for me in that my messages are not downloading anything past 9/28/2023. I've done this:

Settings app, tap on Messages, tap on Siri & Search, turn off all of the settings shown, restart the iPhone, and re-enable those settings in order for the issue to be fixed.

I can confirm that it made no difference at all. I'm hoping it just takes time but it's been 30mins so far with no downloading of messages. I know they are all there because I can see them on my MacBook Pro.
 
I"m

I'm on 17.1 beta 2 and the issue still persists for me in that my messages are not downloading anything past 9/28/2023. I've done this:

Settings app, tap on Messages, tap on Siri & Search, turn off all of the settings shown, restart the iPhone, and re-enable those settings in order for the issue to be fixed.

I can confirm that it made no difference at all. I'm hoping it just takes time but it's been 30mins so far with no downloading of messages. I know they are all there because I can see them on my MacBook Pro.
Not good news 😅
Just curious for your most recent texts— is all content up to date within the info tab? All pics, vids, links, sent/ received etc?
 
Mine too. I use to be able to go into messages and go into a photos tab in the messages but it doesn’t show all the photos in the message thread. If I scroll thru the message I’ll see the photos from earlier on but they aren’t in photos when I click the name.

I’m guessing this is same bug.
 
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I can confirm that it made no difference at all. I'm hoping it just takes time but it's been 30mins so far with no downloading of messages. I know they are all there because I can see them on my MacBook Pro.

30 mins of doing what? When everything was working properly, it still required having the phone charging, locked and connected to Wi-Fi for at least overnight for any noticeable amount of messages to download.
 
Mine too. I use to be able to go into messages and go into a photos tab in the messages but it doesn’t show all the photos in the message thread. If I scroll thru the message I’ll see the photos from earlier on but they aren’t in photos when I click the name.

I’m guessing this is same bug.

That’s never worked properly going back to when iCloud Messaging was introduced. Sometimes it would sometimes it wouldn’t. Anything in that are photos that have been downloaded (and indexed). It won’t show photos for messages in the cloud. Same thing in the storage settings in the Settings app.
 
Pros: You get to use the new features early.

Cons: Some random things might not work properly. For example, if I touch an autocorrected word (blue underlined) while typing this comment, Safari crashes.

In general, betas have been much more stable in recent years. They used to be much buggier.

If you change your mind, you can revert back to 17.0.3 only if you have a backup from that version, otherwise you’ll either have to reset and start as new, or wait for public release in a few weeks or however long that may be.
It also crashes Mail as well
 
That’s never worked properly going back to when iCloud Messaging was introduced. Sometimes it would sometimes it wouldn’t. Anything in that are photos that have been downloaded (and indexed). It won’t show photos for messages in the cloud. Same thing in the storage settings in the Settings app.
Oh damn. That’s so silly. Also one of my messages doesn’t go back to before September. Weird. Oh well if it’s not fixed no biggie
 
Beta 2 didn't seem to fix/change anything for me yet... anyone else having success? Images and links in the iMessage conversations are still not indexed or showing.
 
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Does this still come with the hand warming feature when plugged in. I know it’s not winter yet, but it’s really gonna come in handy.

You know… it’ll be nice till the battery explodes or something.
 
After three attempts of transferring iPhone to iPhone and Message indexing not working for the life of me, I just initiated a restore from iCloud backup to see if that makes a dick of a difference. Then I came on here and just saw this posting. This was driving me absolutely crazy and had me considering returning my 15PM & just sticking with the 14MP. Hopefully good news, if it indeed is a fix - not holding my breath though..
 
After three attempts of transferring iPhone to iPhone and Message indexing not working for the life of me, I just initiated a restore from iCloud backup to see if that makes a dick of a difference. Then I came on here and just saw this posting. This was driving me absolutely crazy and had me considering returning my 15PM & just sticking with the 14MP. Hopefully good news, if it indeed is a fix - not holding my breath though..
Did the restore from iCloud backup fix the issue for you? I was debating that as well
 
Beta 2 didn't seem to fix/change anything for me yet... anyone else having success? Images and links in the iMessage conversations are still not indexed or showing.

Based on posts on Reddit, it requires turning off Siri and Search for Messages, restarting the phone and turning it back on. It should then start indexing when plugged in for at least 30 minutes.

I’m not running the 17.1 beta so I can’t confirm if that works or not. I can tell you that doesn’t work in 17.0.x.
 
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