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Spotlight not working in 8.1.1

supersalo

supersalo

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 14, 2010
385
137
Looks like Spotlight isn't returning any results for 'Apps'.

I'm seeing this on two different devices. Restarted one and still no results.

Anyone else seeing this?
 
supersalo said:
Looks like Spotlight isn't returning any results for 'Apps'.

I'm seeing this on two different devices. Restarted one and still no results.

Anyone else seeing this?
Click to expand...

working for me. is Applications checked in your setting > general > spotlight?
 
Yes, I even toggled Applications off, then on. Must be just me. Joy!

Edit: Ok, now it is working. I guess me posting here threatened it.
 
supersalo said:
Yes, I even toggled Applications off, then on. Must be just me. Joy!

Edit: Ok, now it is working. I guess me posting here threatened it.
Click to expand...


Agree. Sometimes things don't want to work until you show them you mean business.
 
I have the same problem. Rebooted and it didn't fix it. Finally it just started working. Maybe it was indexing or something?
 
supersalo said:
Yes, I even toggled Applications off, then on. Must be just me. Joy!

Edit: Ok, now it is working. I guess me posting here threatened it.
Click to expand...

Same thing here. Started working just as I started to post. I have had this problem since 8.1. Spotlight sometimes does not return Apps in the search. Works after several tries.
 
supersalo said:
Looks like Spotlight isn't returning any results for 'Apps'.

I'm seeing this on two different devices. Restarted one and still no results.

Anyone else seeing this?
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me after first installing 8.1.1 on my iPhone 6, but a reboot immediately fixed it though.
 
In settings/spotlight, drag apps to the top of search results. Then open spotlight and type a period. Every app on your device will be listed, and this seems to index them.
 
Same issue here on iPhone 6. I'm not the best organized with my springboard so I use spotlight to start apps... Today after iOS 8.1.1 I got only music results no applications listed... Strange... I only linked the phone to synch over wifi to my MacBook, I doubt this is the issue, where it didn't finish to synch apps so it get stuck...

Anyway will try the hard reboot...

Hmm Apple every release new bugs... :(
 
33man said:
Same issue here on iPhone 6. I'm not the best organized with my springboard so I use spotlight to start apps... Today after iOS 8.1.1 I got only music results no applications listed... Strange... I only linked the phone to synch over wifi to my MacBook, I doubt this is the issue, where it didn't finish to synch apps so it get stuck...

Anyway will try the hard reboot...

Hmm Apple every release new bugs... :(
Click to expand...
Accept when its not a bug. There will never be a bugless release. There has never been a bugless release.
 
Something is borked with the Spotlight on my iPad. I first noticed the no apps in Spotlight the day before 8.1.1 came out, and then after installing the update they were still missing. Today it's working, but then I tried another test. I typed "guardi" on my iPhone and it auto fills with Guardians of the Galaxy (film) on Wikipedia, then the album on iTunes, and then the Bing search results. On my iPad everything is blank, even when I fill in the full name for the film. Events, notes, reminders, etc are all showing up fine, along with apps suddenly working too. And yes, I've tried rebooting (even installed that update) and toggling the switches in settings.
 
Mine is not working eather, tried to reboot, uncheck apps in settings of spotlight, recheck, move around etc... nothing Apps are not showing up.. On iPhone 6
 
same here - no spotlight search for apps

rebooting now. iPhone 5s. Spotlight stopped indexing any apps, only contacts. Enabling/disabling it didn't help.
 
Found a work around

It doesnt get rid of the bug entirely, but I have found that on this occasion (for me), deleteing the app that wont be found, and then reinstalling, somehow then allows spotlight to find it again when searching.
The app that couldnt be found by spotlight for me was the 'Remote' app for controlling Apple TV.

Once deleted and reinstalled, it now can be found by spotlight.

I have reported to Apple feedback
 
Spotlight not searchign Apps

I cannot get Spotlight to return Apps that I am searching. I removed everything from Settings -> General -> Spotlight Search and ONLY left Applications on (tick mark against it) and it stil doesnt work. Seems like a BUG in iOs 8.1.1. Just updated to this version today .. hpefully they will have a fix soon.
 
In addition to no apps showing in my results the search box and results are half the normal width and in the center of the screen. 6 Plus. The first time it happened I did a reboot which stuck at the Apple logo and stayed there. I had to restore via iTunes (DFU) to get the phone working again. The second time a reboot fixed it and so far has been working fine. I never used to use this tool but I have been training myself to use it because it really is a nice feature. I believe Apple will get it worked out one day.
 
Me, Too!

I had this same problem with my iPhone 6 Plus when I went to do a search this afternoon. I tried it several times and it wouldn't return results for any of my apps.

I then went into settings and unchecked and rechecked the apps search results and tried again but no dice. I did a bit of reading on the device and tried a search again afterwards, but it again didn't work.

I returned to my office and iPad and tried it and apps were there in its Spotlight results, so I went back to the iPhone for one last check and suddenly it worked! Phew! That was a relief.

Thought I'd check and see if anyone else was having this issue and ended up here. Thanks for confirming that I wasn't just seeing things!
 
I was seeing this as well. I decided to try a "reset all settings", and when it came back from the reboot, this issue was gone, and it's working fine now. I had to re-do a few various settings, but nothing too difficult.

Mark
 
We have a half dozen iThings in our household. What worked for us consistently is unchecking Applications, exiting the menu, pull the shade down as if to search (on the home menu), then clicking Applications on again. It should index and search fine after that. At least it did for us.
 
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