How to Enable Spotlight Search to Find Apps on an iPhone

It is entirely likely that you will have dozens of apps installed on your iPhone after only a few weeks of ownership, which can really make it useful to know how to enable Spotlight Search to find apps on iPhone if you are having difficulty locating a specific app on your device.

Your iPhone will place your icons in the first available spot that it finds after you install an app, which is one reason why learning how to sort apps on your device can also be useful. But sorting your apps can move your favorite apps away from your primary Home screen, which is a result that you might wish to avoid. So learn how you can take advantage of the Spotlight Search feature on your iPhone to quickly locate and launch a specific app without needing to waste time finding it manually.

Enable Spotlight Search to Find Apps on an iPhone 5

The steps in this tutorial were performed on an iPhone 5 running iOS 7, but these steps can also be followed on any other iPhone device that is running the iOS 7 operating system.

You can also choose to add other locations to your Spotlight Search by selecting those locations on the Spotlight Search menu as well.

Step 1: Touch the Settings icon.

tap the settings icon

Step 2: Scroll down and select the General option.

select the general option

Step 3: Select the Spotlight Search option.

open the spotlight search menu

Step 4: Touch the Applications option.

This will place a blue check mark to the left of it, which lets you know that your installed applications have been added to Spotlight Search.

select the applications option

You can then pull down on your Home screen to open Spotlight Search. Simply type the name of the app that you want to open, then touch that app in your search results to open it.

search for an app in spotlight search

Are you trying to download an app to your iPhone, but you can’t find it on any of the lists in the App Store? Learn how to search for an app in the App Store on your iPhone so that you can install it and start using it.

Additional Sources

Join Our Free Newsletter

Featured guides and deals

You may opt out at any time.
Read our Privacy Policy