To use Spotlight Search on iPhone, swipe down from the middle of the Home Screen (or tap the Search button at the bottom of the Home Screen) and type what you want to find. To choose which apps show up, go to Settings > Search, tap an app, and turn Show App in Search or Show Content in Search on or off.
These steps are for iOS 27 and follow Apple’s Use Spotlight Search on your iPhone article. The search button at the bottom of the Home Screen arrived in iOS 16, and the separate Search page in Settings arrived in iOS 18. Older versions are covered near the end.
How to Search Your iPhone With Spotlight
- Swipe down from the middle of the Home Screen or on the Lock Screen, or tap the Search button at the bottom of the Home Screen. The search field opens with the keyboard.
- Type what you’re looking for, such as an app, contact, message, setting, or website. Results update as you type.
- Tap a result to open it. Tap Show More to see more results in a section, or Search in App to continue the search inside a specific app.
Spotlight looks through your apps, contacts, Mail, Messages, Photos (including text in photos with Live Text), files, and the web. It’s also the quickest way to open an app or setting when you can’t find its icon. Type Settings and the gear icon is the top result.
For more control, you can also search your own pictures by keyword in the Photos app, or find pictures on the web with Google Images.
Quick Actions From Search Results
Many results let you act without opening an app first:
- Search for an app like Notes to see an option to create a new note.
- Search for a setting like Airplane Mode and turn it on or off right from the results.
- Search for a contact or phone number to call, message, or start a FaceTime call.
- Start a timer, turn on a Focus, identify a song with Shazam, or run a shortcut.
- Search with plain words, such as “emails from Alex” or “photos of Alex at the beach,” to get matching items from Mail and Photos.
When you search for an app, the Top Hit can also show shortcuts for its most likely next action, such as an album in Photos.
How to Choose Which Apps Show in Search
- Open the Settings app and tap Search.
- Scroll down and tap an app, such as Messages.
- Turn any of these on or off: Show App in Search, Show Content in Search, Show on Home Screen, Suggest App, or Suggest Notifications.
The change takes effect right away. Search for something from that app to confirm it no longer appears. Hiding an app or its content from Search doesn’t delete any data, and you can turn the switches back on at any time. There’s no single switch that turns Spotlight off; you control it app by app.
Apple notes that on iPhones with Siri AI, turning off Show App in Search or Show Content in Search also keeps Siri AI from using personal context from that app.
How to Turn Off Web Results and Recent Searches
- Open Settings and tap Search.
- Turn off Show Related Content to remove web-based results.
- Turn off Show Recent Searches so past searches don’t appear when you open Search.
On the same screen, Help Apple Improve Search controls whether Apple stores your searches to improve the feature. Spotlight has no delete button for history, so turning off Show Recent Searches is the way to keep past searches out of view.
How to Turn Off Location-Based Suggestions
When Location Services is on, Search can use your location to make suggestions more relevant. To stop that, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services and turn off Suggestions & Search.
Older iOS Versions
On iOS 17 and earlier, the per-app controls are under Settings > Siri & Search instead: tap an app and turn Show App in Search on or off. Much older versions (iOS 7 to iOS 9) used Settings > General > Spotlight Search, where you checked or unchecked categories such as Mail and Messages. Guides that still give that path were written for those versions.
Troubleshooting
- An app doesn’t appear: check Show App in Search for that app in Settings > Search. Hidden apps don’t appear in results until you unhide them.
- Content from a third-party app is missing: the app must support Spotlight indexing. If it doesn’t, search inside the app itself.
- Results are missing after an update or a new setup: Spotlight builds a private index on your iPhone, and the first pass can take hours or even days. It goes faster when the iPhone is idle, plugged in, and on Wi-Fi. Settings may show a notice that search is optimizing.
- Older emails or messages are missing: results can be limited by how far back an app synced with iCloud.
- Still wrong: install the latest iOS update, then check the Search settings for that type of content, as Apple’s Spotlight indexing article recommends.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Siri AI in Spotlight?
On iPhones that support Siri AI, iOS 27 lets you reach Siri AI by swiping down, the same gesture that opens Search. Siri AI isn’t available in the EU and doesn’t currently work when your Apple Account region is mainland China.
Can I search the web from Spotlight?
Yes, as long as Show Related Content is on. Tap a suggested website to open it in your browser.
Is my Spotlight index shared with Apple?
No. The index is stored privately on your device and isn’t shared with Apple or your other devices. What you type can still be used for suggestions, so turn off Help Apple Improve Search if you don’t want Apple to store your searches.
Can I find a specific setting with Spotlight?
Yes. Type the setting’s name, such as Bluetooth or Wallpaper, and tap the result with the Settings icon to jump straight to it.
Related: How to find all apps installed on iPhone, How to clear search history on iPhone, and How to turn off Location Services on iPhone.
Matthew Burleigh is the founder, head writer, and editor of Solve Your Tech, which he launched in 2012. He has written technology tutorials since 2008 and worked in IT since 2003, including small-business support, IT management, and consulting. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from Arizona State University.
Matthew writes practical guides for Windows, iPhone and iPad, Microsoft Office, Outlook, Google apps, and Android. Solve Your Tech’s guides are checked step by step against the device or app maker’s own documentation and tested on his own devices whenever he has the hardware or software, with clear steps, sources, and update dates.
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