Use Spotlight Search on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch

Search helps you quickly find anything on your device and on the web. Search also offers suggestions and updates results as you type.

Swipe to search

1. Swipe down from the middle of the Home Screen.

2. Tap the Search field, then enter what you’re looking for. As you type, Search will update results in real time.

   

3. To see more results, tap Show More or search directly in an app by tapping Search in App.

4. Tap a search result to open it.

In iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and later, you can also tap the Search field at the bottom of your Home Screen to start a search.

Create notes, make phone calls and do more from Search results

In iOS 17, iPadOS 17 and later, you can sometimes take actions directly within your search results:

• Search for an app such as Notes, and your results will include the option to create a new note.

• Search for a setting such as Airplane Mode, and you can toggle the setting on or off.

• Search for a phone number or contact, and you can choose to start a call, send a message or start a FaceTime call.

You can also search for specific things by name – such as “emails from [Name]” or “photos of [Name] at [location]” – and find items from apps, such as Mail or Photos, in your search results.

Change search settings

You can change the search settings to limit which apps and results appear while you're searching. Here’s how:

1. Go to Settings and tap Search.

2. Scroll down and select an app.

3. Then select Show App in Search, Show Content in Search, Show on Home Screen, Suggest App or Suggest Notifications.

To turn off Siri Suggestions: tap Settings, tap Notifications, then tap Siri Suggestions. You can stop all suggestions by turning Allow Notifications off, or you can stop suggestions for specific apps by turning them off.