Search not working in iPhone and iPad photo libraries, but works on MacBook Air

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Level 1

9 points

Search not working in iPhone and iPad photo libraries, but works on MacBook Air

Need this feature to work and wonder if there is something else going on, because it worked fine prior to recent iOS updates on phone and iPad. Is there a setting that has been changed that I can go into and fix? This issue is now going on three days and I need to be able to search my library for data/docs photos that I use frequently to capture detailed information about vehicles, products, etc.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: search not working on iPhone or iPad photo library, but working on MacBook Air. Called support and was told it was a known issue that they are working on.

iPhone 16, iOS 18

Posted on Aug 13, 2025 06:44 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 13, 2025 07:10 AM in response to kardstar55

kardstar55 wrote: … Is there a setting that has been changed that I can go into and fix? This issue is now going on three days…

It's not the OS--if I search for "Red Shirt" I get 380 hits. If I search for "Red Shirt and Dog," I get 11 hits. This is a search for Blue Flower:

It gets a lot of purple ones, but I hate to quibble. Kinda cool, really…

It does take some time for Photos to scan after an update, but I agree that 3 days seems like it should be long enough, unless you have 50 000 pictures, perhaps.

Do you have

"Settings>Search>Show related content"

turned" on? In Settings>Apps>Photos I have almost everything turned on. (Well, not auto-play motion.)

How about storage? Do you have at least 10% of your iPad's storage free? At Settings>General>iPad Storage, mine says 189 GB of 512 GB used. What does yours say?

Have you tried a forced restart of the iPad?

Force Re-start iPad

This is different from a simple Power Off. For me, the logo appears long after the Power Off notice.

Let us know…

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Answer 2

kardstar55 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 14, 2025 02:56 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

Indexing must have finally completed because search was working fine on both my iPhone and iPad this morning. Thanks for all the input, Richard. I did run through each suggestion but everything already was set up as your instructions stated.

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Answer 3

Aug 15, 2025 06:56 AM in response to kardstar55

Great! It can take an unexpectedly long time to do the indexing. It's fastest if the iPad is plugged in, turned on, and left alone. If it thinks you're using it, then it will try not to slow you down.

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