How to use iOS 15's Spotlight Search on iPhone

Spotlight Search is one of the most underrated features of iOS, though Spotlight has always been the best system search engine for both macOS and iOS. While iOS 15 mainly touts due to features such as improved FaceTime, offline Siri or live text, almost nothing is said about Spotlight. It's a pity, because Spotlight search is now even better and redefines the way you search on an iPhone.

How do I run a Spotlight search?

Spotlight Search is turned on by default on your iPhone, although you can't see it. To access Spotlight, swipe down from the home screen.

What can Spotlight do?

Install, move, and delete applications directly

Yes, you can forget about the App Store. In iOS 15, you can install apps directly from Spotlight Search. Enter the name of the app you're looking for in the search bar and hit the Download button when the result is displayed. That's all.

What about previously installed applications? In iOS 15, you can drag an application found by Spotlight from the application library directly to the home screen. Or you can uninstall the app from Spotlight Search directly.

Search for text in photos

One of the notable improvements in iOS 15 is Live Text. This feature extracts text from photos and allows you to copy and paste it into other applications.

Spotlight Search indexes all text in photos from photo libraries on your iPhone. Using this, you can search the photos directly for the subtitles shown on them. Let's say you want to search for a photo, but you can't remember when you took it. You remember, however, that there was a sign in the photo with the words "mazurek restaurant" on it. Open Spotlight Search and enter the words you remember, and you're done. Spotlight search will find and display the photo with this inscription

Jak korzystać z wyszukiwania Spotlight w iOS 15 na iPhonie

Search for items from the lock screen

iOS 15 also allows you to access Spotlight Search directly from the lock screen. Just swipe down on your iPhone's lock screen and the "locked" version of Spotlight Search will appear. "Locked" because it does not allow the user to fully use the search - for security reasons, since the iPhone is not yet unlocked - but it allows you to perform basic tasks. You can quickly establish a connection or open the application.

Search for contacts

Spotlight in iOS 15 returns enhanced contextual results, such as the last call with a found contact and exchanged messages. It shows what actions are possible from the level of third party applications. You will now be able to contact the person directly via other applications - for example, send a message via WhatsApp or make a video call via Messenger. Spotlight Search even shows the person's photos, if any are saved on your iPhone.

Search for movies, TV shows, and music

Spotlight movie and TV show results got richer in iOS 15. Instead of searching Google for the TV show you want to watch and then searching for it on a streaming service, you can directly search for the show in Spotlight and iOS will take you to the streaming service's page streaming.

The search results also include ratings from Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. Along with the results for TV shows and movies, you can dive into information about the cast and other crew members. You can search for music and artists in a similar way.

Search for objects, places, animals, etc. in Photos

By using the neural engine properly, Spotlight analyzes the images and returns the results in the form of photos of animals, places and even objects. Enter search terms such as "animals" or "black cat" in the search engine, and if the photos on your phone contain these objects, Spotlight will display them.

Access application clips from the search results

Application clips appeared in iOS 14. Spotlight in iOS 15 has the option to install the application clip directly from the search results.

How does it work in practice? From the Spotlight search engine, you can, for example: display the restaurant menu, book a table, make an appointment, order take-away meals, join the waiting list, check screening hours, pay for parking, check prices and perform other activities that can be performed using application clip.

Find location, calendar event, files

Since Spotlight Search is now integrated into every section of the iOS ecosystem, it allows you to search data from all your apps. Spotlight in iOS 15 works much like Spotlight on Mac and makes it to your phone what Google is to the Internet. You can search for documents in the Files application, search for text messages in the search bar, check the calendar or reminders, search for transactions in the wallet.