Notes app search not working after iOS 27 update

Fixed mine. Turned off note sync under iCloud. Turned off phone and reboot. Leave it alone for an hour. Turn on notes sync under iCloud. Let all notes reload/sync. Search function restored.

It took 3 days of turning of Notes Sync on each device - each time you see a warning that Notes data will be deleted but I disregarded this. With Time a day and a Half I got all the notes in Notes app synced again with my iCloud account and the Search function works on my iPad 13" Pro and iPhone 17 Pro.

With my iPad mini, it looks longer - the sync was stuck on 1000 notes just spinning. After a long wait, I deleted the Notes app on the iPad mini and waited a few hours. Then the sync resumed successfully.

At around this time I downloaded iOS 27.2.

So be careful with the iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 as some people lose the ability to do searches for notes on the Notes app. If lucky, you won't be affected. If you have this problem, recovery of the Search ability in the Notes app can take days with constant manipulation and monitoring - not a whopping endorsement for a foolproof iOS and iPadOS update as it could be a laborious prolonged process.

So far no official response from Apple Support - I assume they expect these troubles.

It took 3 days of turning of Notes Sync on each device - each time you see a warning that Notes data will be deleted but I disregarded this. With time (a day and a half) I got all the notes in Notes app synced again with my iCloud account and the Search function works on my iPad 13" Pro and iPhone 17 Pro.

With my iPad mini, it looks longer - the sync was stuck on 1000 notes just spinning. After a long wait, I deleted the Notes app on the iPad mini and waited a few hours. Then the sync resumed successfully.

At around this time I downloaded iOS 27.2.

So be careful with the iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 as some people lose the ability to do searches for notes on the Notes app. If lucky, you won't be affected. If you have this problem, recovery of the Search ability in the Notes app can take days with constant manipulation and monitoring - not a whopping endorsement for a foolproof iOS and iPadOS update as it could be a laborious prolonged process.

So far no official response from Apple Support - I assume they expect these troubles.

Has been almost 2 weeks, search function within Notes app is not working so I do search’s of my Notes on MacBook or on iCloud.com.

Apple Support told me this is a bug in iOS and iPadOS 27 and a fix is coming whenever.

Hey folks, I am experiencing similar/same symptoms. I ran into the issue when my iphone 14 pro updated to IOS 27.01 week ago or so. I have over 5500 notes accumulating in 30GB, so I am fully vested and desperately need some way to find notes while apple finds, fixes, tests, and releases a fix. This issue is rocking my digital life! Worse, my iPad just updated to 27.2 and is now experiencing the same symptoms. Not fun.

I just got off a long call with apple support. My issue was escalated to Mark on the senior support team. He was AWESOME! I could hear in his voice he was honest and all-in helping me and my situation. I liked the way he uses logic and talked to me. He was effective at lining my instance up with an existing path to resolution. I have over 5500 notes accumulating in 30GB, so I needed some way to find notes while apple fixes the issue.

If it helps, my Case ID: ***

High level relevant points:

• My issue lines up with an existing ‘issue tracker’, which means apple engineers are working on the issue. I supposed that is good news they are already on it. (my optimistic self says!)
• At this point, my case cannot be escalated due to the existing ‘issue tracker’. I will not know when the issue is fixed and released. Who knows, maybe it is fixed and in regression testing? (my optimistic self says!)
• There are no workarounds listed in the issue tracker, other than just ‘wait’ for the indexing to complete. It is insightful that indexing only happens when the device is idle, is plugged in, and connected to wifi. Well, my iphone has been having this issue for almost 2 weeks and is plugged in each night while attached to WiFi.
• Mark and I came up with some ideas to make my digital life possible in the short term and mitigate the situation for me:
  • Don’t upgrade to IOS 27 on all my devices. Well, i have already upgraded to IOS 27 on my iphone a few weeks ago and this issue came up. I was able to use my ipad, but after my ipad upgraded to IOS 27(27.2 to be exact) the same issue came up. I may resurrect my old ipad to find critical data…. Or, I can use my mac mini…
  • Use to the Notes app on icloud using safari web browser on my ipad. I was able to get to ALL my data using this method. That is a relief! But, it takes a LONG time because there doesn’t appear to be indexing on the icloud version of the notes app.
  • ‘pin’ my critical notes that I need to run my life. At least this is a great way to have a short list I can manually scan. Honestly, I have noticed that once i click on a note, it starts to be found in a search.

I hope this helps somebody and will be monitoring this thread for any updates…..

Thanks!

[Edited by Moderator]

You mentioned on September 16, 2026, that it had been two days since you installed iOS 27 and that the Notes app was unable to search for content within your notes.

However, your description does not provide enough information to determine the cause of the problem. There are a couple of important details you should have mentioned.

1. Which Notes app are you referring to?

Are you using Apple's built-in Notes app on your iPhone, or are you referring to a third-party note-taking app? The troubleshooting steps may differ depending on the app you are using.

2. Where are your notes stored?

You have not mentioned which account holds your notes. For example, are they stored in:

• • iCloud
  • On My iPhone
  • Gmail
  • Outlook
  • Another account or service

This distinction is important because the location of your notes and the account responsible for syncing them can affect how searches work. We need to establish where the notes are stored before drawing any conclusions about the cause of the problem.

My experience with searching Notes on iOS 27.0.1

I have tested searches in notes stored in both my iCloud and Gmail accounts, and the search results were successful, as you can see in the picture below. Therefore, I cannot conclude that iOS 27 has a general problem with searching within the Notes app based solely on your experience.

One more point to consider: if you are searching within locked notes in Apple's Notes app, the results may differ depending on the search terms and the content being searched. Locked notes have certain restrictions on searching their contents, so this is another factor worth checking.

My suggestion: When reporting an issue, please provide as much relevant information as possible, including the app you are using, the account in which your notes are stored, the exact steps you follow to perform a search, and what happens when the search fails. If possible, include a screenshot of the issue.

The more specific your description, the easier it is for others to reproduce the problem, investigate its cause, and suggest an appropriate solution. Otherwise, we risk attributing the issue to iOS 27 without sufficient evidence that the operating system is actually responsible.

Great idea. After many attempts I got the Notes app spinning as all the Notes are syncing with iCloud as if for the first time. I expect this to take a long time as I have 6000+ notes.

I couldn't get this to work for one of my newer ipads so I deleted the Notes app, restarted the iPad then reinstalled the Notes app so it is also syncing with a few notes, 6000 more to go.

I will see if this fixes the issue.

Thanks great advice....to bad Apple Support could not help in my 6 weeks of struggles. Eventually after several days of turning of Sync, sometimes deleting the then reloading the Notes app, installing the iOS and iPadOS up to 27.2, waiting days to Sync the 6000+ notes in the Notes app, I got the Search function to work in the Notes app.

I was so frustrated with this Apple software update, I considered going back to Evernote or going to Obsidian, Joplin or Google Keep.

[Edited by Moderator]

I always chose All Accounts

About 30 people experiencing the same problem in the same post-iOS27 timeframe have found their way to this forum and contributed or tapped “Me Too”. Maybe not everyone who updated to 27 is experiencing this, but a sufficient number of users are experiencing it to suggest it’s a problem sparked by 27 affecting a portion of users.

I hope a fix is coming soon, this is a big outage in Notes at a time when it’s supposed to be getting smarter.

robkhoo wrote:

An Update and it ain’t good;

on my iPhone 17 Pro and both iPads despite installing the newest minor update to 27.0.1, the search function in the Notes app is not fully functional.

Therefore, people who rely on the notes in the Notes app are paralyzed since they are unable to search for important information such as details of their health plans, vacation or trip details.

the installation of iOS 27 has crippled my Notes app functionality and this remains the same ONE month after installation.

Anyone else have the same problem?

When will Apple release a fix - maybe they don’t believe there is a Notes search problem and won’t fix it,

I'm having no search issues at all on iOS 27.0.1. When did you update your iPhone? It can take a few days for all the data on your iPhone to reindex, which means the databases are being rebuilt and that takes time.

It has been since September 14 2026 or 40 days ago since I installed ios 27 on my portable devices. The Search function does not work on the Notes app with ios27.

I searched for Phoenix on iCloud and also on my Macbook and found 233 notes - doing the same on the Notes app on my ipad or iphone reveals 5 notes???????

I called again and spoke with Aplle Support and was told that the issue has been escalated and there is no response from the higher ups.

I will check again in 40 days?

robkhoo wrote:

since I installed iOS 27,

Not every issue an individual encounters on their device can be attributed to an iOS update. If the update itself were the root cause, then every device running that same version of iOS would exhibit the identical problem. In such a scenario, the forums would be flooded with countless posts reporting the same malfunction, creating an unmistakable wave of complaints that no one could possibly overlook. The absence of such widespread reports strongly indicates that the issue is not systemic, but rather specific to the device in question.

An Update and it ain’t good;

on my iPhone 17 Pro and both iPads despite installing the newest minor update to 27.0.1, the search function in the Notes app is not fully functional.

Therefore, people who rely on the notes in the Notes app are paralyzed since they are unable to search for important information such as details of their health plans, vacation or trip details.

the installation of iOS 27 has crippled my Notes app functionality and this remains the same ONE month after installation.

Anyone else have the same problem?

When will Apple release a fix - maybe they don’t believe there is a Notes search problem and won’t fix it,

Not resolved yet. Apple Support says they are working on the bug.

I didn’t update MacOS on my MacBook so that’s the only way I can search in my Notes app since Notes don’t work on my iPhone or iPads but I can search my Notes on iCloud.com. Stupid ain’t it?

I called Apple Support twice and they saw my iPhone 17 Pro and all the settings were correct - unchanged since I upgraded to iOS 27.

They checked Notes app was backed up and synced to iCloud, they had me toggle off the show app in search and show content in search, reboot the phone, but the problem still persist only for the Notes app. I also tried using Siri to look for notes pertaining to subjects that I know exist in my notes, but it keeps on returning the message: no results for whatever I’m looking for.

After setting up my new iPhone 18 pro - my notes search results are not working either. The phone shows indexed (no more optimizing search showing), restarted, Turned off Show App in Search and Show Content in Search.

Am still able to search on my Mac so seems to be the phone / iOS 27

It has been a week and iPhone 17 Pro, iPad 13” Pro M4 and iPad Mini 7th gen cannot search Notes app.

I live in Phoenix metro area and have hundreds of notes with Phoenix in them. Notes app says none found in any of my devices.

I can search my Notes on iCloud.com but not in the Notes app

Today I downloaded iOS 27.0.1 on my iPhone 17 Pro and iPadOS 27.0.1 so I can see “Optimizing Search and Siri” on all my devices but I will see if this update fixes the inability of the Notes app to search for notes.

Everyone may not use their note functionality the same. I’m getting older so notes help me remember things. And I add a title where I can put in one word and every note with that word in the title comes up.

To make sure it’s note just user error I put in a recent note and tried to do a search and it did not come up.

It has been many days since I downloaded iOS 27.0.1 on my iPhone 17 Pro and iPadOS 27.0.1 and the “Optimizing Search and Siri” no longer shows on my devices but I cannot search in the Notes app.

[Edited by Moderator]

robkhoo wrote:

September 16, 2026 it has been two days since I installed iOS 27,

Not every issue an individual encounters on their device can be attributed to an iOS update. iOS 27 or later may have coincided with what you are experiencing, but that does not mean the issue was triggered by iOS. Coincidence in timing is not, by itself, evidence of causation.

If the update itself were the root cause, then every device running that same version of iOS would exhibit the identical problem. In such a scenario, the forums would be flooded with countless posts reporting the same malfunction, creating an unmistakable wave of complaints that no one could possibly overlook.

The absence of such widespread reports strongly indicates that the issue is not a general, system-wide problem with iOS 27 or later, but rather something specific to the individual device, its configuration, installed apps, settings, hardware, or another interacting factor.

In short: iOS 27 or later may be a coincidence in timing, but there is no basis to conclude that iOS itself triggered the problem simply because the issue appeared after the update.

« iPhone sous iOS 27.0.1 : les notes sont présentes, mais la recherche des tags/préfixes ne retrouve plus les résultats dans Notes. Les mêmes recherches fonctionnent sur iCloud.com. Plusieurs jours sur secteur et le déchargement/réinstallation n’ont rien changé. Pouvez-vous vérifier s’il s’agit d’un problème connu et recueillir les diagnostics avant toute suppression des données locales ? »

What troubleshooting steps have you performed so far?

What have you chosen "All Accounts" or "Current Accounts" is not clear from your post:

See the pic below, which is self-explanatory made on iOS 27

[Edited by Moderator]

I am having the same issue after upgrading iOS. It looks like it finds some keywords , or short part of the words , but very little among all the content that I have there

Did you ever resolve this? I am having the same problem on an iPhone 14 Pro Max and an iPad Pro 11" M2