Apple Notes App Not Indexing on iPhone 18 Pro Max with iOS27

My iPhone 18 Pro Max took a week to finish indexing (mail, messages, files), but the notes app never indexed fully. Both Siri/Search AND searching inside the app on iOS27 give a few random results with most searches coming back with nothing (on notes I know are there). Two sessions with apple had me end up resetting all settings, which seemed to do something...brought in a couple more notes, but still it's a mess with nearly all the index missing and the notes unsearchable. The notes ARE there. They just can't be searched, and this is my most important app. All indexes and searches are complete and work fine on my Mac and my iPad. Has anyone else had this issue? What did you do to fix it? Is there a fix? Anyone?

Posted on Sep 27, 2026 5:48 PM

1 reply

sgmerley

Level 1 (37 points)

Nov 6, 2026 1:43 PM in response to IdeaManFL

I had exactly the same problem and ChatGPT came up with the answer, at least for me. I deleted the notes app entirely, restarted the phone, and then reinstalled the app. Following that, the notes resynced and they showed up both in search and spotlight where there were supposed to be. The crazy thing is that I noticed the same thing on my three-year-old iPhone 15, but I’m not sure when the problem started.

Hope that helps.