Level 1 (4 points)

How do I fix the inability to search old texts on iPhone 16 Pro Max?

My I phone 16 Pro Max, suddenly stopped searching my texts. I have done everything online that is suggested to get it to start searching. It seems to be searching anything that I have texted since this problem, but nothing old. All of the texts are still there, it is just not searching them anymore. I use this function often so it is a little frustrating. Any ideas? I have gone into Messages and turned I-message on and off, rebooted several times, and gone into Search and toggled the settings there on and off. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: LOST THE ABILITY TO SEARCH WITHIN MESSAGES

Posted on Oct 28, 2026 10:19 AM

2 replies

Mac Jim ID

Level 10 (105,996 points)

Oct 28, 2026 10:26 AM in response to david.englewood

Update to iOS 27.2, I can confirm that searching in messages works just fine on my device. The oldest conversation I have goes back 3 years and typing a search term from that message will bring it up.

Sorry, I no longer have a device running iOS 26, so can't replicate the issue on any iOS 26 version. If you recently updated any iOS version, there may still be background indexing being performed for Siri and Search.

david.englewood Author

Level 1 (4 points)

Oct 28, 2026 1:43 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

Nope, just updated it to 27.2. Still not searching the messages.

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256384616