Messages not being indexed by Spotlight in iOS 10.1

[Mad Spoons]

Anyone have any tips for forcing a full index of the Messages archive? I've tried a full restore and am left with the same problem: Messages index in Spotlight starts from zero, then only adds/indexes new messages I send and receive. Anything from before the restore is left unsearchable.

Is this a common problem?

 

[Ledsteplin]

I never use that for searching messages. What do you have your iMessage set to keep in Settings > Messages > Keep messages? If it's set on 30 days, then it may not go back past 30 days.

 

[Mad Spoons]

I never use that for searching messages. What do you have your iMessage set to keep in Settings > Messages > Keep messages? If it's set on 30 days, then it may not go back past 30 days.

It's set to "forever." Older messages just aren't indexed. If I do another restore, it starts again from zero. With only newly sent/received texts being indexed. This goes for Spotlight or for the search bar at the top of the messages screen.

 

[Ledsteplin]

It's set to "forever." Older messages just aren't indexed. If I do another restore, it starts again from zero. With only newly sent/received texts being indexed. This goes for Spotlight or for the search bar at the top of the messages screen.

OK. i guess I never had occasion to search an old message. So I don't really know how that's supposed to work. I'm not sure what you mean by "indexed". Since it goes back to zero with a restore, I would think updating the OS or setting up a new phone may have done the same.

 

[Mad Spoons]

OK. i guess I never had occasion to search an old message. So I don't really know how that's supposed to work. I'm not sure what you mean by "indexed". Since it goes back to zero with a restore, I would think updating the OS or setting up a new phone may have done the same.

iPhone creates a searchable index of most of the content on your phone. For me, the ability to quickly search through emails and messages is a key part of my workflow, and one of my favorite things about iOS. I'd say that 90% of my work communication happens via Messages.

I'm not sure what you mean by "going back to zero." When I do a restore, all of my messages get restored along with the rest of the content of my phone. Normal behavior for the iPhone is that it created a searchable index of many things on the phone, including messages. But it's suddenly not doing that. At least, not when it comes to messages.

 

[Ledsteplin]

iPhone creates a searchable index of most of the content on your phone. For me, the ability to quickly search through emails and messages is a key part of my workflow, and one of my favorite things about iOS. I'd say that 90% of my work communication happens via Messages.

I'm not sure what you mean by "going back to zero." When I do a restore, all of my messages get restored along with the rest of the content of my phone. Normal behavior for the iPhone is that it created a searchable index of many things on the phone, including messages. But it's suddenly not doing that. At least, not when it comes to messages.

You mentioned starting again from zero. That's what I referred to.

 

[Mad Spoons]

You mentioned starting again from zero. That's what I referred to.

Ah. Of course. My bad.