Removing Spotlight Search From iPhone Home Screen

The newly introduced Spotlight search at the bottom is useless because you can easily activate the Spotlight search and begin typing immediately on any screen by simply swiping downwards. No need for a dedicated button.

  1. Go to your home screen by swiping up on the screen.
  2. Swipe left until you see App Library opening up. Tap on Settings to open it.
  3. On the Settings page, scroll down to the Home Screen option and tap on it to open the home screen settings.
  4. Once the home screen settings open, you will see Show on Home Screen toggle under the Search section. Turn that toggle off and that’s it. Now when you go to your home screen, you won’t find the search button in the page indicator at the bottom of the iPhone’s home screen. The Spotlight button should be gone.
  5. How to open Spotlight search now? Just like the previous versions of iOS, just swipe down on the home screen of your iPhone and it will open the Spotlight search as before. You can directly begin typing.
  6. Can I completely turn off this Spotlight search? No. As of now, you can’t disable the Spotlight search feature.
  7. Can I turn this back on anytime? Yes. You can do so by navigating to the home screen settings by following the steps mentioned above and turning the toggle back on.
  8. Why was this added to the home screen? A lot of our readers have been asking the same question. Apple says that it will make the search experience easier than before. They think that earlier, it was not obvious to new users who are using an iPhone for the first time.

Search Is in the Spotlight

Spotlight is a useful search feature that most iOS users use on a daily basis. But the embed of Spotlight search in the home screen page indicator has turned out to be a 50-50 good and bad decision. Because there are some people who don’t like this at all, and then there are some people who are embracing this change showing no resistance. So, whether you are on the left side of the spectrum or the right, you can easily enable/disable this setting. I hope this helped you to get rid of the search shortcut from the home screen of your iPhone. Since we’re discussing iOS 16, you might wanna learn more about how to set different wallpaper on the lock and home screen on iOS 16.