How to Turn Off Spotlight Search on iPhone 16 (And Stop It From Draining Battery)

Spotlight Search is supposed to help you find things on your iPhone faster, but half the time it just gets in the way. I used to accidentally open it all the time when I was swiping down on my home screen, and I noticed it was draining my battery too. If you're tired of Spotlight Search, here's how to turn it off completely on iPhone 16.

How to Turn Off Spotlight Search Completely

Apple hid this setting pretty well, but once you find it, it's easy to turn off.

Open Settings > Siri & Search
Scroll down to the "Search" section
Toggle off "Show on Home Screen"
Toggle off "Show in Look Up"
Toggle off "Show When Sharing"

That's it! Now you won't accidentally open Spotlight Search when you swipe down on your home screen.

Turn Off Spotlight Search for Specific Apps

If you still want to use Spotlight Search but don't want it to show results from certain apps, you can turn it off for individual apps.

Open Settings > Siri & Search
Scroll down to see a list of all your apps
Tap on an app
Toggle off "Show App in Search"

I turned off Spotlight Search for social media apps and games. I never search for those anyway, and it makes search results much cleaner.

Why I Turned Off Spotlight Search

I turned off Spotlight Search for two main reasons: 1. I kept accidentally opening it when I was trying to open Control Center 2. It was draining my battery in the background

Pro Tip

If you ever need to use Spotlight Search again, you can just turn it back on using the same steps. It only takes a few seconds.

Related Tech Tips

Now you can swipe down on your home screen without accidentally opening Spotlight Search! For more easy tech tips, check out our Tech Tips section or return to home.