How to disable Siri Suggestions in Spotlight Search on iPhone and iPad

Do you find Siri suggestions for apps and people distracting, unnecessary, or unhelpful when you open Spotlight Search on your iPhone or iPad? This tutorial shows you how to stop Siri from showing such recommendations in Spotlight for a clean search screen.

Two iPhone Spotlight Search screens with and without Siri suggestions

Siri on iOS enables a more intelligent Spotlight Search. You get proactive suggestions that make your device more helpful even before you ask. So, when you swipe down on your iPhone Home Screen or tap the Search button above the Dock, you may find some app icons and recent searches already populating (or polluting) the search screen — even before you have typed a word.

These Siri-powered suggestions are for apps that you launch at specific times of the day, people you tend to contact at certain times, and more.

However, some people find this additional content distracting and useless. If you would like to use Spotlight Search without Siri Suggestions, this quick post will teach you how to disable the feature with just a few taps.

Turn off Siri Suggestions in Spotlight Search on iPhone and iPad

  1. Open the Settings app on your iOS or iPadOS device.
  2. Scroll down and tap Siri & Search.
  3. Swipe to the Before Searching heading and turn off Show Suggestions to stop Siri from displaying recommendations in Spotlight Search.
  4. Next, you can also turn off the switch for Show Recents to prevent recent searches from appearing on the Search screen.
Turn off Siri Suggestions in iPhone Spotlight Search

Note: On older versions of iOS, go to Settings > Siri & Search and turn off Suggestions while Searching under the Siri Suggestions heading.

After you follow the above steps, the suggestions for relevant people, apps, and other items will no longer appear in Spotlight Search, so you will get a clean search experience, as seen in the right screenshot of the first image of this post.

Additionally, you may see suggested news and nearby places such as restaurants, gas stations, retail stores, and more on the Search screen. If you don’t fancy them, we have a separate tutorial showing you how to disable Siri-suggested places in Spotlight on your iPhone.

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