Spotlight

Explore the world of Wikipedia in revamped iOS app with 3D Touch, Explore feed and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 10, 2016

Wikipedia, the world's encyclopedia and knowledge base, has never had an attractive mobile app. That changes today with a major refresh to its app in the App Store permitting users to explore Wikipedia content tailored to their interests via an all-new Explore feed.

Navigations has been greatly simplified with new touch-friendly ways to discover content, 3D Touch support, Spotlight Search integration and more.

The app was obviously designed with the theme of exploration in mind.

“We all know Wikipedia as a quick fact-checking resource, but the new app is designed to make exploring knowledge on Wikipedia a journey,” developers told me via email.

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Apple TV universal search expands to FOX NOW, FXNOW and Nat Geo TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 5, 2016

According to an Apple support document which was updated yesterday, the universal search feature on the fourth-generation Apple TV will now surface video content provided by FOX NOW, FXNOW and Nat Geo TV channels.

Users who install these apps on their set-top box can press the Siri Remote's microphone button and say things such as “Watch Life Below Zero” and land on the page that now includes that show by the National Geographic channel, in addition to other content sources.

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This tweak displays Siri suggestions in all iOS Spotlight interfaces

Anthony Bouchard ∙ February 5, 2016

Starting in iOS 9, Apple introduced Siri Suggestions in the updated Spotlight interface, which is accessed to the left of the first Home screen page.

Interestingly, despite the new Spotlight interface, Apple kept the original Spotlight interface that you can access by pulling down from the top of the screen, and as you might imagine, it doesn't have all the new bells and whistles the new Spotlight interface does.

A new jailbreak tweak called NearbyNews is now available in Cydia's BigBoss repository for $0.99 that will let you bring these features to the original Spotlight interface in iOS 9.

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AnySpot for iOS 9: Search Spotlight from anywhere on your jailbroken iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ November 27, 2015

Unless you happen to have a physical Bluetooth keyboard attached to your iPhone or iPad, you cannot invoke Spotlight on iOS 9 unless you happen to be on the Home screen. AnySpot for iOS 9 aims to change this.

AnySpot lets you assign an Activator gesture to Spotlight so that you can access the search interface from anywhere on your iPhone or iPad, even if you happen to be within an app. If you want Spotlight search to work closer to how it works on the Mac, allowing you to access it from anywhere, then you should consider using AnySpot.

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How to preview flight information and track flights on iPhone, iPad and Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 20, 2018

Owners of an iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Mac can quickly look up flight status information found in Notes, Messages, and Mail using a rich interface with flight trajectory, flight status, arrival times and other information.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to quickly preview the current status and other information pertaining to an airline and flight number, with or without leaving the context of what you're currently doing.

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SpotlightBeGone lets you disable both Spotlight views in iOS 9

Jeff Benjamin ∙ October 15, 2015

In iOS 9, Apple decided to allow users to be able to invoke Spotlight via two methods. The first method, the swipe down gesture on the Home screen, is the same invocation method employed in iOS 8. The second method, the swipe right on the first Home screen page, is a throwback gesture from older versions of iOS.

SpotlightBeGone is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to disable one, or both of the Spotlight gestures. If you're simply not a fan of Spotlight, or if you don't like a particular method for accessing it, then SpotlightBeGone is the tweak for you.

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Shazam update brings support for iOS 9’s enhanced Spotlight Search and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 21, 2015

Shazam, the popular music and media identification software, has rolled out a brand new 9.0 update to its iPhone and iPad application in the App Store, bringing out support for Spotlight Search on iOS 9, improved Bluetooth listening and other tidbits.

Shazam songs and artists can now be searched from the Home screen on iOS 9 and tapping a Shazam result takes you directly into that content within Shazam's mobile app.

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New in iOS 9: Spotlight can solve math problems

Jeff Benjamin ∙ September 19, 2015

One of my favorite things about Spotlight and Alfred on OS X, is that both allow me to quickly churn out quick answers to simple math problems. Prior to iOS 9, Spotlight on iOS was extremely limited, but thanks to some major effort on the part of Spotlight's engineering team, the search feature is starting slowly creep towards its feature-rich big brother on Mac.

One detail that's been flying under the radar is Spotlight's new ability to solve simple math problems directly from the Spotlight interface. It's like having a calculator app that's readily accessible with just a simple swipe from the Home screen.

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How to search within third-party apps using Spotlight on iOS 9

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

One of the biggest new features found in iOS 9 is the adoption of universal search. Universal search is a new feature that allows you to search for content within apps directly from Spotlight search.

On previous versions of iOS, searching was limited to the web and first party Apple apps pre-installed on iOS. For example, with older version of iOS you could search for contents within the Notes app, but couldn't do so for third-party note apps.

With iOS 9's new Spotlight search abilities, you can now search and discover content buried deep within the apps on your iPhone. It makes Spotlight feel truly useful and brand new.

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