Spotlight

How to increase the availability of QuickType in iOS 8

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

iOS 8 ushered in a new QuickType predictive text feature that is bolted on to the top of the keyboard. The purpose of the QuickType feature is to help you type faster by predicting the words you might use next. I find that QuickType is usually a hate it or love it feature, but some people swear by it.

For those of you who can't live without QuickType, there's a brand new jailbreak tweak that may garner your interest. It's called SystemWidePredictiveText, and it enables the iOS 8 QuickType feature in places where it's not normally available.

Using OS X Yosemite’s revamped Spotlight Search

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Spotlight has been improved through and through to be more useful in OS X Yosemite. It has adopted an Alfred-inspired interface that makes working with Spotlight easier and more powerful.

Want to see some of the main differences in action? Have a look at our video walkthrough as we showcase some of the new things that Spotlight has to offer.

The best new features of iOS 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 25, 2023

Admittedly, the myriad of new and useful capabilities that Apple's just-released iOS 8 brings to your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are going to prove hugely popular with mainstream users, to say the least. With iOS 8, Apple is appeasing harsh critics who'd frequently point out that Android is capable of things iOS cannot do, and then some more.

iOS 8 opens up Apple's mobile operating system to third-party development to a much greater extent than ever before. And stemming from relaxed policies, iOS 8 boosts on-the-go productivity with deeper inter-app sharing while implementing some of the features our Android friends have grown accustomed to, but in a typical hassle-free Apple fashion, things like third-party keyboards, custom actions, photo editing extensions within the context of Photos and Camera apps and way more.

And though evolutionary rather than revolutionary, we have no doubt in our minds that iOS 8 is going to significantly improve the functionality of Apple's mobile platform, and perhaps even give some folks less reasons to jailbreak.

To celebrate today's release of the free iOS 8 software update, we proudly present you this detailed overview of more than two dozen iOS 8 features we think you're going to fall in love with at first sight.

SpotFile: navigate iOS filesystem in Spotlight search

Timothy Reavis ∙ Updated February 11, 2016

The same developer who made the script for switching between Mac partitions into a standalone application is back with a new jailbreak tweak called SpotFile. This tweak brings basic iFile functionality directly to Spotlight search, allowing users to navigate iOS's filesystem from the Home screen.

While it was built for granting quick access to the file directory in iOS, SpotFile's functionality can do quite a bit more than simply browse files and directories, and the developer says there are more features on the way...

The best of iOS 8: from new features to developer tools

Timothy Reavis ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

With the imminent introduction of the iPhone 6 will come the release of iOS 8, Apple's latest iteration in its mobile operating system. After spending the past several weeks with pre-release versions of the software, I can say that there are definitive grounds for anticipating its public availability. Whether you're planning on buying a new iPhone this fall or upgrading your current device to iOS 8, there are clear reasons to be excited about the features it has to offer.

Although it will be shipping with quite a few significant features – Apple claims this is their "biggest iOS release ever" – we've gone hands-on with the beta releases and picked our top ten favorite enhancements that will be available for qualifying devices this September. Here, in no sequential order, are the best of what makes iOS 8 great...

Smart Search spices up Spotlight search on iOS 7

Alihassan Mahdi ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Spotlight can be used to search for content (music, app, mail etc.) on your iPhone, iPad or iPod and it can be accessed by swiping down the Home screen. Personally, I've never found Spotlight search useful and I rarely use it except when I'm tempted to. However, iOS 8 takes the feature to a whole new level by allowing users to search for an iTunes song, App Store app, website, Wikipedia entry and much more directly from Spotlight.

Inspired by iOS 8 Spotlight search, Smart Search is a new jailbreak tweak that improves the functionality of Spotlight search on jailbroken iOS 7 devices by expanding its search capability. It gives users the ability to search for a keyword from the App Store, iTunes Store, Google, Wikipedia, YouTube and more. We decided to give Smart Search a try and it worked flawlessly as advertised.

Aslock: add new functionality to the Spotlight search swipe gesture

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Aslock is an interesting new jailbreak tweak that brings new functionality to the swipe-down gesture used to invoke Spotlight search. Along with being able to invoke Spotlight as you normally would, you can now access the App Switcher and lock your device using Spotlight swipe gestures.

It's the type of tweak that's a little difficult to explain in writing. With that in mind, we've created a video walkthrough so that you can see how the Aslock works in action.

Apple updates Spotlight to be much more intelligent in iOS 8

Jeff Benjamin ∙ June 2, 2014

Like its OS X brethren, Spotlight has been updated in iOS 8 to be more intelligent. As it stands now, Spotlight is pretty bland, dumb and can only search for apps and content stored directly on your device.

In iOS 8, Spotlight can provide live search suggestions for apps, Wikipedia entries, movies, songs from iTunes radio, news and more. It's a much more powerful way to perform smart searches on iOS.

iOS 7: the ultimate Spotlight search guide

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated March 28, 2023

Spotlight is the search tool that allows you to search for local files on your iOS device quickly and efficiently. Along with local file searches, Spotlight can search web contents via your device's default search engine or via Wikipedia.

The great thing about Spotlight is that it is built right into the stock iOS 7 Home screen, and it's accessible from any Home screen page.While the Spotlight search tool isn't as robust as Spotlight on the Mac, or as robust as what you'll find on competing platforms (there is no delimiting for local content), its ease of use makes it a fairly efficient tool for locating content quickly on the iPhone. Have a look at our full Spotlight how-to post after the break.

Search+ shows Spotlight search from anywhere

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 29, 2014

Search+ is a recently released jailbreak tweak that's available on the BigBoss repo. It allows you to invoke Spotlight search from anywhere on your iPhone by means of an Activator gesture.

With Search+, you can quickly search the contents of your device while at the Home screen, Lock screen, or while in an app. It's, by far, one of the easiest ways to search the contents your device. Check out our video review of Search+ after the break.

How to add custom text to Spotlight search

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 15, 2014

Every now and then we are blessed with big-named tweaks and apps like Auxo or ProWidgets or biteSMS. While having releases like those are nice, we realize that they're more the exception than the norm. Far more often, we find ourselves reviewing smaller tweaks like CustomSpotlightText—a new release that makes it possible to change the default text found in the text box after invoking Spotlight.

But that's okay, because these are the type of tweaks that sustain the community and keep it fresh until the next big release. These are the type of tweaks that make jailbroken devices so varied and diverse. With that in mind, step inside, as we walkthrough CustomSpotlightText on video.

How to locate app icons from Spotlight search

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Spotlight search is cool and all, but I've always found it a little frustrating that you can only launch applications from Spotlight and not open the location where the apps reside. I'm happy to report that this "oversight" has been solved with a new jailbreak tweak called Icon Finder.

Icon Finder is a brand new and free jailbreak tweak that allows you to use a simple tap and hold gesture on your Spotlight search results. The tap and hold gesture will quickly reveal the exact location of the app in question, which could be a folder, or another page on the Home screen.

Have a look at our full video walkthrough of Icon Finder inside to see how it works.