How to search Settings on iPhone or iPad in iOS 9

BY Osas Obaizamomwan

Published 7 Oct 2015

The Settings app is highly used, and frequently searched through. When searching for Accessibility or another settings item, you’d have to know where to look in order to find it. With iOS 9, you can forget scrolling endlessly in your Settings to find a specific item. You can now search Settings to find exactly what you’re looking for. 

How to Search Settings on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch

You will need iOS 9 or later to have the option to search Settings. Open up the Settings app and pull down to reveal the top of the app. Above everything listed below is the Search bar.

Search - Settings

Type the setting that you want to find in the search bar. The results will automatically populate in real-time.

Settings - Search results

Notice, that you’ll also see the path for each setting option. This makes it a lot easier to memorize how to find the setting without having to search for it.

Settings - Path

Adding the Search feature makes it so much easier to find exactly what you are looking for in seconds. Having a search doesn’t remove all doubt from the equation. You will need to at least have an idea of what you are looking for in order to find it. It is search, but it’s not Google, and it will need very specific keywords to find what you need.

But it is great for someone who is new to the iOS platform. They won’t need to waste time figuring out how to change the ringtone. Just type “ring” and a link to the right menu appears in the search results to change the ringtone.

With more and more features constantly being added to iOS 9, Search for Settings will allow folks to find their options with a lot less hassle.

I have one minor irritation with the feature. When you launch the Settings app, it doesn’t open with the search bar at the top, you have to scroll up to access it. I’m not sure if it is a bug, or Apple has done it intentionally.

Let us know what you think about iOS 9’s Search for Settings in the comment section.