The iOS search engine spotlight has evolved since its inception, regularly enriched with new possibilities beyond simple research. One of the most common uses is to write the name of an application to quickly launch it rather than having to navigate through the many pages of icons. But this engine can be used in many other situations, as some of you probably already know. But maybe you don’t know all the capabilities of the feature?
Let’s find out together 9 Functions That Better Leverage Spotlight Search in everyday life.
Table of Contents
Where is iOS Spotlight search?
To quickly access Spotlight, it’s very simple: from any page of the home screen, just drag the screen from top to bottom. Spotlight search can also be accessed by going to the view Today at the very top, view that is to the left of theHomepage.
Check the weather
It is possible to quickly check the weather by entering “weather tomorrow paris“, or “berlin weather Wednesday”.
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A press on the weather then opens the corresponding application and even offers to add the requested city to the favourites. Even more practical than looking for it in the app to add it manually.
Learn more about a personality
Spotlight makes it easy to consult the Wikipedia file of a personality, by typing the name of this personality in its search engine. Pressing on the result displays a detailed file of the person in question.
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Locate a nearby business or business
For example, to quickly find the locations of the nearest gas stations, just type “gas station“. It works for other types of services, like shops, pharmacies, bakeries. Opening the result launches the Maps application with a route already drawn to the link of interest.
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View the latest sports scores
For quick access to the latest sports results of his favorite team, just type the name of the team followed by the term “score”. For example “psg score” to display the results of the last meeting of PSG. Again, tapping on these results displays additional details about the match in question.
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Convert units
This is one of Spotlight’s most useful features: unit conversion. By entering for example “$15” Where “$15“, Spotlight automatically converts the amount into euros. The conversion works for many other currencies, but also for units of measure. Try “25 feet” Where “35 gallons to liter“, for example !
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Launch an app
We mentioned it in the introduction, the search allows you to quickly launch any app installed on your iOS device. Just enter the name or the first letters of the name of the target app. Personally, this is my favorite way to launch an application on my iPhone.
Bonus to know: when a single application corresponding to the request is stored in a folder, the name of the latter is indicated to the right of the name of the app. Convenient to find where the app is stored!
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Launch a shortcut
Another practical function for those who regularly use shortcuts: it is possible to find and launch a shortcut by entering its name in Spotlight. To learn more about Shortcuts, see our complete file here.
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Definition of a word
Write a word whose meaning you don’t know, followed or preceded by “dictionary” or “definition. Spotlight should then indicate the definition of this word. By pressing the latter, a more complete dictionary page appears.
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Spotlight is also a calculator
No need to take out the calculator to perform simple additions, subtractions or multiplications. Just write the calculation in the search field. And without even validating the entry, the answer is displayed below. Note that by touching the result, on iPhone, the Calculator application opens with the calculation in progress and its result. Useful if you want to go further in the calculations precisely.
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How often do you use Spotlight? If so, for what use(s)?
