Welcome to the Media Search Party Spotlight in iOS 9

You have always been able to search your movies, books, albums and games inside Pocketpedia with the integrated search field at the top of the collection view. Now you can also initiate searches directly from the Spotlight search in your dashboard thanks to third-party Spotlight integration in iOS 9.

The Spotlight search will not only list all the matches across multiple apps but also across multiple media inside Pocketpedia. Spotlight even knows the last item you were viewing in Pocketpedia, giving it more relevance in the search results.

Robert Redford

Apple wants to limit the amount of data that it is forced to index so only the main fields are listed with Spotlight. When you need a deep search (for example searching the awards field) you will have to perform that search in Pocketpedia’s regular search bar directly.

Peter iPhone Search

Peter iPhone Search

Searching directly in Spotlight will list a number of results from different sources and three results from an installed app. There is a small “Show more” button that will expand the Pocketpedia results to include all the matches in your media.

Clicking on the results will take you straight into Pocketpedia’s details view. Linking inside Pocketpedia has also been improved so that you can now easily get back to Pocketpedia after opening a link, using the button at the top left of your screen. Moving between apps now feels natural. (Unfortunately links have also become a bit more limited.)

Peter iPhone Search

Peter iPhone Search

Siri does not yet integrate with the third party index so you can’t ask your phone, “Search for The Princess Bride in Pocketpedia” or even more convenient “Do I have The Princess Bride in Pocketpedia?”. Looking forward to this improvement in iOS 10. It would cement iOS as your one and only private assistant.

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5 Responses to “Welcome to the Media Search Party Spotlight in iOS 9”

  1. Stephen Says:

    Love the Spotlight search going into your app – great stuff!

  2. Paul Says:

    I can’t get pocketpedia results in a spotlight search after the upgrade. Any ideas?

  3. Nora Says:

    Do try a sync with the Pedias, as post sync Pocketpedia will check that the Spotlight index is updated and index it if necessary.

  4. Waldbaer Says:

    I had the same problem as Paul. Thanks Nora, syncing really helped.

  5. Paul Says:

    Thank you Nora. That worked.