iOS 16: Disable the Spotlight Search Shortcut on Your Home Screen

iOS 16 was announced earlier this month at WWDC’22 and revealed some major customization changes that will improve the key formula. With full lock screen customization, improvements to the main iOS experience in light of iMessage and FaceTime, and many other changes, iOS 16 will be yet another intriguing update for your iPhone.

But while it greatly enriches some features and warrants others, the iOS 16 beta also sneakily pulls us in by enabling a somewhat annoying and somewhat redundant Spotlight search button on top of the home screen indicator.

Why is it redundant? Because while Spotlight Search is accessible via a tap on the new button, Spotlight Search also remains accessible via a swipe down on your home screen. And when it comes to UX, a tap and a swipe are largely similar in ergonomics, so the newfangled feature is pretty redundant.

It seems that Apple wants its own alternative to the Google search bar that graces the home screen of just about every Android phone, but let’s face it, few will probably be happy with the change. Of course, iOS 16 is still in its proverbial infancy and manifesting itself as an early developer beta, so there’s a good chance Apple can get rid of it.

How to disable the new Spotlight Search in iOS 16?

Fortunately, there is a way to disable the new Spotlight Search shortcut on iOS 16. It’s turned on by default, but a quick trip to your iPhone’s settings menu will have you turning it off in no time.

Here’s how to do that.

Step 1.

Take a look at this, a Spotlight Search shortcut right on our home screen. We will now disable it.

Step 2

Go to Settings and then go to the Home screen menu. Turn off the Show Spotlight switch.

Step 3

Voila, we’re done. The Spotlight search button is no longer on your home screen. Don’t worry, you can still access Spotlight Search by swiping down on your home screen.