Improving Spotlight Search for Better Content Discovery
Apple is continuously working to enhance the user experience on its iOS devices, and one of the areas they are focusing on is the Spotlight Search feature. While Apple embraces AI in iOS 18, they also want to improve users’ ability to get answers in a more traditional way. With the latest update, Apple is making it easier for people to discover content inside their apps using natural language queries.
Spotlight Search has been a useful tool for iPhone users to discover things on their devices and on the web. However, until now, it would only return results when search terms matched exactly. With the addition of semantic search capabilities, users will now be able to search for content in apps using search terms that are similar in meaning.
To enable this feature, Apple introduced the Core Spotlight framework, which allows developers to donate content that they want to make searchable via Spotlight. This content is stored in a private index on users’ devices, inaccessible to other apps. The new semantic capabilities greatly improve Spotlight’s understanding of developers’ content, enabling users to search for content inside apps in their own way.
These semantic search queries leverage machine learning models downloaded to the device and run in the app’s process. This means that developers can load or unload these models at any time, ensuring optimal performance. Additionally, as users engage with search results from specific apps, developers can help improve the rankings of their app’s search results over time by sending signals to Spotlight.
For instance, let’s say someone is searching for a local hiking trail. With the semantic search capabilities, Spotlight can find results related to the user’s search query using understood entities like the trail’s location or specific keywords, even if they aren’t in the trail’s name or exact matches. Developers can also set higher priorities for certain content, such as marking a trail that a user has saved as a favorite, allowing it to rank higher in the search results.
The end result is a more seamless experience for users. They can search for a specific trail using natural language queries in Spotlight, find the trail they want more easily through improved results, and then tap on a result to be taken directly to the trail’s page in the developer’s hiking trails app. This update not only benefits users but also helps Siri better understand an app’s content.
Though this update may not be as flashy as AI-powered virtual assistants or advanced language models, it significantly improves the search experience for iPhone users who rely on Spotlight to find information within their apps. It also offers an alternative to web search, providing users with a more comprehensive and personalized search experience.
Apple’s continuous efforts to enhance Spotlight Search demonstrate their commitment to improving user satisfaction and making it easier for users to access the content they need. By incorporating semantic search capabilities, Apple is once again setting the bar higher for mobile search functionality, offering a more intuitive and efficient way to navigate through apps and find relevant information.