Using Spotlight Search with Magic Keyboard

By Jasmine Matthews, 21 December, 2023

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

Hey everyone,

I just started noticing that every time I use spotlight search to look for apps, I always have this line of text at the top of my screen that voiceover seems to ignore. People within my family always tells me that it’s there, but I don’t know how to remove it other than to power down my phone. The line of text usually consists of “FNFNFN” or “~~~.” Anybody experiencing the same? Is this a bug?

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Comments

By Bruce Harrell on Saturday, December 16, 2023 - 16:42

If it's not causing problems, it's not a bug.

By Jasmine Matthews on Saturday, December 16, 2023 - 16:42

But why does it remain on the screen? There is no way of getting it off the screen if I’m trying to have somebody sided help me with anything. It functions as if it’s not there, but it blocks people from accessing certain buttons or parts of the screen. I think this is a bug of some sort. Maybe it’s not a bug that necessarily affects the voice over user, but it is a bug nonetheless.

By Bruce Harrell on Saturday, December 16, 2023 - 16:42

I hadn't understood that it was causing problems for the sighted. :You can access those hidden buttons, though?

Sorry I don't have an answer for you. I suggest calling Apple technical supporrt to see what they say.

By Brian on Saturday, December 16, 2023 - 16:42

How do you access Spotlight Search? In other words, what exactly do you press on your keyboard?

Example, on my MBP, I press Command+Space.

I am old school like that. 👴🏼

By Bruce Harrell on Saturday, December 23, 2023 - 16:42

press and hold option spacebar

By Brian on Saturday, December 23, 2023 - 16:42

Assuming this is for iOS/iPadOS, can a shortcut be made, a very simple one, that just opens Spotlight (with or without the Magic Keyboard of Doom)? I'm thinking that maybe a work-around for this issue would be to have the Magic KB just activate the shortcut, in turn activating Spotlight.

I hope that makes some kinda sense. I may or may not be a little caffeinated here. ☕️

By Bruce Harrell on Saturday, December 23, 2023 - 16:42

Brian, you might want to look through accessibility>voiceover>commands for a spotlight touch gesture. Or, I imagine one could simply say, "siri, open spotlight", or you could say, "siri, spotlight search for X."

By Brian on Saturday, December 23, 2023 - 16:42

There already is one. I did not think before I posted last. Because, I'm silly like that.

If you go to the 'Commands' page within the VO settings, then 'All Commands', then 'System', you will find 'Spotlight'.

Double tap on that, then choose 'Add' under the Keyboard section, and voila.

Will this fix the issue? Maybe, but alas, I do not have a Magic KB of Doomsauce to test this out.

Still, I do think it is 'worth' checking out.

Luck~ 🫡