Using Search in Apple Music, you can quickly find music from your favorite categories, view your recent search history, and search Apple Music, your library, or the iTunes Store.
However, many people often find the Apple Music Search not working. If you’re dealing with the same issue, try these troubleshooting tips, which would work on iOS and Mac.
You need to choose where to search (Mac)
When using the Search function on Apple Music on Mac, you’ll need to choose the location of the search between Apple Music, Your Library, or the iTunes Store.
You may need to select “Apple Music” as the choice on where to search when you enter the search criteria. The options on where to search will be located in the top-right corner.
For example, if you have Your Library selected and you search for a song, Apple Music will make the search in your library, not from the Apple Music catalog.
The options are designed so you can filter them to find the music you’re looking for quickly, especially when you have a large number of songs, albums, or playlists in your music library.
The simplest misspelling can yield zero results
I actually don’t mind the Search function, although I sometimes forget to choose where to search and I can’t find a new song. In fact, that part of the search is fine the way it is.
However, the actual Search function in which if I have one letter wrong, it doesn’t know AT ALL what I’m looking for instead of predictive search, is more of an issue.
Apple’s search function across all areas is pretty poor in my opinion. The simplest misspelling can yield zero results, and you’d have to type something perfectly to yield results.
I wouldn’t go as far as saying the Apple Music Search is garbage, but many times I type in the name of a song and it doesn’t find it (I have to put the artist’s name as well). So annoying.
What’s weird is if you’re searching your library there’s a filter that lets you search by artist, title, composer, etc., but that filter doesn’t exist if you search on the Apple Music catalog.
And vice versa, you can’t search for lyrics within your library. So, if you feel like the Apple Music Search function is not working, know that one wrong alphabet can cause the issue.
Check your internet connection and Apple’s servers
If Apple Music fails to display anything on the screen when you search for something, you should check the Wi-Fi network and the internet connection of your device.
Whether you’re using cellular data or a Wi-Fi network, make sure your device is connected to the internet and is working properly. Try connecting to a different network and try again.
If your network and internet are working properly, the next thing you should do is to check whether Apple’s servers are working or not by visiting the System Status page.
If one or more of Apple Music’s systems are offline, you won’t be able to use the service, and the Apple Music Search function will not load anything until the systems are online.
Remove every other language except for English (iOS)
This workaround is for you if you’re using an iOS device (iPhone or iPad). After dealing with the Apple Music Search function not working, I made many trials and errors.
What worked for me was removing all languages from my iPhone except English. I don’t know the reasoning behind this, but for some reason, it restored the Apple Music Search function.
Open the Settings app, and then navigate to General > Language & Region. Remove the other languages except for English and try the Apple Music Search function. It should work.
Make sure Apple Music has no restrictions
Whenever Apple Music Search is not working and not displaying content, chances are your device has set restrictions upon the Apple Music app. You’ll need to disable restrictions.
On an iOS device, open the Settings app. Navigate to Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions. Make sure the switch next to Content & Privacy Restrictions is turned off.
On a Mac computer, open System Settings and select Screen Time. Turn on Screen Time from the top. After that, click Content & Privacy. Now, click Store Restrictions.
You can set the restrictions on the next screen. Make sure the switch next to Allow Explicit Music, Podcasts, and News is turned on, and then click Done.
On an older version of Mac, open Apple Music. Select Preferences (on the menu bar under Music) and select the Restrictions tab. Make sure Apple Music isn’t checked.
More specifically, you want to uncheck the box beside Music with explicit content (next to Restrict). Once you’re done with the settings, select OK to save your changes.
When Apple Music has restrictions in place, explicit songs and albums are blocked from the app. This means that the Search function won’t display the content it should.
Restart the Apple Music app
Often, when I search for a song title, the results only show “Top Results” which shows one version of the song, the artist page, and one album that a version of the song appears on.
I know it’s a bug because it happens to me all the time. The only solution I found is to restart Apple Music. After that, when I try to search again, the other results will appear.
As a last resort, if the Apple Music Search function is not working properly, just restart the app. Chances are, this simple action would restore the search functionality in a heartbeat.
Related articles: