Removing news headlines from Spotlight Search in iOS 9

Question

How can I turn off news headlines from Spotlight Search in iOS 9?

Turning off spotlight suggestions doesn't erase the news history. Is there a way to erase the news history so past articles dont come up when relevant words are entered into the search box? Thanks — , Mar 03 '16 at 18:48
@user173916 Maybe turn off NEWS under SPOTLIGHT SEARCH? I'm not sure why it didn't work for you. — Django Reinhardt, Mar 04 '16 at 14:36

score 30 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 21 '15 at 10:56

30

I think it's a matter of turning off "Spotlight Suggestions" in the General > Spotlight Search preference pane, but leaving "Siri Suggestions" on? It's buried in the list!

edited Sep 21 '15 at 10:56

user3439894

58,676

answered Sep 18 '15 at 09:28

Mark

301

@Mark Thanks Mark. Do you have a screenshot of this working? – Steve Moser Sep 18 '15 at 12:55
2

This turns off much more than just News in Spotlight. It disables all of the Spotlight suggestions when you search, like web articles and App Store hits. – AndrewL Sep 19 '15 at 03:04
@AndyGeek It doesn't disable web articles. I still see Bing results when I search, and at the bottom of the page is an option to search the App Store. – Django Reinhardt Sep 21 '15 at 09:01
1

Good catch. I had spotlight suggestions off too. I wonder why I have nearby and you don't. Did you disable that somewhere? – bmike Sep 21 '15 at 12:50
On my iOS 9.3.2 I only have one main setting in that pane: "Siri Suggestions" (plus individual app toggles). There's no option for "Spotlight Suggestions". And with "Siri Suggestions" off all you see is a search bar on the search screen. Am I missing another setting? Would really love to just turn news off (it picks up such trashy sources). – Simon East Jun 04 '16 at 09:58
@SimonEast "Spotlight Suggestions" is an option further down the list of apps. https://imgur.com/7s8iR9R – ckoerner Jun 14 '16 at 16:55
I have iOS 10.3.2, and I've visited General > Spotlight Search and disabled Suggestions in Look Up and disabled Search Results > News. But I still get news articles. It's annoying. To get rid of the news articles, I had to also disable Suggestions in Search. – Ryan Jun 21 '17 at 19:06

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 23 '15 at 12:50

6

In the US locale, things are pretty easy to customize. There is a toggle switch named News that controls that information source for spotlight.

Open the settings app, tap general, tap spotlight search, toggle news off (the list is sorted alphabetically so it's off screen initially)

Once you have that off, you should see a search screen like below (I've cropped the icons at the top and there is blank blue space below the bottom crop)

I'm not able to test other locales, but perhaps others can help edit or post their solution.

edited Sep 23 '15 at 12:50

user3439894

58,676

answered Sep 17 '15 at 17:43

bmike

235,889

3

That removes results when searching but Spotlight still shows News.app suggestions when first viewing that screen without searching. – Steve Moser Sep 17 '15 at 20:32
1

@SteveMoser What build are you running? Did you reboot to be sure the setting is set properly? Also, make sure you have a few GB of space on the device to get spotlight rebuilt after making a change. My spotlight search is quite responsive when I add or remove things from the mix though. Odd people are getting it wedged. – bmike Sep 17 '15 at 20:56
Lol you cropped the most important part! – Steve Moser Sep 17 '15 at 22:30
@SteveMoser Do you want the top or the bottom? Also - I'm tempted to leave this post - no votes - sheesh people expect a ton of work for no reward... – bmike Sep 17 '15 at 22:31
Please note that this news app (and the toggle switch for it) does only exist in the US iOS, there is no such thing for German iOS 9. – bitbonk Sep 17 '15 at 22:37
1

There is no news app in the UK version of iOS either. Thanks for the work, but it doesn't help me unfortunately. – Django Reinhardt Sep 17 '15 at 22:47
2

all - I was ribbing @SteveMoser about the votes :-) I'll make my answer clear about US locale. I don't need the votes and appreciate the comments - requests for more clarity. – bmike Sep 17 '15 at 22:51
2

@bmike Here, have a comment upvote. ;) – Steve Moser Sep 18 '15 at 00:32

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 04 '15 at 20:50

6

Go to Settings > General > Spotlight Search.

Turn off "Maps" to get rid of the "Nearby" section. Turning off "Spotlight Suggestions" removes the news articles.

answered Dec 04 '15 at 20:50

Mel

61

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 17 '15 at 21:53

2

It looks like it is an all or nothing affair. If you go to General > Spotlight search then toggle off Siri Suggestions it gets rid of suggested news but it also gets rid of suggested contacts and apps as well.

answered Sep 17 '15 at 21:53

Steve Moser

8,734

1

I have Siri Suggestions on on 4 separate iOS devices and none have news in any spotlight screen. There might be something else going on that we haven't figured out yet, but it's not an all or nothing thing for me. – bmike Sep 17 '15 at 22:07
1

@bmike That could be. I would very much like to know what's going on. – Steve Moser Sep 17 '15 at 22:34

score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Sep 20 '15 at 18:14

2

Go to General → Spotlight Search and disable Bing Web Results, News and Spotlight Suggestions, and voilà!

edited Sep 20 '15 at 18:14

grg

201,078

answered Sep 20 '15 at 15:25

Pia

31

That's right. No need to disable Siri suggestion altogether neither the US locale. – hectorpal Jan 28 '16 at 01:10

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 19 '16 at 15:41

2

As of iOS 10 you can now remove the News widget from the lock screen and notification center the same way you remove other widgets.

answered Sep 19 '16 at 15:41

Steve Moser

8,734

And what way would that be? I'm stumped and can't seem to figure it out for myself. – JVC Dec 07 '16 at 20:38
finally figured it out. You have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the notification center and click Edit, then you can remove/add widgets. – JVC Dec 07 '16 at 20:43

score -1 · Answer 7 · edited Apr 10 '16 at 11:08

-1

Ok mucking about with this it appears spotlight suggestions is the one, I've even re-enable News and the section at the bottom remains empty (UK Locale)

Agreed. Outcome the same for Australia locale.

edited Apr 10 '16 at 11:08

Community

1

answered Nov 29 '15 at 19:44

James Bolivar DiGriz

1

That's what the accepted answer on this page already says? – Django Reinhardt Nov 30 '15 at 09:46

score -1 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 28 '16 at 15:29

-1

go to General > Spotlight Search > Turnoff "Spotlight Suggestions" in search results

answered Jan 28 '16 at 15:29

sree

11

score -2 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 18 '15 at 12:34

-2

You have to toggle off "SPOTLIGHT suggestions" not "SIRI suggestions". Settings, General, Spotlight Search, scroll down until you see "Spotlight Suggestions" and then it off.

answered Sep 18 '15 at 12:34

user147364

1

There's already an accepted answer saying that...? – Django Reinhardt Sep 18 '15 at 12:49

score -2 · Answer 10 · answered Dec 22 '15 at 19:42

-2

Just turn off siri suggestions, it will block everything else.

answered Dec 22 '15 at 19:42

hohohoho

1

Welcome to Ask Different. We appreciate the information, but please post micro-answers into the comments once you have the reputation. Alternatively, please add more detail as we want the answer to be usable by other people and those with less technical knowledge. You can add for e.g. screenshots, navigation to the option, and similar – John K Dec 22 '15 at 23:36

Removing news headlines from Spotlight Search in iOS 9

10 Answers10

Linked