Top 8 Ways to Fix Messenger Search in Conversation Not Working on Android and iPhone

Pankil is a Civil Engineer turned freelance writer. Since his arrival at Guiding Tech in 2021, he delves into the world of how-tos, and troubleshooting guides for Android, iOS, and Windows. Besides his new-found love for mechanical keyboards, he’s a disciplined footfall fan and loves international travel with his wife.

As your Messenger conversations grow and the number of messages increases, it can be quite difficult to find specific messages during a conversation. Fortunately, Messenger lets you to search for messages within your chats. However, Messenger’s ‘search in conversation’ feature can sometimes doesn’t show any results and stops working on your Android or iPhone.

Luckily, you don’t need to scroll through your Messenger conversations to find specific messages. This guide packs solutions to restoremessages search in a Messenger chaton your Android or iPhone.

1. Close and Reopen the App

When an app like Messenger misbehaves, you may restart the app. This allows your Android or iPhone to terminate all the app-related processes and start them again, effectively resolving any temporary issues.

To close Messenger on Android, long-press on its app icon and tap the info icon from the resulting menu. Then, tap the Force stop option at the bottom-right corner.

To close Messenger on an iPhone, bring up the app switcher by swiping up from the bottom of the screen (or double-tapping the Home Screen button). Locate the Messenger card and swipe up on it to close the app.

2. Rule Out Issues With Your Internet

The Messenger app may have trouble searching your conversations if your internet connection isn’t working properly. You canrun a quick internet speed test on your phoneto see if there is a problem with your network connection.

If the internet seems to be working, continue with the fixes below.

3. Search Your Secret Conversations

Facebook Messenger offers a secret conversation featurethat provides end-to-end encryption for your chats. Since Messenger stores these secret conversations separately, they do not appear in the search results when you use the search function in regular conversations.

You will need to locate the secret conversation with the recipient and use the following steps to search for your messages in the conversation.

Step 1:In the Messenger app, open the secret conversation where you want to search for messages. Then, tap the ‘i’ icon in the top right corner.

Step 2:Tap the ‘Search in conversation’ option.

Step 3:Type the keyword in the text box to find the message.

4. The Message May Have Been Deleted

It’s possible that you or another member of the chat has deleted the message you are looking for. If Messenger cannot find a select few messages, there may be nothing wrong with the app. Since retrievingdeleted messages in the Messenger appis impossible, you won’t be able to find them.

5. Sign Out and Sign Back In

Sometimes, issues with your account can cause Messenger’s ‘search in conversation’ feature to stop working on your Android or iPhone. You can try removing your account from the app and adding it back to see if that helps.

Step 1:Open the Messenger app on your phone. Tap the menu icon at the top-right corner and then tap the gear icon to visit the Settings menu.

Step 2:Tap the ‘See more in Account Centre’ option.

Step 3:Under Account settings section, select the Password and security option. Then, select ‘Where you’re logged in’ from the following menu.

Step 4:Tap on ‘Select devices to log out.’ Then, select your device from the list and tap the Log Out button at the bottom. You can repeat the same for other devices, especially older ones that you no longer use.

Sign back into the Messenger app and check if you can search for messages.

6. Check if Messenger Is Down

There’s a chance that Facebook Messenger’s servers are having a rough day. If that’s the case, certain features like ‘search in conversation’ may not work in the Messenger app. You can visit a website like Downdetector to check if Messenger is down for others too.

Visit Downdetector

If others are reporting issues with Messenger, wait for Meta to fix the issue on its end before trying again.

7. Clear App Cache (Android)

Messenger saves temporary files locally on your Android. While this data is intended to be helpful, it can end up interfering with the app if it becomes corrupted. You clear the Messenger app cache on your Android to see if that restores normalcy.

Step 1:Long-press on the Messenger app icon and tap the info icon from the resulting menu.

Step 2:Go to Storage and tap the Clear cache option at the bottom.

8. Update the App

Using an outdated version of the Messenger app can also lead to such issues. So, if the above tips prove ineffective, head over to the Play Store (Android) or App Store (iPhone) to update the Messenger app and check if the ‘search in conversation’ feature works after that.

Messenger for Android

Messenger for iPhone

From Lost to Found

Messenger’s in-app search feature can be incredibly useful when locating important messages buried in long conversations. Hopefully, one of our tips has proven useful, and Messenger’s ‘search in conversation’ feature is working as before.

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Last updated on 28 July, 2023

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