\n<\/p>\n
I opened the App Store today to find an emulator I\u2019d read about, and a new prompt appeared under the search bar inviting me to \u201csearch the way you talk.\u201d I hadn\u2019t seen the prompt before on my iPhone 13 Pro Max, and quite frankly, I had missed the iOS 18.1 update note about it<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n As it describes, Apple’s update in October<\/a> added, \u201cApp Store search lets you use natural language to find what you\u2019re looking for more easily.\u201d It\u2019s also not the only place Apple is adding natural language search with iOS 18, in addition to Photos, Music, and Apple TV.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While some others had seen a splash screen<\/a> in October, I\u2019d only spotted the same simple search prompts as before. When I asked around at The Verge<\/em>, several others hadn\u2019t seen it before, although closing the app and relaunching it caused the message to appear in at least one case, and a few<\/a> social media posts have popped up<\/a> from other people noticing it for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The prompt in the hint bubble suggested trying something like \u201cApps that help me work out,\u201d so of course, I gave it a try.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Screenshot: iOS App Store<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n How well does it work? When I searched \u201cemulators that feature multiple consoles,\u201d the top result was the multi-console Delta app. Cool. \u201cApps that only emulate single consoles\u201d gave me the PS Remote Play, PlayStation, and Xbox apps \u2014 less good, but it did follow those with Gamma, a PS1 emulator app. And when I asked for \u201cVideo games that can help me work out,\u201d well…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Overall, it seems like an improvement to me. Twerk Race 3D is not an app that would help me work out, but it does seem like the search engine worked in spirit. I never felt like the App Store\u2019s search was helpful for anything besides finding an app I already knew the name of. Plus, searching with the usual one-or-two-word terms might not give me the same variety as switching up how I phrase a natural language prompt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n