Apple App Store search down, leaving people unable to find apps for iPhone and iPad

Apple is understood to be aware of the problem and is working on a fix

The Apple logo seen through a fence in San Francisco, California (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Apple's App Store search appears to be entirely broken, leaving people unable to find apps.

Searching for anything on the store usually shows an empty box where the search results should be. Occasionally, apparently arbitrary and unofficial apps show up – searching for "Tidal" brings up one result, a brightly colour game, for instance.

Apple is understood to be aware of the problem and is working on fixing it. But its official status page says that the App Store along with all other services are working well.

Though the search engine appears not to be functioning, the rest of the App Store works. That means that users can still download updates for their apps and find them through the Featured and charts tabs, for instance.

The App Store's search has received significant criticism in recent months, with complaints about the fact that it seems not to separate out unofficial apps and that they can often be hard to find. The company has been said to be working on those problems as part of a push towards services that might also include ads and promoted results within the search feature.

Update: Apple has since said that the search tool has been restored.