November 17, 2010

You Can't Search for Android from an Android Phone

This is a really strange bug. If you use Google to search for [android], [android market] or [android phone] from an Android phone, you won't get any result. Google only shows ads related to your query and a standard message: "Your search did not match any documents".


It's not clear if this is an Android bug or a Google search bug, but it's certainly not an Easter egg. If you don't have an Android phone, try this page to use the Android-optimized interface.

Update: it seems that the same bug affects Google's iPhone interface and there are many other queries that don't return any result. "When signed into the mobile site, I see some search results, but not for all queries. I'm on a Nexus One. In the classic interface, everything works fine," says a Google user. "I'm having the same issue on an iPhone 4. No results for super common terms, but images and location searches are unaffected," confirms another user.

Update 2 (one day later): The issue was fixed.

{ Thanks, Andrew. }
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30 comments:

  1. Tor H UelandNovember 17, 2010 at 6:22 AM

    Em, no?

    Searches for Android/Android phone works without trouble on my Android device.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SNovember 17, 2010 at 6:22 AM

    Google Nexus One user in India. I can confirm it is the same here!

    ReplyDelete
  3. BiskoNovember 17, 2010 at 6:24 AM

    Works quite fine for me. May be it's something with you :) (Android, AOSP 2.2)

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownNovember 17, 2010 at 6:33 AM

    No problem searching for android in Norway. (Galaxy S w/Froyo)

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownNovember 17, 2010 at 6:35 AM

    The link in the article also show results just fine...

    ReplyDelete
  6. yelvingtonNovember 17, 2010 at 6:37 AM

    The cited link also does not work for "augusta" and "augusta chronicle" but does work for "amarillo."

    Earlier today, on an iPhone, I searched for "augusta chronicle" and came up with zero documents.

    Yes, Google has a bug.

    ReplyDelete
  7. LukaNovember 17, 2010 at 6:39 AM

    Try looking for "wireframe" in google docs template list does not work either...

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousNovember 17, 2010 at 6:48 AM

    Works just fine for me. HTC Incredible. Froyo.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mike PagsNovember 17, 2010 at 6:57 AM

    Damn if I can't remember what I was searching for, but I ran into this the other day. Entering a term in the Google homepage returned no results, but entering the same term into an Images search showed results as expected...

    ReplyDelete
  10. FrancisNovember 17, 2010 at 6:59 AM

    At first I thought it was just me. I've been having the same issue for a couple days. I noticed it when I searched for the terms "android programming blog" and Google displayed no results. If I repeat the search on my friend's Vibrant he gets tons of results. I have a Nexus One.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Randal BurgessNovember 17, 2010 at 7:00 AM

    I did a search for "Google Voice" on an iPhone 4 Safari Mobile Browser and got the same no-results error.

    ReplyDelete
  12. thinkj.comNovember 17, 2010 at 7:13 AM

    it is working fine on my android phone

    ReplyDelete
  13. Peter M.November 17, 2010 at 7:22 AM

    I've heard that if you search for "Google" on Google you could break the Internet.

    ReplyDelete
  14. PespaNovember 17, 2010 at 7:24 AM

    Searching "android" worked on my Samsung Galaxy 5.

    ReplyDelete
  15. vitorgattiNovember 17, 2010 at 7:44 AM

    Working fine here.
    HTC G1 with CyanogenMod 6.1 Nightly (Android 2.2.1)

    @Brazil

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousNovember 17, 2010 at 7:48 AM

    @Peter M. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousNovember 17, 2010 at 7:54 AM

    All ok from lg gt540 1.6 Italy

    ReplyDelete
  18. Ilkut TerziogluNovember 17, 2010 at 7:54 AM

    Just searched for 'Android' at HTC Desire Froyo2.2, very healthy results : )

    ReplyDelete
  19. Sergii KaukNovember 17, 2010 at 7:55 AM

    Search works on localized Google page but doesn't work on English page.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Michael SullivanNovember 17, 2010 at 8:01 AM

    On my Verizon HTC Incredible, searching for android through either the Google search app or the Google web interface gives 211 million results.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Jannik LindquistNovember 17, 2010 at 8:17 AM

    They must be holding it wrong. Everything works fine here on a Samsung Galaxy S with Froyo

    ReplyDelete
  22. AnonymousNovember 17, 2010 at 9:02 AM

    OMG! It IS true you can break the internet. http://bit.ly/d1k5Or

    ReplyDelete
  23. AnonymousNovember 17, 2010 at 9:18 AM

    Definitely not an Android problem. It seems like the problem appears only if you have the parameter "hl=en" on the url. That's why it works fine for people outside the US.

    ReplyDelete
  24. BrianNovember 17, 2010 at 10:13 AM

    Works on my EVO.

    ReplyDelete
  25. AnonymousNovember 17, 2010 at 10:45 AM

    Works fine on my Galaxy S

    ReplyDelete
  26. dogmatic69November 17, 2010 at 12:33 PM

    works on my hero 1.5 even auto suggest works ("an" brings up different android suggestions)

    ReplyDelete
  27. MAD I MOODYNovember 17, 2010 at 12:59 PM

    working fine... G1 on Froyo CM6... this is the page:
    http://www.google.com/m?&client=ms-android-google&source=android-home

    notice the difference..

    ReplyDelete
  28. Jeffry R. JohnstonNovember 17, 2010 at 4:22 PM

    Can see Android results on G2

    ReplyDelete
  29. albertNovember 17, 2010 at 5:57 PM

    Search shows results for me; HTC Desire, stock unrooted Android 2.2.

    ReplyDelete
  30. UnknownNovember 20, 2010 at 10:17 PM

    You speak lies!

    [MyTouch 3g w/ cyan 2.2 on T-Mobile US]

    ReplyDelete

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