Local vs global search



There are essentially two kinds of search in Android:
  • local search and
  • global search
Local search enables users to search content of the currently visible app. Local

search is appropriate for nearly every type of app. A recipe app could offer users to

search for words in the title of the recipes or within the list of ingredients. Local

search is strictly limited to the app offering it and it’s results are not visible outside

of the app.

Global search on the other hand makes the content also accessible from within the

Quick Search Box on the home screen. Android uses multiple data source for

global search and your app can be one of it. In the next screen taken on a tablet you

can see the results of a Google search on the left and some results from apps or for

app titles on the right.


Quick Links




The user experience for local and global search is a bit different since global search

uses multiple data sources. By default it provides search results from Google,

searches for installed apps or contacts on the device and it also might include

results from apps that enable global search. The following screenshot of a phone

shows all content that is included in the list of search results.



For an app to be included in this list, the user must explicitly enable it. From the

perspective of the user doing the search this is a very useful restriction. That way

users can limit global search to include only what they really are interested in. For

app developers that tend to think that their content is the stuff any user is most

likely searching for, this of course is a big letdown


You should use global search only when your content is likely to be searched for

from the Quick Search Box. That might be true for a friend in facebook but not

necessarily for a recipe of a cooking app. I will cover configuring global search in

more detail in the second part of this tutorial series.

Check out: Updated Android App Development Topics


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