14 DAY TRIAL // Some of you may have been shocked the moment you switched to Windows Phone from another platform like iOS or Android by the fact that Microsoft’s mobile operating system does not offer the option to search within text messages.
This is particularly annoying for those who store all of their text messages and need to find some at times. There have been lots of reports that Windows Phone handsets were freezing when accessing a huge database of text messages, so one would need to delete some of these in order to be able to manually search for a specific text message.
Windows Phone 8 still doesn’t offer users the option to search through text messages, but the next version of the operating system will.
According to Reddit user Bucit, a Windows Phone developer, Windows Phone 8.1 SDK has the search through text messages feature built into it, and he also provided a screenshot as proof.
“As you can see, as you type, it starts to show texts that contain what you're typing. Nice. But could be a bit better. Perhaps they should have added a Search in each text message thread.
Say you text a lot of people but only want to search texts youve had with a particular person. They should've added a Search option in each thread, which I see no option for,” says Bucit.
In order to search for a text message, users will have a dedicated Search button in the root of the messaging hub, which means that it will automatically search every thread stored within the phone.
Sadly, there is no search feature for each messaging thread, so you will have to search the entire hub each time you are looking for a particular text message.
The good news is that Cortana, Windows Phone 8.1’s digital voice assistant, can be used to find anything within the phone or the Internet. Apparently, Cortana can also find emails from specific people, but finding specific texts and searching within texts is a bit trickier.
“I tried this out just now. All I can do at the moment is typing search, however, there is a Phone section now. I created some test messages. Emails and texts containing the word I search for will show up. So I think it may do close to what you're asking if not completely,” added Bucit.
In other news, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore has confirmed that the Music application included in Windows Phone 8.1, previously known as Xbox Music, has been much improved and updatable via Windows Phone Store.
@wiiggin yep. The Music (aka Xbox music) app built into 8.1 is much improved. And store-updateable.
— joebelfiore (@joebelfiore) April 7, 2014 Unfortunately, no additional details have been provided on the enhancements included in the Music app, but we can safely assume that more info will emerge in the coming weeks.