Here ‘s one that is sure to be added to all those ‘Reasons to Jailbreak ‘ type posts round the web “ a universal search app for the iPhone.  It ‘s called simply ‘Universal Search ‘, it integrates with the built-in Spotlight app, and, as the name implies, it lets you search beyond the iPhone itself, out on the internet.

It also offers some very nice “ and easy “ options for smart searching on the web.  I ‘ve been testing it out a bit this afternoon, and liking it quite a lot.

So here ‘s a little on how Universal Search works:

Once you ‘ve installed it,, it fully integrates itself with the built-in Spotlight search.  It adds an icon to you desktop where you can set your location (zip code and city) and also edit your search engine order settings.

When you do a search for something that ‘s not found on your iPhone (amongst your apps, contacts, emails etc “ I used Starbucks to test initially) you ‘ll see the four default search engines for Universal Search pop up.  Those are: Wikipedia, Google, the Maps app, and Twitter.

Clicking on the Maps app will take you straight to it and show relevant local results for your search term.

Clicking on the others will take you out to the web and show results in those search locations.  I like that in addition to Google, you ‘ve got quick access to Wikipedia and Twitter results also.   And there are quite a few more useful search options as well.

If you hit the ‘More ‘ button, you ‘ll see an extra row of buttons to launch a number of other useful search categories “ with slick, stacked options.  So, for example, the News search button gives you these stacked choices “ CNN, Blogs, and Google News.

The Dictionaries category gets you Merriam Webster and Urban Dictionary as choices.

And the Images button will offer you Flickr and Google for image searching.

Here ‘s a listing of some of the app ‘s key features, via its developers ‘ website:

-Search all the world’s best search engines
-Location Based Searching
-Auto transfer to Maps App
-Category searching
-Auto display of Mobile version of search engine
-Auto detects when dialing number
-Auto detects website visiting

I ‘ve done a quick, little screencast that offers a little demo of the app “ which you can check out HERE if you like.

I did not spot a free or trial version of Universal Search in the Cydis store “ just a $4.99 purchase option.  I am not regretting the purchase at all though.  I expect this is a feature that Apple is likely to add in the not-too-distant future, but in the meantime, this app has added a big new dose of functionality to my iPhone.

Share this: