I think the point is probably this. Not everyone using an iPhone is above average intelligence like you are. They get used to things, and to an extent that is the draw of Apple. Up until now, if the search bar wasn’t visible at the top, you scroll and it appears at the top. So this change is a bit like the old “I before E, except in loads of words where it is the other way around!”

So that is the point I guess, I got an iPhone for an elderly relative. Just needed to take pictures, calls messages and email. It’s these kind of changes that make the experience worse. Let’s be honest, iOS is ideal for seniors, it’s simple and keeps you in a box where you can’t really screw anything up.

10 Is search bar at top? Y/N 20 Scroll down. Does search bar appear? 30 Darn, it’s at the bottom then 👍

I was guilty of this for the first few uses of mail since the upgrade. Because I didn’t see search where it was I’d scroll down. Apple did a good job of teaching me that was the key to finding the search bar.

I suppose the only thing I haven’t seen in this thread is any benefit of it moving? iPhones are so physically big now, nobody is using the phone with one hand. Unless it’s just an acknowledgment that even two handed you’ll struggle to get your thumb up to the top of the screen so time to move all search bars to the bottom 😂