Bug with POS Product Search API? Large catalog, search works by title, but not SKU or barcode

Extensions
1

Possibly related: Product not appearing in generic API call or SKU search, but does appear by handle

We have a merchant facing an issue with our app that we haven’t seen before where the product search API won’t return the product based on SKU or barcode (which has always otherwise worked), but will work with title. This particular merchant has a large catalog (9k+ variants) which we believe might be related.

We are using this:

    const response = await api.productSearch.searchProducts({
      queryString: query,
      first: 50,
      afterCursor: undefined
    });

Video: PXL_20250311_154409278.TS.mp4 - Google Drive

2

@Nathan_Oliveira just bumping this, anything you guys see on your end?

3

Bumping this again, anyone?

We also believe we’ve further identified what might be causing this, see image below. They are facing this Sync unavailable error on both their iOS and Android POS tablets. We had them update Shopify POS to the latest version and also log out of Shopify POS on their iPad and log back in, and also try connecting to a smartphone’s hotspot as their WiFi - they continue to get Sync unavailable.

POS#1.2
POS#1.21092×2424 143 KB

4

@Nathan_Oliveira bumping again - we’ve received two different instances of product search API bugs in the past 24 hours across both of our apps.

Case 1, product search results being different on each app load (we can’t reproduce this):

IMG_7642
IMG_76421920×2560 338 KB

9038406C-160F-4092-8ACC-7815A6CCD5A1
9038406C-160F-4092-8ACC-7815A6CCD5A11920×2560 278 KB

Case 2: Same as the original bug, where merchant has reported searching by SKU is simply not returning the result they need (2001 should return a freeze dried strawberries product):

image0 (3)
image0 (3)1920×2560 211 KB

5

I think its likely the sync issue causing this.
I’d make sure they are on strong enough WiFi and ensure all devices and up to date for POS and iOS versions and then do a Refresh All and wait for it to finish successfully.

What is the query you are using?

6

Thanks Jordan, I confirmed with this merchant that it’s not a data synchronization issue (they got it to say synced).

In talking to the merchant, it’s not actually that the product they want is missing in the list, it’s that the product search API is returning other products that shouldn’t be showing up based on their query (2001). When I search 2001 in their actual Shopify Admin, this is the only product that appears.