It’s still there for me. On my screen, if I click on the magnifying glass, “In this topic” appears under the search bar. If I go to Thread Games and click on the magnifying glass, “In Thread Games” appears under the search bar.
What type of device, browser, etc. are you using? And what theme are you using?
I use Android 15 on a Pixel 7 Pro. I’m using Firefox 137.0. I use Straight Dope Dark theme.
When I’m in a thread and I poke the magnifying glass icon, I get:
A one-line search bar with a “control sliders” button on the end. Using that one-line search bar does a full-site search, not a thread search.
If I poke the “control sliders” button I get the full-fat search UI (like using the search button from the Categories list), which allows me to optionally force a topic-only search, but that’s not a default.
I don’t know if any of this represents a change, but I can tell that doing a topic-only search is not a one-click operation.
Once you start typing something to search for the “in this topic” option appears.
I almost exclusively use my Pixel 4A Android 13 phone for using the dope. This is how it looks for me before and after I start typing in the search box:
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Discourse devs removed it because they considered it redundant with the other way of forcing a topic search. (And that other way is actually sorta convenient if you recognize it as it’s being offered.)
The change is only on mobile. Your IPad could be configured either way. But as long as it’s claiming to be a mobile device it gets the new way.
Again, the “search in thread” feature wasn’t removed. It was just slightly disguised. The first time you see it in the new spot you’ll never wonder again where it’s hiding.
I’m mot a big fan of the change. But it’s a trivial thing to adapt to and will seem obvious 3 days from now.