My screenshots are Friendica 2024.12. Instruction text appears in a tooltip when you focus on the input. In 2026.01 that text is in the field: "Search: @name, !group, #tags, content"

Personally I don't like it. I think it looks cluttered. The text doesn't fit in the field in pretty much any language. And how much hand-holding do we really need to do with a search field these days?

Nonetheless, part of this update will also expand the Search box on focus so all the placeholder text is visible. At least on the desktop layout. There simply isn't space on mobile. Which is why I don't see the point of having anything other than the word "Search" in there. But the only option I have in CSS is to hide the placeholder text entirely.