Mayhe I am misremembering - I think there was a regression and @tyiu fixed in 1.9. I can readily find Jack, who I follow, in profile search.
Also wondering if it’s this now: nostr:note18f85v5uuyuljtx9wwfymq7lxjacslvpp0d8xkj0gja7s7lf2s30qlgc42g
Yeah, I fixed search result sorting in 1.9, which isn’t on the App Store yet. Your web of trust profiles will show up first.