diff --git a/native/root.react.js b/native/root.react.js
--- a/native/root.react.js
+++ b/native/root.react.js
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 import { store } from './redux/redux-setup.js';
 import { useSelector } from './redux/redux-utils.js';
 import { RootContext } from './root-context.js';
+import { MessageSearchProvider } from './search/search-provider.react.js';
 import Socket from './socket.react.js';
 import { StaffContextProvider } from './staff/staff-context.provider.react.js';
 import { useLoadCommFonts } from './themes/fonts.js';
@@ -262,19 +263,21 @@
                           <EditThreadAvatarProvider>
                             <MarkdownContextProvider>
                               <ChatContextProvider>
-                                <SQLiteDataHandler />
-                                <ConnectedStatusBar />
-                                <ReduxPersistGate persistor={getPersistor()}>
-                                  {gated}
-                                </ReduxPersistGate>
-                                <PersistedStateGate>
-                                  <Socket
-                                    detectUnsupervisedBackgroundRef={
-                                      detectUnsupervisedBackgroundRef
-                                    }
-                                  />
-                                </PersistedStateGate>
-                                {navigation}
+                                <MessageSearchProvider>
+                                  <SQLiteDataHandler />
+                                  <ConnectedStatusBar />
+                                  <ReduxPersistGate persistor={getPersistor()}>
+                                    {gated}
+                                  </ReduxPersistGate>
+                                  <PersistedStateGate>
+                                    <Socket
+                                      detectUnsupervisedBackgroundRef={
+                                        detectUnsupervisedBackgroundRef
+                                      }
+                                    />
+                                  </PersistedStateGate>
+                                  {navigation}
+                                </MessageSearchProvider>
                               </ChatContextProvider>
                             </MarkdownContextProvider>
                           </EditThreadAvatarProvider>
diff --git a/native/search/search-provider.react.js b/native/search/search-provider.react.js
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/native/search/search-provider.react.js
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+// @flow
+
+import * as React from 'react';
+
+import type { SetState } from 'lib/types/hook-types.js';
+
+export type MessageSearchContextType = {
+  +query: string,
+  +setQuery: SetState<string>,
+  +clearQuery: () => void,
+};
+
+const MessageSearchContext: React.Context<?MessageSearchContextType> =
+  React.createContext<?MessageSearchContextType>();
+
+type Props = {
+  +children: React.Node,
+};
+function MessageSearchProvider(props: Props): React.Node {
+  const { children } = props;
+
+  const [query, setQuery] = React.useState('');
+
+  const clearQuery = React.useCallback(() => setQuery(''), []);
+
+  const context = React.useMemo(
+    () => ({
+      query,
+      setQuery,
+      clearQuery,
+    }),
+    [query, clearQuery],
+  );
+
+  return (
+    <MessageSearchContext.Provider value={context}>
+      {children}
+    </MessageSearchContext.Provider>
+  );
+}
+
+export { MessageSearchContext, MessageSearchProvider };