diff --git a/src/com/android/launcher3/allapps/DefaultAppSearchAlgorithm.java b/src/com/android/launcher3/allapps/DefaultAppSearchAlgorithm.java
index ac22dd279e..06cf9aa71d 100644
--- a/src/com/android/launcher3/allapps/DefaultAppSearchAlgorithm.java
+++ b/src/com/android/launcher3/allapps/DefaultAppSearchAlgorithm.java
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ public class DefaultAppSearchAlgorithm {
                 return prevType != Character.UPPERCASE_LETTER;
             case Character.LOWERCASE_LETTER:
                 // Break point if previous was not a letter.
-                return prevType > Character.OTHER_LETTER;
+                return prevType > Character.OTHER_LETTER || prevType <= Character.UNASSIGNED;
             case Character.DECIMAL_DIGIT_NUMBER:
             case Character.LETTER_NUMBER:
             case Character.OTHER_NUMBER:
diff --git a/tests/src/com/android/launcher3/allapps/DefaultAppSearchAlgorithmTest.java b/tests/src/com/android/launcher3/allapps/DefaultAppSearchAlgorithmTest.java
index 4d0a7a9bd6..18570de5b3 100644
--- a/tests/src/com/android/launcher3/allapps/DefaultAppSearchAlgorithmTest.java
+++ b/tests/src/com/android/launcher3/allapps/DefaultAppSearchAlgorithmTest.java
@@ -67,6 +67,10 @@ public class DefaultAppSearchAlgorithmTest extends InstrumentationTestCase {
 
         assertTrue(mAlgorithm.matches(getInfo("Q"), "q"));
         assertTrue(mAlgorithm.matches(getInfo("  Q"), "q"));
+
+        // match lower case words
+        assertTrue(mAlgorithm.matches(getInfo("elephant"), "e"));
+
     }
 
     private AppInfo getInfo(String title) {