Some questions:
1. Do you have ARC++ (playstore apps in CrOS) enabled?
2. When you start typing the query, is Wifi already connected?

1. Do you have ARC++ (playstore apps in CrOS) enabled?
   Yes
2. When you start typing the query, is Wifi already connected?
   Yes. Wifi is connected. I am able to browse and also Answer cards work as expected

Also, I am testing with my corp @google.com user account because I have connect to Google-A wifi network. 

Could you open chrome://version/ and copy hash codes of all variations into the bug?

Variations	
c04e5123-f23d1dea
6a89113b-f23d1dea
16e0dd70-3f4a17df
da89714-4ad60575
6c18ba9d-3d98b302
c68ab9a3-1f8c5973
ca05d627-3f4a17df
7c1bc906-f55a7974
ce38b0fc-3d47f4f4
47e5d3db-3d47f4f4
2a33b90e-4187f511
1c752ce9-1c752ce9
776de70c-eadfd437
79616653-3f4a17df
a605b19e-65bced95
5ca89f9-3f4a17df
6c7c7e88-3f4a17df
ed7ba060-3f4a17df
9e201a2b-65bced95
116c6887-65bced95
57f575bb-3f4a17df
68812885-f23d1dea
684d1cdf-51126808
7f1b05c7-223487d9
f347910c-65bced95
b791c1b8-f23d1dea
9773d3bd-2f79df73
99144bc3-4da47e09
165e16d1-3f4a17df
9e5c75f1-3c439a48
8ef0eb0f-7e93edd
350fabdd-1cf80f06
f79cb77b-3f4a17df
be3b5415-bed9585
27219e67-b2047178
23a898eb-ca7d8d80
4ea303a6-a1eb3a5c
d92562a9-ca7d8d80
24cd6bf8-d8542277
de03e059-1410f10
f56e0452-3f4a17df
b2f0086-192df033
ef25c1eb-f23d1dea
344833e9-473e8c2e
3f273a97-e3ad1896
59cb59a5-d2849b80
1354da85-5589f0cc
494d8760-1410f10
3ac60855-3ec2a267
f296190c-8965af99
4442aae2-e1cc0f14
ed1d377-e1cc0f14
75f0f0a0-a5822863
e2b18481-3a9ae350
e7e71889-4ad60575
f5fff3a2-f23d1dea
8db050d4-956ce709
11d91db8-3f4a17df
828a5926-80107d43
81c6897f-2d9ebb2e
da4aaa01-3f4a17df

Alright, this set of variations includes TouchFriendlyLauncher-Enable_HTTPS_Dogfood, where Playstore app search is enabled, as per this:
https://cs.corp.google.com/piper///depot/google3/googledata/googleclient/chrome/finch/studies/TouchFriendlyLauncherDogfood.json?rcl=162433502&l=32

Off to hejq@ for further investigation.
hejq@, I assume that you can guide sdantuluri@ through locally available user metrics for further investigation.

Hi sdantuluri@,

It's likely that something is not up-to-date on the Android side. But to clarify what is happening, could you get the full Android logcat and send it to me after this sequence of operations?

1 Boot the device
2 enable ARC++
3 Wait for Android to boot
4 Start launcher
5 Search for something

Thanks

Attached systemlogs.txt file

Deleted: system_logs.txt 7.9 MB

system_logs.txt 7.9 MB View Download

I see. According to the following log, it's a failure trying to connect to the related service ArcGmsProxy. This is because we have a CL ag/2578774 landed later than the others, and that change may not yet go in the image you're using.

-----------------------
 10895 08-03 15:02:13.331   605   977 E ArcPlayAppSearchHelper: PlayStoreProxyService is not active, dropping a query.
 10896 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance: Uncaught runtime exception
 10897 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke interface method 'void org.chromium.arc.appdiscoveryservice.IArcAppDiscoveryService.cancel(       int)' on a null object reference
 10898 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.arc.applauncher.util.PlayStoreAppSearchHelper$2.onFailure(PlayStoreAppSearchHelper.java:167)
 10899 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.arc.DeadlineCallbackNotifier.completeExceptionally(DeadlineCallbackNotifier.java:134)
 10900 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.arc.DeadlineCallbackNotifier.cancel(DeadlineCallbackNotifier.java:161)
 10901 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.arc.applauncher.util.PlayStoreAppSearchHelper.getRecentAndSuggestedApps(PlayStoreAppSearchHelper.java:185)
 10902 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.arc.applauncher.AppLauncherService.getRecentAndSuggestedAppsFromPlayStore(AppLauncherService.java:1482)
 10903 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.mojom.arc.mojom.AppInstance_Internal$Stub.acceptWithResponder(AppInstance_Internal.java:845)
 10904 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.mojo.bindings.RouterImpl.handleIncomingMessage(RouterImpl.java:225)
 10905 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.mojo.bindings.RouterImpl.-wrap0(RouterImpl.java)
 10906 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.mojo.bindings.RouterImpl$HandleIncomingMessageThunk.accept(RouterImpl.java:33)
 10907 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.mojo.bindings.Connector.readAndDispatchMessage(Connector.java:245)
 10908 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.mojo.bindings.Connector.readOutstandingMessages(Connector.java:204)
 10909 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.mojo.bindings.Connector.onAsyncWaiterResult(Connector.java:170)
 10910 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.mojo.bindings.Connector.-wrap0(Connector.java)
 10911 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.mojo.bindings.Connector$AsyncWaiterCallback.onResult(Connector.java:150)
 10912 08-03 15:02:13.333   605   977 E arc.mojom.AppInstance:         at org.chromium.mojo.system.impl.CoreImpl.onAsyncWaitResult(CoreImpl.java:550)
 10913 08-03 15:02:13.357   535   535 W ArcCrashCollector: Ignoring system_app_wtf dump because we have exceeded the rate limit.

Thanks hejq@. Playstore search is working on latest M61 build	9765.21.0, 61.0.3163.38

Should this bug be closed now? Thanks!

Yes. Closing the bug