diff --git a/src/Module/Api/Friendica/DirectMessages/Search.php b/src/Module/Api/Friendica/DirectMessages/Search.php
index c0322a95e..679accb33 100644
--- a/src/Module/Api/Friendica/DirectMessages/Search.php
+++ b/src/Module/Api/Friendica/DirectMessages/Search.php
@@ -73,8 +73,6 @@ class Search extends BaseApi
 
 		// message if nothing was found
 		if (!DBA::isResult($mails)) {
-			$success = ['success' => false, 'search_results' => 'problem with query'];
-		} elseif (count($mails) == 0) {
 			$success = ['success' => false, 'search_results' => 'nothing found'];
 		} else {
 			$ret = [];
diff --git a/tests/datasets/mail/mail.fixture.php b/tests/datasets/mail/mail.fixture.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..215356bea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/datasets/mail/mail.fixture.php
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+<?php
+
+return [
+	'mail' => [
+		[
+			'uid'           => 42,
+			'author-id'     => 44,
+			'uri-id'        => 44,
+			'parent-uri-id' => 44,
+			'thr-parent-id' => 44,
+			'guid'          => '123456',
+			'from-name'     => 'Tester',
+			'title'         => 'test message',
+			'body'          => 'this is a test',
+		],
+	],
+];
diff --git a/tests/src/Module/Api/Friendica/DirectMessages/SearchTest.php b/tests/src/Module/Api/Friendica/DirectMessages/SearchTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c66a1f42e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/src/Module/Api/Friendica/DirectMessages/SearchTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * @copyright Copyright (C) 2010-2021, the Friendica project
+ *
+ * @license GNU AGPL version 3 or any later version
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+ * License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ */
+
+namespace Friendica\Test\src\Module\Api\Friendica\DirectMessages;
+
+use Friendica\App\Router;
+use Friendica\DI;
+use Friendica\Factory\Api\Twitter\DirectMessage;
+use Friendica\Module\Api\Friendica\DirectMessages\Search;
+use Friendica\Test\src\Module\Api\ApiTest;
+use Psr\Log\NullLogger;
+
+class SearchTest extends ApiTest
+{
+	public function testEmpty()
+	{
+		$directMessage = new DirectMessage(new NullLogger(), DI::dba(), DI::twitterUser());
+
+		$response = (new Search($directMessage, DI::dba(), DI::app(), DI::l10n(), DI::baseUrl(), DI::args(), DI::logger(), DI::profiler(), DI::apiResponse(), ['REQUEST_METHOD' => Router::GET]))->run();
+
+		$json = $this->toJson($response);
+
+		$assert          = new \stdClass();
+		$assert->result  = 'error';
+		$assert->message = 'searchstring not specified';
+
+		self::assertEquals($assert, $json);
+	}
+
+	public function testMail()
+	{
+		$this->loadFixture(__DIR__ . '/../../../../../datasets/mail/mail.fixture.php', DI::dba());
+
+		$directMessage = new DirectMessage(new NullLogger(), DI::dba(), DI::twitterUser());
+
+		$search   = new Search($directMessage, DI::dba(), DI::app(), DI::l10n(), DI::baseUrl(), DI::args(), DI::logger(), DI::profiler(), DI::apiResponse(), ['REQUEST_METHOD' => Router::GET]);
+		$response = $search->run(['searchstring' => 'test']);
+
+		$json = $this->toJson($response);
+
+		self::assertTrue($json->success);
+
+		foreach ($json->search_results as $searchResult) {
+			self::assertIsObject($searchResult->sender);
+			self::assertIsInt($searchResult->id);
+			self::assertIsInt($searchResult->sender_id);
+			self::assertIsObject($searchResult->recipient);
+		}
+	}
+
+	public function testNothingFound()
+	{
+		$directMessage = new DirectMessage(new NullLogger(), DI::dba(), DI::twitterUser());
+
+		$search   = new Search($directMessage, DI::dba(), DI::app(), DI::l10n(), DI::baseUrl(), DI::args(), DI::logger(), DI::profiler(), DI::apiResponse(), ['REQUEST_METHOD' => Router::GET]);
+		$response = $search->run(['searchstring' => 'test']);
+
+		$json = $this->toJson($response);
+
+		$assert                 = new \stdClass();
+		$assert->success        = false;
+		$assert->search_results = 'nothing found';
+
+		self::assertEquals($assert, $json);
+	}
+}