Once a flashcard collection passes a few hundred cards, scrolling through folders gets slow. Swiftflip puts deck names and card text in system search.
Decks and cards in Spotlight
Swiftflip indexes deck names, card fronts and card backs into Spotlight on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Open Spotlight from the home screen or with ⌘ Space on Mac, type card text or a deck name and matching Swiftflip results appear alongside the rest of your search.
That is enough to skip the manual hunt through deck lists and folders.
Search inside the app
Version 1.15 adds a Search tab on iPhone and iPad for deck names, card fronts and card backs. You can filter results, use suggested searches and reopen recent queries without leaving Swiftflip.
Follow the guide to search your Swiftflip library.
Tap a result, open its deck
Spotlight results in Swiftflip act like deep links. Tap a card result and Swiftflip opens the deck that contains it. From there you can edit the card or start practice.
How indexing happens
Indexing runs locally on the device. New cards and renamed decks are picked up automatically. There is no manual reindex step and no setup screen.
Privacy of indexed data
Spotlight runs on your device. Swiftflip cards stay in your private iCloud sync the same way they always have. Nothing about the indexing involves a server or an account.
If you prefer to keep some apps out of system search, the system Settings let you exclude apps from Spotlight. Swiftflip respects that setting.
Get the most out of it
A few patterns that tend to make Spotlight more useful:
- name decks distinctively so they are easy to type
- write card fronts and backs in a way that is searchable later
- use Spotlight to locate a card before editing rather than scrolling deck lists
Spotlight gets you to a card without opening folders first. Smart Decks and Siri Shortcuts offer more ways to start a focused session.