SubSmith — Language Learning with Transcription, Dictionary + Sentence Mining support [7-Day Free Trial + 30% Off]
Hello everyone, I’ve been working on SubSmith for a while. I wanted a faster way to bridge the gap between watching local media and getting high-quality cards into Anki. Problem Sentence mining from video/audio usually means juggling separate tools: one to transcribe, one to scrub for the right moment, and another to grab the audio clip and screenshot for Anki. It's slow and disjointed. Comparison There aren't many desktop apps that do this, the closest alternative is Language Reactor — a browser extension that overlays learning tools on existing captions from platforms like Netflix/YouTube. The website does support local file transcription and integration but it is not the main feature, it lacks support and updates. SubSmith is a native desktop app built local-file-first: it transcribes any video or audio from scratch with Whisper and turns a moment into a full Anki card sentence. Features include Transcription: Uses Whisper to transcribe your media files. Smart Editor: Overlay subtitles with a popup dictionary. One-Click Anki Export: Automatically grabs the sentence, audio clip, and screenshot. Flexible Exports: Also supports regular SRT, VTT, and TXT Pricing 7-day free trial, no CC required $15 yearly subscription or $40 one-time (lifetime license). Use code MacApps30 for 30% off! Links Website: https://subsmith.app Feedback and Bug Reports: Support@subsmith.app Misc: X | LinkedIn All feedback is welcome, be it improvements, features or bugs!
Collected discussion
very cool, I like it!
Thanks appreciate it!!
For those who want to see a bit more, I’ve put together a 2-minute walkthrough of the workflow and features in more detail here on Youtube: One Click Sentence Mining with Anki & SubSmith - YouTube
for this workflow, i'd make the handoff boring and explicit: show exactly what goes into the card before export, keep the source timestamp/path attached, and warn before making duplicates. the hard part with sentence mining is not clipping one good sentence, it's finding it again later when you realize the card is wrong or the audio cut is too short.
Yeah I did think about adding a preview dialog before inserting to Anki but was not sure if it’s too much friction to see that every time you want to make a card. Maybe adding a setting to enable previewing would be the best compromise. Duplicates do flag an error message tbh, it does try to execute them but since the Anki connection is configured to reject copies it displays an error message.
a setting is probably the right compromise. i'd keep the default fast, but make the first export or any risky export show a preview automatically - missing timestamp, very short audio clip, duplicate card, no dictionary hit, that kind of thing. then power users can turn it off once they trust the pipeline. sentence mining is repetitive enough that forced preview every time would get annoying fast.
This looks great, and I’ll try it for sure. I have a question about flashcard export. I personally don’t use anki, instead use another flashcard app (flashcards deluxe). I believe it uses TSV file or clipboard import. I’m wondering if you are interested to support non-anki or a generic export process in the future.
Ahh nice thanks!! Yeah I do have plans to add a generic export tbh since I don’t want this to be tied to Anki directly, it just made the most sense to integrate that first as an easy win. Also I was just waiting for someone to ask for it first lol
This looks great!
Thanks appreciate it!!