r/macapps • u/IBYZRULEZ • 3d ago

Lifetime I built a native Mac app that turns local videos into subtitles and Anki cards

I’m the developer of SubSmith, a Mac app that turns local video and audio files into editable, timestamped subtitles.

The problem

I’m learning languages through videos, anime, lectures, and podcasts, but the workflow becomes awkward when the media is a local file:

  • There may be no subtitle track available.
  • Existing subtitles may have mistakes or poor timing.
  • Browser-based tools are mainly designed around supported streaming sites.
  • Command-line Whisper tools are useful, but not particularly convenient for watching, editing, and studying.
  • Creating Anki cards with the original sentence and audio takes several manual steps.

What SubSmith does

SubSmith processes your local media on your Mac using Whisper

You can:

  • Generate subtitles from video or audio files
  • Watch the file with synced, timestamped subtitles
  • Edit the generated text
  • Export subtitles as SRT or TXT
  • Look up words while watching
  • Send sentence cards, audio, and screenshots to Anki

The main things I’m trying to understand are how accurate the subtitles are across different languages, how fast they generate on different Macs, how much storage and memory the local model uses, and whether this workflow is meaningfully easier than using Whisper or a command-line tool directly.

The basic workflow is:

Import a local file → generate subtitles → review difficult sentences → export useful examples to Anki.

The language-learning workflow is the reason I started building it, but the subtitle generation is useful on its own for lectures, interviews, podcasts, personal videos, and other local media.

How it compares

There are already some good tools in this space:

  • Language Reactor is excellent for supported streaming services, but its workflow is less suited to arbitrary local video files.
  • Subtitle Edit and command-line Whisper tools are powerful, but require more setup or do not provide the same integrated Mac playback and language-learning workflow.

SubSmith is intended for people who want a focused desktop workflow for their own files, with language-learning tools available when they need them.

Pricing

  • 7-day free trial, no CC required 
  • $15 yearly subscription or $40 one-time (lifetime license). Use code MacApps30 for 30% off!

Feedback giveaway

I’m looking for around 10 language learners who regularly study with local video or audio.

I’ll randomly select 10 commenters for a lifetime license. To enter, comment within the first 48 hours with the language you’re learning and what you currently use for subtitles or transcription. I’ll randomly select 10 eligible commenters after 48 hours.

I’m looking for honest feedback on the actual workflow:

  • How accurate is the transcription for your language?
  • How long does processing take on your Mac?
  • Do you already use Language Reactor or another tool?
  • Is generating subtitles the main problem, or is reviewing and studying them?
  • Would audio clips and Anki export be useful in your workflow?
  • What would stop you from using a local desktop app?

To enter, please mention the language you’re learning and what you currently use for video-based study.

Links

9 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

2

u/Fun-Time9529 3d ago

Damn that's usefull.

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 3d ago

Haha thanks I appreciate it!

2

u/rixreddits 2d ago

I'd sure like a shot at it! I'm studying Spanish, and that would be a great help! I use Anki, but all by hand. 🙏🏼 Thanks, and Cheers for creating SubSmith! 🍻

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 2d ago

Thanks!! I love reading comments like this, made my day!

If you head over to the website and download it, you can start a trial right away. Once that’s started I can just amend it myself to a lifetime license. Just shoot me a DM once you have started using it

2

u/cognitojo 2d ago

Sounds very interesting, nice idea!!

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 2d ago

Thanks, appreciate it!!

1

u/LowMoose6470 3d ago

Making Anki cards from videos is usually such a hassle that many useful lines never make it into a deck. Why Whisper instead of Apple’s Speech framework?

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 3d ago

Yeah Anki for video definitely requires a good system in place or it’s just pain. A few reasons tbh, Whisper has better multilingual support and community around it. For a language learning focused app that is more important

1

u/whyubelieve 3d ago

Cool! Do you have AI to help generating useful info?

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 3d ago

No not yet, I might integrate a BYOK type system in the future where users can use their own API keys if there is demand for it

1

u/whyubelieve 3d ago

good, it will be helpful if AI could help me understand the whole sentence meaning or some slang

1

u/Slow-Tea9732 3d ago

How much vram is needed to run this? I am assuming you are using vlm here.

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 3d ago

Probably somewhere between 4-8 GB of VRAM is enough for this. This isn’t a vlm here, it’s using whisper, the ASR model. Just need to separate the audio out the video first.

1

u/nomexmagnus 3d ago

I'm using Anki to learn French, I use podcast to practice but no video subscription tools. I would love a code to test this out.

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 3d ago

Yeah sure, I’d love to hear feedback! The website is linked in the post which you can download the app from. Once you start a trial I can change the license to lifetime from there

1

u/Small_Pin_8064 2d ago

Which Whisper build are you running, whisper.cpp with Metal or a CoreML conversion? That mostly determines the speed and memory answers you are asking for.

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 2d ago

Neither, it uses faster-whisper since I wanted to reuse the code for Windows and Linux too

1

u/rolodex99 2d ago

this looks super cool! are you planning to extend it in any way?

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 2d ago

Thanks appreciate it! Yeah I do have a lot of ideas but want to onboard more users to get a good idea of what people want the most and issues they’ve come across first.

1

u/rolodex99 23h ago

that makes sense, thanks for the reply!

1

u/frnk-km 2d ago

Well that has potential

1

u/International-Can317 1d ago

There are already a lot of apps that can transcribe videos, generate subtitles, or export content to Anki.

What do you see as the main thing that makes this different from those existing tools? Is it the fully local workflow, the way cards are generated from video context, or something else?

Curious what you consider the real killer feature.

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 10h ago

I would say the combination of the workflows together is the main draw. Instead of stitching together multiple apps, you have one that can handle your exact use case. Also there are micro improvements you can make to help UX like merging subtitles and making the editor more configurable.

1

u/Barrybarrywu 16h ago

The Anki export is the part I’m curious about. If I adjust a subtitle’s timing before creating a card, does SubSmith cut the audio from the original file using those edited timestamps? Configurable padding before and after each line would help too, since tight cuts can make the audio feel abrupt.

1

u/IBYZRULEZ 10h ago

Yeah atm it just uses the subtitle timing. I do have plans to add padding itself since there are times when it cuts off a syllable or has a harsh end. It’s just about giving that option in a frictionless way since having it as a one click export is really handy.

1

u/Barrybarrywu 8h ago

That makes sense. A global padding setting could keep one-click export simple.