Semantic SF provides natural language search for Apple’s SF Symbols library, enabling developers and designers to find icons by describing concepts rather than guessing exact symbol names like “arrow.triangle.2.circlepath.circle” when seeking a sync icon.
SF Symbols is Apple’s comprehensive icon system used across macOS and iOS applications. The library contains thousands of symbols that integrate with San Francisco font, support dynamic sizing, and adapt to light and dark modes. The challenge lies in locating specific symbols among the extensive catalog.
The app lives in the menu bar and opens with a customizable keyboard shortcut. Search queries use natural language processing—searching “person” returns profile icons, user symbols, and avatar-related graphics; searching “error” brings up warning triangles, exclamation marks, and alert symbols. Results display in a clean grid with symbol names underneath each icon, allowing one-click copying of exact identifiers for code use.
Key features include fast natural language search, instant menu bar access, clean result display with symbol names, and one-click identifier copying. The app launches instantly and uses minimal system resources at just 2.6 MB.
The app requires macOS 13.5 or newer. Developer Mansidak Singh released version 2.0 to address deployment issues with minimum system requirements. The app collects no user data according to its privacy policy.
Semantic SF is completely free with no ads or in-app purchases.
Limitations include the narrow target audience. Users not developing apps for Apple platforms or designing interfaces using SF Symbols have no use case for this utility. Web and Android developers similarly receive no benefit.
Suitable for users who work with SF Symbols regularly—particularly SwiftUI developers and Apple platform designers who need faster symbol lookup than Apple’s built-in SF Symbols app provides, with keyboard-driven natural language search from the menu bar.
