How Fast Is SearchOnMac? We Timed 83 Real Searches

How We Measured

The app has an evaluation mode that runs a list of searches through the same pipeline you use, with the app's own permissions, and records when results first appear and what came first. The searches were a mix of 'open linkedin in chrome', 'latest screenshot', 'where did I use firebase auth', 'what did I do today' and typos like 'antygravity'.

The Results

Across 83 timed searches, the median time to first results was 90 ms. 18 searches were under 50 ms, 49 under 100 ms and 63 under 150 ms. For accuracy, the result we were looking for came first in 83 of 84 searches.

• System actions: 18 ms median · Calendar events: 31 ms · Apps: 37 ms
• Windows & browser tabs: 72 ms · Files: 78 ms · Terminal commands: 82 ms
• Projects: 95 ms · Folders: 104 ms · Mixed queries: 161 ms

Why the First Results Come Fast

Every source is searched at the same time, and results by name are shown as soon as they are ranked. Slower steps, such as matching similar meanings with Apple's on-device language models, run afterwards and reorder the list without moving your selection.

let candidates = await withTaskGroup(of: [SearchCandidate].self) { group in
    for id in plan.capabilityIDs {
        guard let capability = registry.capability(named: id) else { continue }
        group.addTask { await capability.fetchCandidates(query: rawQuery, intent: intent, slots: slots, context: context) }
    }
    var result: [SearchCandidate] = []
    for await batch in group { result += batch }
    return result
}