Anki + Safari Split View on iPad: The Complete Guide

You can use Anki and Safari together in Split View on iPad by opening one app, swiping up from the Dock to grab the second, and dragging it to either side of the screen — giving you a live browser and your flashcard deck at the same time.

That default method works, but it takes six or seven steps every single time. If you study daily, that friction adds up. More importantly, having a browser open beside your flashcard deck genuinely changes how you study — not just how fast you launch apps.

Why Anki and Safari belong side by side

Anki is built around active recall, but the moment you hit a card you don't understand, the workflow breaks. You either skip it, guess, or exit Anki to search — losing your flow entirely. With Safari open beside Anki, you stay in the study session while still doing real research.

Here are three workflows where this pairing earns its place:

• Fact-checking while reviewing: You're drilling a history deck and a date feels wrong. Without leaving Anki, you open a Wikipedia article in Safari, confirm the fact, and edit the card note right then. The card is fixed before you even finish the session.
• Building cards from source material: You're reading a long-form article or a study guide in Safari. Anki is open on the other side. You read a paragraph, synthesize it into a cloze deletion or basic card, and add it immediately — no copy-pasting between apps, no losing your place in the article.
• Language learning with context: You're reviewing vocabulary cards in Anki and a word's example sentence isn't clicking. You search the word in Safari, read it used naturally in two or three real sentences, then return to the card with actual context. That's the kind of elaboration that makes recall stick.

How to set it up with Splicon

The problem with Split View shortcuts on iPad is that iOS doesn't let you save them to your Home Screen natively — you end up with a generic icon that tells you nothing. Splicon fixes that by generating a combined icon showing both apps side by side, so you know exactly what the shortcut does at a glance.

If you haven't downloaded it yet: Download Splicon free from the App Store

1. Open Splicon and search for Anki, then Safari. Select them as your pair. Splicon pulls in both app icons automatically.
2. Choose a split style — you can pick which app sits left or right — then generate the combined icon. When you're happy with it, save it to your Photos library.
3. Open the Shortcuts app, create a new shortcut, and add an "Open App" action. Set the app to Anki (or Safari), then enable the Split View option and set the second app accordingly. Tap the shortcut's icon field and choose the image you saved from Splicon.
4. Add the shortcut to your Home Screen via the shortcut's share menu. Give it a clean name like "Study" or "Anki + Safari" and place it wherever you keep your study tools.

Now one tap launches both apps already arranged side by side, with an icon that actually tells you what it does.

A note on screen real estate

On a standard 10th-generation iPad, a 50/50 split gives both apps enough room to be usable. On an iPad Pro or iPad Air with a larger display, you might prefer a 2/3 Anki, 1/3 Safari split so your cards stay prominent. Splicon lets you reflect that preference in the icon style you generate, keeping your Home Screen organized and visually consistent.