Search & Autocomplete for Mobile

Mobile Beta
1

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a mobile-friendly version of the Fuzzy search & Autocomplete plugin. I have an input, and need it to search for the data type as the user is typing (and autocomplete the input if there’s something relevant). But if there’s not a relevant log, I’d set up a workflow to create this log based on the user’s input.

Right now, I’ve come up with a workaround with two separate boxes:

  1. Select existing: dropdown
    or
  2. Create a new one: input

But this is not ideal for the app or user experience.

Thank you!

1 Like
2

Another idea I got is to have an input and a hidden selectable list under it. When the user is typing, the list will show only relevant data that can be selected. However, I’d need the selected option somehow added to the input

3

Best way to achieve that is going for a Vertical list of the datatype you wan to search.
On top of the vertical list (or as a floating element), you add an text input that’ll be used to filter the vertical list items.

In order to achieve the best performance, you need to avoid using the ‘:filtered’ operator. Typically, your VerticalList datasource should look like this:

Do a Search for: Books.

  • Searchfield (text) contains text input A’s value:lowercase.

You need to tick the box “ignore empty constraints” so that the list isn’t empty on page load.

Searchfield: For every “Book”, you need to have a field of text (all lowercase) that includes any searchable parameter. For my exemple, it could be the book’s name, author, genre, etc…

By default, when you start typing in the text input, the first letter will be uppercase, that’s why you need the lowercase operator in the end.

4

Search and autocomplete on mobile can be tricky, especially in Bubble where performance matters a lot. I’ve noticed things improve once searches are debounced and results are limited early, instead of loading everything. Using backend workflows or indexed fields helps keep typing smooth. Small UI tweaks, like delaying queries until a few characters are entered, can make the experience feel much faster and less jittery.

5

Thank you both for your help. I’ve been able to figure this out with a text input and a selectable list. Good call on the jittery performance fix.

6

Check this plugin demo out to see if this will fit your requirement - Semantic Search Engine Demo . This is a newly released plugin for semantic search without using AI embeddings or vector databases. It is highly configurable to suite specific business needs.

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