Apple Shortcuts |OT| Here’s To The Lazy Ones

Shoe · Sep 21, 2018

Captjohnboyd said:
Okay I think I'm having trouble with the imgur shortcut. When I copy the direct link it just shows this

It seems like it's converting it to a png instead of staying as a gif. Am I doing this wrong? It's just a gif I copied off of Google. Or is This shortcut only really meant for your own video etc?

Worked for me. I just went to the URL in your picture, ran the shortcut from Safari and got this:

Those gif sites like Tenor and Giphy are weird because there doesn't seem to be any way of opening their images in a window without other clutter there, so it put this in an album despite being just one image, but it's there.

Captjohnboyd · Sep 21, 2018

Shoe said:
Worked for me. I just went to the URL in your picture, ran the shortcut from Safari and got this:

Man what's going on when I do it? I just tried again and then just copy and pasted into safari instead of inserting here and it spit out the same picture but on Imgur. I thought maybe something was getting lost between imgur and here but it seems like it's the actual shortcut on my end

Patrick Klepek · Sep 21, 2018

dallow_bg said:
Give me Logitech support and I can dump Alexa.

---

BTW, you can use IFTTT applets with some tweaking and the use of webhooks.
This will allow you to control all sorts of things that Shortcuts cannot just yet, like maybe your Sonos system as shown in one of the following links.

https://www.macstories.net/ios/how-to-trigger-ifttt-applets-with-ios-12s-new-shortcuts-app-and-siri/

Another example:
https://medium.com/@flat/making-ifttt-work-with-apples-new-shortcuts-app-5530e50d4527

I did this with my Harmony remote. Can easily switch the TV on, off, and swap inputs with Siri. It's great.

Aero · Sep 21, 2018

Is it possible to make a shortcut that adds text to the end of a note? The only actions I can find that have anything to do with the default Notes app are to open a note or create an entirely new one, not add to an existing one.

Vuze · Sep 22, 2018

I really, really hope they nuke the "AppX says..." before and the useless "Ok/Done" after a Shortcut/Action. It's so terrible.

dallow_bg · Sep 22, 2018

Patrick Klepek said:
I did this with my Harmony remote. Can easily switch the TV on, off, and swap inputs with Siri. It's great.

I just created Start Activity webhook which is great.
But I guess that's all you can do.
No muting or pausing? Those are the only other two functions I'd need.

Kordelle · Sep 22, 2018

Thanks to the IFTTT workaround I now made a shortcut Good Night to turn all lights off. Now I don't have to wait for the Hue Shortcut support :D

Red · Sep 22, 2018

Decided to give shortcuts an honest shot... and it's actually awesome? I still wish I could set triggers by time or location to truly automate behaviors, but the functionality is way more robust than I assumed.

This is kind of sort of related—anyone know how to add caffeine to the health app by cup of coffee instead of by mg? Is it possible to create a shortcut that lets you enter a cup of coffee and a size and have it calculate the caffeine content for you?

I don't even understand how shortcuts is performing some of these functions. Like taking 4 pictures and combining them into a basic gif animation. When you launch the shortcut, you're taken to a camera screen with a note on which picture you're on. I have never seen that interface before.

Got to dive in and see what else is possible here. I want to expand my "leaving work" shortcut so it doesn't only send out an ETA to my wife but also opens a Waze deep link and kick me into the app.

Vuze · Sep 23, 2018

Red said:
Decided to give shortcuts an honest shot... and it's actually awesome? I still wish I could set triggers by time or location to truly automate behaviors, but the functionality is way more robust than I assumed.

This is kind of sort of related—anyone know how to add caffeine to the health app by cup of coffee instead of by mg? Is it possible to create a shortcut that lets you enter a cup of coffee and a size and have it calculate the caffeine content for you?

I don't even understand how shortcuts is performing some of these functions. Like taking 4 pictures and combining them into a basic gif animation. When you launch the shortcut, you're taken to a camera screen with a note on which picture you're on. I have never seen that interface before.

Got to dive in and see what else is possible here. I want to expand my "leaving work" shortcut so it doesn't only send out an ETA to my wife but also opens a Waze deep link and kick me into the app.

Easy: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/11948cabc88441f1b1e7be55b3d3aeaa

You can use it as a template or just adapt the caffeine base values if the size selection fits your needs.

I don't know if there's a more elegant if Solution but I don't think so.

btkadams · Sep 23, 2018

I have a morning routine where it starts playing music from a playlist, but I can't figure out a way to have it AirPlay to my HomePod. Does anyone have that figured out? It just starts playing from my phone, even if I run the shortcut on my actual HomePod.

Red · Sep 23, 2018

Vuze said:
Easy: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/11948cabc88441f1b1e7be55b3d3aeaa

You can use it as a template or just adapt the caffeine base values if the size selection fits your needs.

I don't know if there's a more elegant if Solution but I don't think so.

Damn that's nice. Thank you.

Deleted member 9330 · Sep 23, 2018

btkadams said:
I have a morning routine where it starts playing music from a playlist, but I can't figure out a way to have it AirPlay to my HomePod. Does anyone have that figured out? It just starts playing from my phone, even if I run the shortcut on my actual HomePod.

Not possible at the moment, unfortunately. It's bugging me too.

Edit: wait, hold on. I got it to work as part of a single shortcut but not as part of a morning routine. I may be able to fix this

Edit 2: fascinating, this works from what I can tell. It starts playback on you're phone and connects through airplay. I had a step in the middle to add the playlist to "up next" but removing that seems to do exactly what we want.

btkadams · Sep 23, 2018

Zeyphersan said:
Not possible at the moment, unfortunately. It's bugging me too.

Edit: wait, hold on. I got it to work as part of a single shortcut but not as part of a morning routine. I may be able to fix this

Edit 2: fascinating, this works from what I can tell. It starts playback on you're phone and connects through airplay. I had a step in the middle to add the playlist to "up next" but removing that seems to do exactly what we want.

Hm... that's exactly what I have and it doesn't seem to work.

How does yours know which device to AirPlay to? Or does it AirPlay to whichever device you're running the shortcut on (like a HomePod)?

Deleted member 9330 · Sep 23, 2018

btkadams said:
Hm... that's exactly what I have and it doesn't seem to work.

How does yours know which device to AirPlay to? Or does it AirPlay to whichever device you're running the shortcut on (like a HomePod)?

Well it worked once and then never again

SuperPac · Sep 23, 2018

I need Nest and Alarm.com to update their apps with shortcut hooks and then I'll really have something to automate. Until then, mostly it's like, 2 step things.. Hrm.

PurpleMoustache · Sep 23, 2018

Haven't messed around with this at all beyond the Overcast built in things. Seeing the post just a few above me for the "I'm up" shortcut, is it possible to set conditionals?

For example, killing an alarm and then playing EITHER any podcasts in Overcast if any were downloaded overnight OR a playlist?

Red · Sep 23, 2018

Is there any way to play media content in apps that don't have official shortcut support? I have a shortcut right now for leaving work that texts an ETA to my wife, puts screen brightness to 100%, begins navigating home in Waze, and opens pocket casts—but I then have to manually hit play in pocket casts. Any way to play automatically?

Deleted member 9330 · Sep 23, 2018

Red said:
Is there any way to play media content in apps that don't have official shortcut support? I have a shortcut right now for leaving work that texts an ETA to my wife, puts screen brightness to 100%, begins navigating home in Waze, and opens pocket casts—but I then have to manually hit play in pocket casts. Any way to play automatically?

I know Overcast can do that so it's possible, but it depends on what types of shortcuts Pocket Casts has exposed

Red · Sep 23, 2018

Zeyphersan said:
I know Overcast can do that so it's possible, but it depends on what types of shortcuts Pocket Casts has exposed

Don't see anything listed for pocket casts. I have to get at it through an "open app" action.

Deleted member 9330 · Sep 23, 2018

Red said:
Don't see anything listed for pocket casts. I have to get at it through an "open app" action.

Ah yeah, then you'll have to wait for them to update.

Red · Sep 23, 2018

Zeyphersan said:
Ah yeah, then you'll have to wait for them to update.

Thumbs down. I see a pause, forward, and back option for media... but no play. Why.

Turns out there is a "play sound" option that takes an audio file passed in as input. No idea how to pass in a podcast though.

I'm not sure if "play sound" is a solution here —seems like it may only play system sounds, like ringtones.

Right now I have the shortcut playing music once Waze opens, but that's not ideal. Much better would be playing the current selection in Audible or Pocketcasts. It feels like there must be a way.

Fhtagn · Sep 23, 2018

Glad to see this thread, Workflow was awesome and Shortcuts should be even better now that it's getting a proper push from Apple.

signal said:
Because this for some reason STILL is not a thing you can do in iOS, is it possible to make a shortcut that will reset your cellular data usage on the same day each month? Not sure how well shortcuts handles scheduled things like this.

This kind of thing could be built into morning routine logic right? For example a shortcut you run every morning could also check if that's the day of the month and take the action if so?

Addie · Sep 23, 2018

Is it normal to have no Siri suggestions?

I have shortcut suggestions under "suggested shortcuts" in Settings > Siri & Search. That makes sense, because according to the Viticci review, these are "donated" to the OS from the app.

However, I've never seen a "suggestion" from Siri on either the Lock Screen, Search, or Look Up. I know what these are supposed to look like: that's the, if you miss a call, Siri will suggest that you call the number back. Nearly all of my apps allow information to appear in Search. But none of them have ever actually shown a suggestion.

Is there a way to test this functionality?

btkadams · Sep 24, 2018

signal said:
Because this for some reason STILL is not a thing you can do in iOS, is it possible to make a shortcut that will reset your cellular data usage on the same day each month? Not sure how well shortcuts handles scheduled things like this.

Have you tried this app? I've used it for years and just have it sitting in my widgets.

DataMan Pro by Johnny Ixe
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/dataman-pro/id807571009?mt=8

signal · Sep 24, 2018

btkadams said:
Have you tried this app? I've used it for years and just have it sitting in my widgets.
DataMan Pro by Johnny Ixe
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/dataman-pro/id807571009?mt=8

$8.49?? I'll just set a calendar reminder (._. )

Fhtagn said:
This kind of thing could be built into morning routine logic right? For example a shortcut you run every morning could also check if that's the day of the month and take the action if so?

Hm not sure will look into it.

btkadams · Sep 24, 2018

signal said:
$8.49?? I'll just set a calendar reminder (._. )

Hm not sure will look into it.

I think there's one that's cheaper. Still called DataMan.

SideMatt · Sep 24, 2018

Anyone know if there's a way to get this shortcut to actually add random songs after creating a new weekly playlist when it's invoked? I tried my hand at editing it to do so, but I'm kind of in over my head here haha.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/cc12f1f246a246b2824a080645713b17

Edit: would there also be any way to set a predetermined picture for the album, or at least get a prompt to upload one upon creating the playlist?

bear force one · Sep 24, 2018

I wonder if Era knows this is the best thread here?

Ambient80 · Sep 24, 2018

This stuff is insane, and I don't even know where to begin on how to construct my own Shortcuts. I read some of the stuff in the OP but man, it seems intense haha. Someone above said you could control a Harmony remote with Siri? That's awesome!

I'd really enjoy one for heading to and from work. Have it check traffic/weather, start a specific podcast in the Podcast app, and give me an ETA on getting home. I'll dive into it a little deeper and see what I can come up with.

bear force one said:
I wonder if Era knows this is the best thread here?

You avatar tho *fans self*

bear force one · Sep 24, 2018

Ambient80 said:
You avatar tho *fans self*

@JoJiart. The guy's incredible.

Lord Error · Sep 24, 2018

SuperPac said:
I need Nest and Alarm.com to update their apps with shortcut hooks and then I'll really have something to automate. Until then, mostly it's like, 2 step things.. Hrm.

You can use my app for Nest. I believe it's the only app that offers Siri shortcuts control over Nest right now. Send me a PM, I'll send you a download code.
You'll go grey waiting for Nest to update their own app to do anything new Apple offers.

Winstano · Sep 24, 2018

Man, I wish iOS allowed you to play audio to an external device while recording video. Setting up an iPhone as a dash cam would be an awesome shortcut.

Open camera
Record video
Hit stop
"Do you want to keep this video?"
If yes it saves, if no it deletes the video you've just recorded

Ambient80 · Sep 24, 2018

Ok, so I have most of my morning routine set up, but I am stuck. So what I have is the morning commute from the Gallery downloaded. I modified it a bit to play a podcast instead of a playlist. I would like to add something where it also adds the weather for the day to my Shortcut, so it gives me a work ETA, Weather, Calendar events, and finally starts my podcast. Any ideas?

btkadams · Sep 25, 2018

Ambient80 said:
Ok, so I have most of my morning routine set up, but I am stuck. So what I have is the morning commute from the Gallery downloaded. I modified it a bit to play a podcast instead of a playlist. I would like to add something where it also adds the weather for the day to my Shortcut, so it gives me a work ETA, Weather, Calendar events, and finally starts my podcast. Any ideas?

I couldn't figure out a way to pull weather data from the stock weather app and have Siri say it with my ETA and other stuff. All it would do is launch the weather app.

But then I realized I have the Carrot Weather app downloaded and it supports Siri shortcuts in that way. Here is all I did to insert it into my Siri summary of my ETA.

Deleted member 9330 · Sep 25, 2018

Shortcut that dictates to a certain language based on your contact of choice

xxracerxx · Sep 25, 2018

I really need PocketCasts to update their app and add Shortcut support.

FliX · Sep 25, 2018

Zeyphersan said:
Shortcut that dictates to a certain language based on your contact of choice

What is this sorcery... That is awesome!

DassoBrother · Sep 25, 2018

I might look into it myself but has anyone else created a shortcut for sharing an app from the App Store to add it to a wishlist? I miss that feature and figure it is probably possible to recreate easily now with this.

Deleted member 9330 · Sep 25, 2018

DassoBrother said:
I might look into it myself but has anyone else created a shortcut for sharing an app from the App Store to add it to a wishlist? I miss that feature and figure it is probably possible to recreate easily now with this.

You can do that without a shortcut, just make a new Note called "Wishlist" and share your apps to it. That's what I do

DassoBrother · Sep 25, 2018

Zeyphersan said:
You can do that without a shortcut, just make a new Note called "Wishlist" and share your apps to it. That's what I do

I thought I tried that before and it didn't work the way I wanted but I must be crazy.

Vuze · Sep 25, 2018

DassoBrother said:
I might look into it myself but has anyone else created a shortcut for sharing an app from the App Store to add it to a wishlist? I miss that feature and figure it is probably possible to recreate easily now with this.

Use CheapCharts, it has an extension that will directly save it to their app. I used to run an AppShopper workflow but their site got extremely unreliable and I have since switched to CheapCharts for wishlisting/price alerts (even though you can't view their app section in the mobile app because Apple)

Thinking of store front stupidity, where the hell is Steam Link??????

eyeball_kid · Sep 25, 2018

I wish Apple had allowed third parties to submit actions to the Shortcuts app. This focus on only allowing Siri Shortcuts which have very limited interactions was really a bad choice IMO. I also don't like that the Shortcuts app has actions for third-party apps that aren't even installed on my device, I guess because these are all grandfathered in from the Workflow days and pre-baked. But I can't think of another Apple iOS app that does this. It feels like almost like an advertisement for these products.

eyeball_kid · Sep 25, 2018

double post

badcrumble · Sep 25, 2018

eyeball_kid said:
I wish Apple had allowed third parties to submit actions to the Shortcuts app. This focus on only allowing Siri Shortcuts which have very limited interactions was really a bad choice IMO. I also don't like that the Shortcuts app has actions for third-party apps that aren't even installed on my device, I guess because these are all grandfathered in from the Workflow days and pre-baked. But I can't think of another Apple iOS app that does this. It feels like almost like an advertisement for these products.

Third parties can submit actions to the Shortcuts app via their own apps.

There's an "easy" API to use for this and a "more complicated but more useful" API to use for this. Expect to see more and more of the latter as time goes on.

Quick · Sep 25, 2018

I wanted to get my feet wet in making my own shortcuts, but didn't really know where to start. MKBHD linked Snazzy Labs' tutorial, and while it's probably brief, it's incredibly helpful and simplifies it all. I just made my first really useful and simple shortcut for when I do presentations on my iPad (which I've been using a LOT lately for).

I want to improve on my workflow a bit more by making the Siri side simpler. My script has a Choose from Menu script, and when I activate the shortcut using Siri, I still need to interact with the screen to pick ON or OFF. Is there a way to get Siri to ask for a confirmation by voice command vs. tapping on options WITHOUT having to create separate shortcuts for ON and OFF?

Vuze · Sep 26, 2018

Quick said:
I wanted to get my feet wet in making my own shortcuts, but didn't really know where to start. MKBHD linked Snazzy Labs' tutorial, and while it's probably brief, it's incredibly helpful and simplifies it all. I just made my first really useful and simple shortcut for when I do presentations on my iPad (which I've been using a LOT lately for).

I want to improve on my workflow a bit more by making the Siri side simpler. My script has a Choose from Menu script, and when I activate the shortcut using Siri, I still need to interact with the screen to pick ON or OFF. Is there a way to get Siri to ask for a confirmation by voice command vs. tapping on options WITHOUT having to create separate shortcuts for ON and OFF?

You could use the dictation with "Stop listening after short pause" and then do an if else statement for On/Off (actually I just came up with this, but am confident it works).
Do tell me more about how presenting stuff on iPad works if you don't mind? Provided we are talking about PowerPoint/Keynote. I'm planning to sell my MacBook once Apple refreshed the Mac Mini later this year (#believe) and move that to my iPad.

Fliesen · Sep 26, 2018

So i just made my very first, super basic, shortcut...

... well, nah it isn't, it's just to repost instagram posts with the "Repost" app - which, and i have no idea why, doesn't have a share sheet extension.

So now it's "Share -> Share with -> Shortcuts -> IG repost"
instead of "Share -> 'Copy Link' -> manually open the repost app"

plain · Sep 26, 2018

Wow. Running scripts over SSH is a game changer for home automation. No more having to mess with Amazon's shitty developer tools for custom voice activated functions.

Makes me want to ditch my Echo's for a HomePod.

Vuze · Sep 26, 2018

plain said:
Wow. Running scripts over SSH is a game changer for home automation. No more having to mess with Amazon's shitty developer tools for custom voice activated functions.

Makes me want to ditch my Echo's for a HomePod.

Yeah, it's awesome. I already used this with Workflow, but being able to use Siri with it is the cherry on top.

Quick · Sep 26, 2018

Vuze said:
You could use the dictation with "Stop listening after short pause" and then do an if else statement for On/Off (actually I just came up with this, but am confident it works).
Do tell me more about how presenting stuff on iPad works if you don't mind? Provided we are talking about PowerPoint/Keynote. I'm planning to sell my MacBook once Apple refreshed the Mac Mini later this year (#believe) and move that to my iPad.

Thanks, I'll give this a shot. I decided to make two separate ON/OFF shortcuts with Siri commands for the time being that works. I'm just fussy and want everything organized in one. :p

Presenting on the iPad is actually very simple, simpler depending on which app you use. I've done around 6 of my 20 presentations the last week and a half on PowerPoint and the rest on Keynote. I switched from PP to Keynote because I was looking into a way to remotely control the slideshow with my phone. I believe there are remote apps available for PP, but Keynote has it built in by default on the iPhone and (bonus!) Apple Watch apps. And it's also free.

With PP, I had to interact with my iPad constantly to change slides, meaning I'd have to stand still in one spot or have to go back to the table Keynote now allows me to move around and interact with people as I do my thing.

Even better, the Keynote app on iPhone allows you to view your notes and remote control the slideshow all in one screen. I was prepared to switch apps constantly between Keynote and Dropbox, but this solves my problem entirely.

The shortcut I made is really simple, enabled both on my iPhone and iPad:

Choose From Menu

On:
Low Power Mode on
Volume set to 100%
Do Not Disturb on
Open [presentation name] - this won't actually open the presentation, just the Keynote Recent folder in Keynote. There is also a "Play [presentation name]" option that starts the presentation automatically.
Notification: "Presentation Mode On"

Off:
Low Power Mode off
Volume set to 50%
Do Not Disturb off
Notification: "Presentation Mode Off"

Apple Shortcuts |OT| Here’s To The Lazy Ones

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