Hello all – we’re currently experiencing a fairly major outage for iCloud links related to Shortcuts, and at the moment almost every shortcut that has been shared in the past cannot be installed.
There are articles from places like iMore, MacStories, 9to5Mac, and MacRumors on it – I posted on r/shortcuts as well to reiterate the issue to the community there.
I’ve also had to update my entire Shortcuts Catalog, and if you’ve seen any shortcuts from the past that aren’t working, let me know and I’ll see what I can do to recreate or restore them.
This is still developing and, while it does seem like it’s possible to resolve, I shared a thread where I highlighted how major issues like this are eroding the larger trust in Shortcuts, especially outside the current community – this is a crisis moment for Shortcuts.
I hope Apple is able to dedicate resources to fully overcoming the technical debt accrued inside the Shortcuts ecosystem, as well as restoring trust in the community – the people who are in this community and our ideas for how to use shortcuts are stronger than ever, but we’re constantly trying to stand on uneven ground.
So with that said, I want to celebrate this community and what they’re doing:
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New Shortcuts videos from Mikah & Rosemary, Christopher Young, and the folks at MacRumors:
- **iOS Today 540: Starting With Shortcuts | TWiT**
On episode 540 of iOS Today, Mikah Sargent and Rosemary spent the whole show talking about “Starting with Shortcuts” – catch the whole video on YouTube or follow the video podcast because they’re both amazing hosts and absolutely know their stuff when it comes to Apple. - **How To Use Convert To Shortcuts And IFTTT To Enable Smarter Notifications In Your Apple HomeKit Home | HomeKit Geek on YouTube**
Make sure to check out Christopher Young’s video on the tapping into the combination of IFTTT and the “Convert to Shortcut” feature of HomeKit automations – this is the real power of Shortcuts’ hooks inside Home Automations. - **Handy iPhone and iPad Shortcuts You Should Check Out | MacRumors**
MacRumors has a good video (and article to go with it) about a handful of shortcuts that you can try out.
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My new Clipboard Manager shortcut, my livestream calendar, and walking through the Home app tomorrow afternoon:
- **New Clipboard Manager shortcut for members**
I’ve added revamped version of my clipboard manager that lets you copy & paste text and store it over time while time– it helps me keep track of things like links or rewrite bits of text without losing the earlier versions. This saves everything into /Shortcuts/Clipboard.txt so you can access the full list, but displays the last few entries at a time to keep things clean. - **Walking through the Home app with Joey Banks – stream Thursday at 4:30pm PST**
This Thursday, I’ll be streaming with my designer friend Joey Banks and walking him through some of the oddities of the Home app, working on scenes, grouping devices, and HomeKit automations. This is a public stream, so tune in on YouTube. - **Add the new calendar for all my livestreams**
Speaking of streams, I’ve created a new Google Calendar for all of my livestreams so that folks can add it to their devices and see when I’ll be live. I’ve also got a shortcut that can check for upcoming streams even when the calendar is disabled from view, so it needn’t busy up your personal calendars but can still be accessed via Shortcuts.
Before you go, I do want to reiterate that I’ll be live-streaming more often – and I plan on communicating about any that are unplanned mainly by using this new calendar, @cassinellimedia, and the Shortcuts User Group slack.
This will include the full mix of members-only as well as freely-available streams, so check in regularly – and as always, members can access the full archive on the Extras page.
