Hello folks,
Next Tuesday, Apple will be hosting a “Spring Foward” event – and we’ll likely see iOS 14.5 come out alongside anything new.
With that, we’ll get three new actions in Shortcuts:
Below, I’ve got a few shortcuts you can use to take advantage of those, plus a few links from the community:
Hello folks,
I wanted to fully wrap up the iCloud links issue from a few weeks ago, as I received another statement after requesting clarification on the process, saying:
“Apple has confirmed the shortcuts have been restored.”
I haven’t had any issues and have been connecting with folks in the Shortcuts community since then, so we all seem glad to be moving on and looking forward to what’s coming next.
We’ve got iOS 14.5 coming with some new actions soon, and after that we’re in the endgame ahead of WWDC this June – until then, here’s what’s new this week:
After last week’s outage with Shortcuts links shared online, I received a statement from Apple on the manner:
“We are aware of an issue where previously shared shortcuts are currently unavailable. Newly shared shortcuts are available, and we are working to restore previously shared shortcuts as quickly as possible.”
Since then, they seem to have begun restoring access to previous iCloud links (according to Federico Viticci’s tweets).
It was good to see Apple give a proper response to the situation as well as promptly begin fixing things – although I haven’t received any official statement as a follow-up, so it’s unclear whether it has been fully resolved yet.
I hope Apple also reconsiders making .shortcut files available to install locally so users don’t have to rely on links instead of actual files for the multitude of programs that they spend time and effort creating with this app.
Until then, here’s what’s new this week:
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:
On Thursday March 25, I streamed with my designer friend Joey Banks and walked him through some of the oddities of the Home app, working on scenes, grouping devices, and HomeKit automations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie5DZ_p_6F4
Catch the replay on YouTube – and add my livestream calendar to tune into future 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 for both public and private member streams:
I’ll include links for each event for public YouTube streams, member posts with unlisted streams embedded inside, and my Twitch channel.
Check out the calendar online here and add it directly to your Calendar using the iCal format.
Hello all!
If you’re in the US, you might feel a little wobbly thanks to Daylight Saving Time – or if you’re somewhere it’s not used, all your US-based media just moved around an hour.
Thankfully I’ve got a new Daily Health shortcut that includes easier access to your Sleep data, as well as a way to set your alarms by the sunrise – I find I can’t help but wake up then anyways, so might as well get to sleep on time too!
Beyond that, there are some YouTube videos on Shortcuts for you to watch, as well as a challenge for you at the end:
This morning I published my new channel trailer for YouTube – “How To Get Started With Apple’s Shortcuts App”:
Make sure to visit the description for links to everything I mention, plus check out my updated Shortcuts Catalog.
Hello everyone!
After last week’s preview, I’ve officially launched my updated Shortcuts Library – check out the blog post to read my thoughts about the changes.
I’m also excited to start sharing the next batch of shortcuts with members—l’ll be putting out my Daily Health shortcut next issue—plus I’m starting in on new sections for the Catalog!
Until then, here’s some fun stuff to check out this week:
It’s my pleasure to announce that I’ve completely revamped my Shortcuts Library portion of my Shortcuts Catalog, remaking what was previously hundreds of shortcuts into a condensed set of:
I spent many hours combining each of my 100 or so Shortcuts folders and putting each shortcut inside a single shortcut for that folder, filled with menus of different actions to take – this is the same content as before, repackaged to be much more accessible.
Now you can browse through the collection on a single page – just pick a shortcut that sounds interesting to you based on my descriptions, add it, and run it to further explore what functionality it provides.
If you’re just figuring out Shortcuts for the first time or checking out my Shortcuts Library, Apple’s error dialog for “Shortcut Can’t Be Added” can be a little confusing. When you go to add a shared shortcut for the first time, Shortcuts will say you’re “not allowed” to add them and that you’ll have to change your security settings, but then it doesn’t take you there to fix everything up.
To help anyone dealing with this problem out, I wrote up a guide for iMore that explains how to change the setting properly – and I have some advice for being safe with shortcuts you’re adding:
Every person who finds a shortcut online and goes to add it should look through the actions included and try to understand what’s happening before they add it to their collection – and certainly before they run it.
Hey everyone,
This week is lowkey one of my most exciting weeks for Shortcuts, despite a bit of a lull until the next version of iOS comes out…
Plus we’ve got some fun app updates for now and our ear towards the future:
Last Friday, the episode of Automators that I recorded with Rosemary Orchard and David Sparks dropped — and it’s a great hour-and-a-half conversation about the current state of Shortcuts.
Rose, David, & I haven’t talked since the release of iOS 14, so this is a dive into how I’ve been applying those features, my latest breakthrough with my shortcuts, and my updated Shortcuts Library.
Rose & David are my kind of people, so this conversation was naturally a blast — listen to the full episode:
I’ve finally done it! My whole Shortcuts library has been fully rebuilt according to my new system and I’m truly loving it – plus I figured out another level of what should go on my true Home Screens, so that’s been really exciting and already proving itself out in usefulness.
Thankfully David Sparks and Rosemary Orchard swooped in at just the right time and had me as a guest on the Automators podcast – look for the excellent conversation this Friday when the episode drops!
Until then, here’s two more of my new shortcuts and some great Shortcuts tips I found in the community – plus, look for the fully-updated Shortcuts Catalog coming very soon:
Hey there,
There’s a good amount of Shortcuts news this week, but there’s no pressure to learn it all right away – take what you want now and save the rest for later.
I’m putting together a bit more of a guided path through Shortcuts for folks like you soon, so absorb what sticks now and I’ll reinforce it with some good lessons down the line:
After the amazing results from the survey I sent around, I’ve made a few changes to this newsletter – first by moving it to Wednesday afternoon (PST) instead of Sunday evenings.
I’m also going to create less single-serving shortcuts and fewer but more powerful shortcuts that solve particular use cases & provide more continued utility over time.
In many ways, it’ll be the same content, condensed into bigger shortcuts that handle multiple tasks in one tool.
In addition, I’ll be taking some of the writing here and building it out more on my blog & other channels, then linking back to that each week – for example, I’ll be pausing my Scripting series here and turning it into more useful blog posts.
That being said, you’ll still see lots of inklings of future content in the newsletter in smaller tips as we go.
Thank you so much for being a subscriber and/or a member – with this helpful feedback and my new approach, I’m truly more excited than ever to synthesize and translate what I know into useful resources for you all:
This week was somewhat quiet on the Shortcuts front – there’s likely a new version of iOS coming out soon so we’re in the calm before the storm – but that won’t stop us from having fun with it.
This week I’ve got a set for better note-taking habits, working through Item actions in the Scripting category, links to Automations, some of my streaming shortcuts, and handwriting shortcuts for Members:
Believe it or not, we’re still just out of the second full calendar week of 2021 – it’s felt way longer than that though thanks to ~current events~.
This week was a bit quiet on the technology news front, but that just means more room for building up new routines with Shortcuts – here’s how I’m using it to gain momentum and avoid doing the same work twice:
Hello all – I’m assuming 2021 did not start off the way many of us expected.
I hope you all are taking care of yourselves and your loved ones as much as possible, which is always important but even more so during stressful times. Engage as needed, take breaks, and do what needs to be done:
Hello Shortcuts friends!
If you’d like to be part of a community of people talking about and sharing Siri Shortcuts, you’re welcome to join my new Shortcuts User Group on Slack.
I’ve been running this small community for about a year now, consisting of a cohort of people who are interested in Shortcuts and want to learn from other people directly about how to integrate Siri Shortcuts into their lives.
If you join, you’ll get a chance to see how other individuals are using Shortcuts in creative ways, get ideas or inspiration on your own automations, and be able to check in with a group of like-minded folks.
We have channels for things like:
The community is open for anyone to join, although I do ask new members to be intentional and try to invite friends who’d want to actively participate over trying to grow the community as large as possible – these tend to work best when we all get a chance to know each other a bit. ?
Subscribers to my website membership will also be added to a private members-only channel so I can share the exclusive content there and chat with members directly.
Thanks for checking the Shortcuts User Group out – I look forward to meeting you in there!