Category: Links

Quick thoughts that link out to other sites

Links

Automating Devices with Elgato Stream Deck via Apple Shortcuts »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 30

From Daniel Raffel:

I bought an Elgato Stream Deck a few years ago to make it more pleasant to spend so much time on video calls. I was tired of fumbling with keyboard shortcuts and menus to turn my camera and microphone on and off. I also wanted a satisfying way to end video meetings with a physical button press!

After I got the Stream Deck, I learned that I could customize it to control physical devices in my office, such as my Apple HomeKit devices (eg lights, plugs, switches, etc.) I initially set up my Stream Deck to control my HomeKit devices using the Homebridge plugin, but I ran into some annoying issues that never got resolved. Later, I learned about the Shortcuts plugin from Sentinelite, which can trigger Apple Shortcuts from Stream Deck and switched over to it. While using Shortcuts to control my devices was significantly more cumbersome to initially set up, it added some handy features and it is way more reliable.

For instance, I have a complicated music studio, and I’ve always wanted a way to orchestrate turning on and off my studio devices in a certain order with some wait time in between to avoid loud speaker pops. Since all of my devices are connected to smart switches, I created an Apple Shortcut with some conditional logic to achieve this goal. I can now use my Stream Deck to turn on or off my music studio with a single button press, and I can be confident that everything will adjust in the right order. Here’s how the shortcut works…

You can also use AppleScript to trigger your Shortcuts, like I do.

Read the full article.

Tags Elgato, Linked, Shortcuts, Stream Deck

Links

Focus Pomodoro Timer Adds New App Shortcuts »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 29

From Focus on Mastodon:

New App Shortcuts 🤖

Focus now offers a comprehensive set of additional App Shortcuts for adding and managing tasks! Plus, App Shortcuts for accessing your activity stats. If you love automation, this update is for you!

View the post and get Focus on the App Store.

Tags apps, Focus, Linked

Links

If you are in danger, use this iPhone shortcut »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 29

From FuelForTheSole on Instagram Reels:

This iPhone hack could save your life! […] If you ever travel solo, setting up this Shortcuts sequence could save you!

✍️ Here are the full instructions:

1) If you have an iPhone, you will already have the Shortcuts App installed.

2) Open it and create a new Shortcut.

3) Give it a custom name and then choose your icon.

4) The first prompt is the “Send Message” prompt. This will allow you to add any text message you want. Then, choose the recipients you want to send it to (you can add as many people as you want).

5) Then add the “Take Photo” prompt. Set it to use your back camera and toggle off “Show Camera Preview”.

6) Then add another “Send Message” prompt so it will send that photo to everyone on your list.

7) Then add the “Take Video” prompt. Set it to use your front camera and set to start recording immediately.

8) Then add another “Send Message” prompt so it sends the video.

9) Add the “Upload to CloudApp” prompt so your video is saved to your cloud and no one can delete it.

10) Next add the “Get Current Location” prompt. Set the precision to “Best” so that it pinpoints your exact location.

11) Then add a “Send Message” prompt so it will send your location.

12) Add the “Get Maps URL from” prompt. This will link your current location to a map.

13) Add a Send Message” prompt so it will send your map URL.

✨Note: For every single prompt, you need to toggle OFF the “Show When Run” button. This allows the prompts to work automatically without you having to intervene.

14) Now click the down arrow icon and add this Shortcut to your home screen. Place this icon on its own screen on the first page so that it’s easy to find.

15) If you ever feel that you are in danger or that someone is following you, just press the Shortcut icon on your home screen. Your phone will automatically text everyone on your list, it will take a photo of what’s in front of you, a video of what’s behind you and it will send your exact location and link to a map of where you are.

Watch the video.

Tags Instagram, Linked, Safety, Shortcuts

Links

How to migrate from custom intents to App Intents »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 28

From Tyler Hillsman on Mastodon:

Fairly late in the summer, but if this helps anyone, I just discovered a Tech Talk (not a WWDC session) that digs into migrating custom intents to App Intents. Very very useful and I feel silly for not knowing this was out there the whole time:

https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/tech-talks/10168

And:

TL;DW (but you really should watch if any of those words mean anything to you): keep matching var names and types, anything else can seemingly change.

View the post and watch the Tech Talk.

Tags App Intents, App shortcuts, Developer, Linked

Links

The New Dual Shortcuts Widget Could Use Some Work »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 28

From Federico Viticci on Mastodon:

If the Home widget can show up to four buttons at once in the small size in iOS 17, why shouldn’t the Shortcuts one do the same?

In the replies, I agreed:

@[email protected] I also think it’s dumb that these are set using a folder – they should be individually-selectable.

No need to force both shortcuts to be in the 1 and 2 index in a specific folder.

View the post.

Tags Linked, Shortcuts, Widget

Links Tips & Tricks

Name This Pet Is the Best Feature of iOS 17 »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 22

Jeremy Burge for Mobile Tech Journal:

There’s plenty of new features in iOS 17 in September, but one has barely received a mention in Apple’s promotional material. In fact, it’s not even listed.

The feature? Pets are finally join People in the Photos app. And given how much people love their pets, this is gonna be crazy popular.

The feature itself is understated. Open a photo with your pet, enter its name, and instantly every photo of Bunny, Pot Roast or Hamlet is catalogued into their own fluffy album.

Oliver agrees.

View the original.

Tags iOS iOS 17, Linked, Pets, Photos

Apps Links

Tesla app adds Shortcuts support for vehicle controls »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 22

From Not A Tesla App (via The Verge):

The full list of supported vehicle controls include:

Bioweapon Defense Mode

Camp Mode

Defrost

Dog Mode

Precondition Vehicle

Set Seat Heater (seat position and heat level)

Set Temperature (choose climate temperature)

Vent Windows

Set Media Volume

Emissions Test

Close All Windows

Flash Lights

Honk Horn

Lock/Unlock

Open Frunk

Open/Close Charge Port

Open/Close Door (Model X)

Open/Close Rear Trunk

Sentry Mode

Set Charge Limit

Start/Stop Charging

Regardless of, well, ~everything~ associated with this, I am certainly jealous of any car owners who can automate their vehicle with Shortcuts.

Having just reviewed Apple’s documentation for how to Design great actions for Shortcuts, Siri, and Suggestions, these actions could use some improvement – actions like “Set __ Mode” or “Open ___” should be grouped under single actions using parameter relationships, not have individual actions per function.

View the original article.

Tags apps, Linked, Tesla

Apps Links

How to Pin Links in Apple Messages »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 16

From John Gruber on Daring Fireball:

When you pin a link, you can refer back to it in the profile details for the contact(s) in that thread. That’s the popover you get by:

Tapping the user avatar in the center of the top navigation bar on iOS.

Clicking the “i”-in-circle Info button on MacOS.

Scroll down in that popover and there’s a section for pins, right above the section showing all photos in the conversation.

Gruber goes on with a few updates to the post to explain all the oddities with how the feature is currently implemented – the feature is a good idea in theory, though.

View the linked post on Daring Fireball and read the original piece on AppleInsider.

Tags apps, Linked, Messages

Links Podcasts

Guest spot — Clockwise: I Can See All the Electrons in the Universe!

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 16

On Wednesday, August 16, I had the pleasure of joining Dan Moren and Mikah Sargent as a guest along with Kathy Campbell on Clockwise to talk about:

Whether we speed up audio and video media, how we’d want Apple to change Disney Parks, our thoughts on new Apple Watch bands, and what we’re hoping to see from Apple’s Shortcuts.

Check out Clockwise in Apple Podcasts or listen to the episode below:

Tags Clockwise, Guest, Linked, podcast, Relay FM

Apps Links

How to transfer data from Google Maps to Apple Maps »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 15

From Justin Pot for Popular Science:

The problem, if you’re a longtime Google Maps user, is all of the places you’ve saved in Google Maps over the years. These pinned locations come in handy, and switching to another map program often means starting over. Jumping from Google to Apple Maps would be a lot easier if there were a way to grab all your pinned places and take them with you. There is, it turns out, but it’s not exactly straightforward. The process will technically work on an iPhone or iPad, but I recommend you do it on a Mac, if possible.

Spoiler alert: he uses Shortcuts to process the JSON from Google Takeout – what a great idea.

Read the full article to get the shortcut and see the original Reddit thread.

Tags Apple Maps, apps, Google Maps, Google Takeout, JSON, Linked, Shortcuts

Links News

App Shortcuts Work on HomePod in iOS 17 »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 15

Following up with the news that watchOS apps are gaining App Shortcuts support, here’s a quote from Apple’s WWDC’23 developer session “Spotlight your app with App Shortcuts” transcript (line breaks added):

Secondly, App Shortcuts are now supported on HomePod.

This requires an App Shortcut enabled app to be installed on a companion iOS or iPadOS device. Unlike running on iOS or iPadOS, where App Shortcuts can result in launching the app, on HomePod, App Shortcuts may not launch the app at all.

For example, by simply having my Demo app on my iPhone, I can say to my HomePod, “Hey, Siri. Summarize my groceries list with Demo.” HomePod support for App Shortcuts is available from version 16.2 and newer.

When designing App Shortcuts for HomePod, consider that it is a voice-only device. Make sure you are returning clear and concise dialog to be spoken by Siri, since there won’t be any corresponding visuals.

The IntentDialog class has an initializer that takes both a “full” and “supporting” string. The HomePod will use the “full” dialog, while visual devices like iPhone will use the alternate “supporting” dialog. This allows you to be more brief when a user can reference a visual output, but remain fully descriptive if no screen is available.

I’m glad Apple (and developers) are putting in the work to match the dialog to the device – and that HomePod is getting even better Shortcuts support this year.

Watch the Apple developer session.

Tags App shortcuts, HomePod, iOS 17, Linked, News

Links News

Apple Watch Apps Can Provide App Shortcuts in watchOS 10 »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 15
1 Comment on Apple Watch Apps Can Provide App Shortcuts in watchOS 10 »

Hidde van der Ploeg on Mastodon:

I’m pretty sure it’s new that watchOS-only apps can now enable shortcuts to the shortcuts app without having an iOS companion app 😍✨

I can indeed confirm this is new – Apple mentions it in their “Spotlight your app with App Shortcuts” developer session from WWDC’23. Here’s what they say in the video:

App Shortcuts now work on Apple Watch, but you should be aware of some limitations to get the best possible experience. App Shortcuts on Apple Watch must come from a watchOS app installed on the device itself. App Shortcuts from a paired iOS device cannot be run on the Watch. This means that if you have an iOS app installed on iPhone, but not the corresponding watchOS app, your App Shortcuts will not work from watchOS.

Flexible matching with Siri is not available on Apple Watch, so phrases must be spoken exactly. Apple Watch support was introduced in watchOS 9.2 and is available on all devices running that version or later.

App Shortcuts are also now discoverable on Apple Watch. Just like on iOS, the Shortcuts app on watchOS prominently features App Shortcuts available on the device.

Just to be clear, App Shortcuts will work on both standalone watchOS apps and companion watchOS apps.

Plus, you will run into issues if you’re trying to run App Shortcuts from the watch and the corresponding iPhone app doesn’t have a Watch app – developers, get to building your watch apps!

View the post on Mastodon and watch the moment from the Apple developer session.

Tags Apple Watch, Linked, News

Links

Automating with Shortcuts and macOS Folder Actions »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 14

From Jason Snell at Six Colors:

Folder Actions is pretty clever—you can run scripts when items are added or removed from a folder, when the folder is opened or closed, or when the window of that folder is moved in Finder.

Unfortunately, this is a feature that is wired directly into AppleScript. So in order to use a version of my existing shortcut with Folder Actions, I needed to write a three-line AppleScript script:
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
    tell application "Shortcuts Events" to run the shortcut named "Apple Result Transcriptor" with input added_items
end adding folder items to
Pretty dumb — for those keeping score we’ve now gone from Audio Hijack to AppleScript to Shortcuts in order to get what we want. (I could’ve rewritten my Shortcut in AppleScript, but… I don’t want to do that!) And yet also pretty brilliant, because I’m using a 21-year-old OS feature to run a Shortcut, an automation system that didn’t appear on the Mac until 2021.

Neat feature – and I agree with Jason’s conclusions at the end about Automations on the Mac.

Read the full story on Six Colors.

Tags Automation, Finder, Folder Actions, Linked, macOS

Links

Apple Music ‘Discovery Station’ goes live for subscribers »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 7

From Zac Hall at 9to5Mac:

Discovery Station is algorithmically based on a user’s music taste similar to Your name’s Station.

The key difference with the new station, however, is that it shouldn’t play songs from your library or playlists.

Plus, you can start the station using the Play Music action in Shortcuts – here’s my new shortcut to do just that.

View the full article on 9to5Mac and get my folder of Apple Music shortcuts in the Shortcuts Library.

Tags Apple Music, Links, News

Links Podcasts

Interactive Widgets Are Built Using App Intents: What That Means For Shortcuts »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 1

Craig Hockenberry of Iconfactory speaking on The Talk Show #382, starting at 1:13:23 (transcribed and lightly edited for text):

I see a lot of opportunities there for developers to make the widgets just come alive. I think it’s a great little thing that they’ve done.

The side effect of this, I think is—even kind of probably better in the long term—is that that way you do this is something that’s sort of like a little shortcut. And it’s gonna expose a lot of developers to the Shortcuts technology.

So like that button that’s on your widget that says, oh, play this radio station? Well, I’m obviously gonna write a shortcut that says, play this radio station. So you can automate that. So, like, if I go into my Focus mode, or if I get home, it starts playing the radio station on the kitchen HomePod.

And for me that’s the thing that really is powerful because it takes that interaction and makes it something that you can use throughout your life. That’s for me the most interesting thing, that’s why we’re talking about vision OS and all these other things is interactions that fit into your life, are really – that’s the goal.

That’s the thing I love doing the most.

Lovely sentiment – Craig gets it.

Listen to the full episode and check out Iconfactory.

Tags App Intents, Iconfactory, Interactive Widgets, iOS 17, Linked, The Talk Show

Links

The must-try iPhone shortcut to help you remember everything »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 1

From Kurt Knutsson of the CyberGuy Report over on Yahoo:

With the power of technology at our fingertips, it’s becoming easier to manage daily life, even for those grappling with issues such as short-term memory loss. Apple’s “Remember This” shortcut is one such tool that acts as an invaluable assistant for memory support and mindfulness.

This shortcut lets you quickly build a visual and textual log of your daily activities and serves as a handy digital journal.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on setting it up and using it effectively.

I missed sharing about this shortcut when it was originally released by Apple back in May – worth checking out for sure.

Read the full article.

Tags Links, Reminders, Shortcuts

Links Podcasts

Automators Talk Personal Automation Fun »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 1

From Rosemary Orchard and David Sparks on Automators on Relay FM:

Rose and David share a collection of their favorite personal automations ranging from task and project management to home automation.

My pals Rosemary and David talked about their latest automation adventures on, well, Automators – highly recommend the show.

Listen the podcast.

Tags Automators, Linked, podcast

Links

How to Get a Custom Alert When Your iPhone Reaches Full Charge »

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date July 31

From MakeUseOf:

Are you worried about leaving your iPhone to charge for extended periods and what it can do to your battery life? While your device notifies you when the battery percentage drops below 20% and 10%, there’s no other way to know when it’s fully charged without manually checking.

But having to constantly check if your iPhone is fully charged can be an inconvenience. The good news is, with the built-in Shortcuts app, you can set up a custom alert that triggers when your iPhone reaches full charge. We’ll show you how to do it:

Read the full article.

Tags Automations, Battery, Charging, iPhone, Linked