Category: iMore

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Apple is releasing tons of “hidden” features in Shortcuts — what about everyday users?

Yours truly for iMore:

As Apple continues to develop the Shortcuts app experience across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even Apple Watch, there are even more features and functionality that’s possible on Apple’s platforms, but only through the Shortcuts app.

As features like custom speaker groups become possible to create and break apart with Shortcuts, iOS often lacks a built-in, Apple-like way to activate the same functionality without using Shortcuts.

To put it another way, Apple is adding features to their OSes that otherwise don’t fit into the platform itself, but they can get away with adding by putting it into Shortcuts.

For example, there’s no elegant way to make combinations of speaker groups besides tapping around in Control Center, so instead Apple can ship it in Shortcuts, the power users are happy, and…everyday folks just…don’t get the feature?

I already got some comments on iMore in reply to my post, and I’d really love to know my readers’ thoughts on this too — please leave yours in the comments!

Read the full story on iMore.

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How to create speaker groups for HomePod using Shortcuts

Yours truly for iMore:

In iOS 15.4, Apple added new parameters to the Set Playback Destination action that updated the capabilities from being able to switch destinations to additionally being able to add and remove destinations.

With this functionality, Apple users can create and break apart speaker groups on-the-fly using Shortcuts, something that’s only otherwise been possible by manually selecting and deselecting speakers in the Control Center view.

This article covers four shortcuts that utilize the Set Playback Destination action, making it easy to change speakers, add to a group, remove from a group, and cast to multiple speakers at once:

Read the full story on iMore.

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Apple’s developer APIs for Shortcuts are way better this year

I interviewed three app developers about Apple’s latest improvements to the Shortcuts APIs for iMore:

Apple’s newest framework for implementing Shortcuts support in iOS, iPadOS, and Mac apps has been called “modern,” “expansive,” and “much easier,” according to app developers who’ve been testing the new framework since its release at WWDC.

I asked three developers — Alex Hay of Toolbox Pro, Seth Sandler of AffinityBlue (responsible for apps like Tunable), and Josh Holtz of ConnectKit — about the new App Intents framework, what new feature they’re looking to utilize going forward, and how things compare to what was previously available.

Here are their responses:

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Simple shortcuts to help you take notes on WWDC sessions

I made 7 Shortcuts to help you take notes on WWDC sessions for my iMore weekend piece:

With such a breadth of potential topics, sections to research, and videos to watch, it can be hard to wrap your head around what’s new.

So here’s a set of shortcuts to help you explore the conference material, get set up to take notes, and work with the transcripts in your own documentation.

The shortcuts are linked throughout, plus you’ll find the following list with iCloud links at the end:

  • Open WWDC sessions
  • Search WWDC sessions
  • Browse WWDC sessions
  • Open the Developer app
  • Developer TV
  • Full-screen session
  • Process transcript

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Why summer is the best time to get into Shortcuts

Yours truly for iMore:

Apple’s Shortcuts can be an overwhelming app, with so many actions, apps, and features to take advantage of that it can take time to set up and get using everything in a way that works for you.

With the upcoming beta releases that ship after WWDC and longer days (in the Northern hemisphere) throughout the summer, the next few months are the best time to get into Apple’s Shortcuts app.

Now that the apps are more stable, there are more actions from the App Store, and no time like the present, here’s why the Shortcuts app is worth digging into:

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How to use Apple’s new Accessibility Assistant shortcut to assess your needs (and 26 accessibility shortcuts)

Yours truly for iMore:

On Tuesday, Apple previewed new accessibility features coming to their platforms this year, including new navigation, health, and communication tools alongside Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD).

Among these announcements was the expansion of their Accessibility Assistant shortcut to Mac and Apple Watch to “help recommend accessibility features based on user preferences”.

The new shortcuts have now been released in the “Shortcuts for Accessibility” category in the Gallery for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, along with the 26 Accessibility shortcuts that users can add right away in their Shortcuts app.

Read the full story on iMore.

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Apple’s Shortcuts needs more first-party app support

Yours truly for iMore:

From Apple’s side, bringing Shortcuts support to one of their actions forces cross-platform parity, highlights the features of the app and makes them more accessible, and pushes them to be even better for the next set of expected actions.

For developers, Apple adopting Shortcuts gives them a template for how to build their own actions, gives greater emphasis on the ecosystem to encourage adoption, and also gives them hooks into the everyday default apps that people are using to tie together with their own third-party apps.

And for users, they are now able to take greater advantage of what’s possible, rediscover and utilize the features that are there, and can start to fully rely on Shortcuts as a true part of the iOS and macOS platforms.

Read the full story on iMore.

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15 ways to use Shortcuts with Pages, Keynote, and Numbers

Yours truly for iMore:

In iOS 15.4 and macOS 12.3, Apple updated their iWork suite of Pages, Keynote, and the Numbers app to include improved actions for the Shortcuts app across all three applications, bringing the feature to macOS for the first time, and improving on the previous iOS-only set of actions for the suite.

Each app has Open and Create actions to let users open files and generate templates, plus Apple included specialized actions to interact with their Keynote presentations and insert values directly into tables in Numbers.

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Shortcuts beta adds “Notify When Run” toggle to hide Automations

Yours truly for iMore:

In iOS 15.4 beta 1, Apple has added a new toggle to Personal Automations in the Shortcuts app for “Notify When Run.”
[…]
With the new “Notify When Run” toggle, Shortcuts users can toggle off the setting to notify them when the shortcut is run, meaning you won’t actively be alerted each time the automation trigger is met.

Shortcuts automations are becoming more seamless and will soon truly work in the background – it’s time to take more advantage of Personal Automations.

Read the full article on iMore.