Category: Offsite

iOS 16’s sleeper hit? Focus Filters might change how you use Apple devices forever

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 25
1 Comment on iOS 16’s sleeper hit? Focus Filters might change how you use Apple devices forever

Yours truly for iMore:

With Apple’s iPhone event just under two weeks away and iOS 16’s imminent release soon after, we’ve started to see developers share teasers for special features like Focus Filters that are being added to their apps.

And after testing the built-in Focus Filters actions for Mail, Safari, Calendar, and Messages during the beta period, I’m convinced Focus Filters will be a powerful — but slept-on — feature once iOS 16 releases.

To help people get started so they don’t miss out on this new capability, here’s how to set Focus Filters up and customize them using Shortcuts, along with three examples of apps implementing Focus Filters to customize their app’s contents when inside a Focus mode:

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags Focus Filters, Focus Modes, iMore

iMore Offsite

Why the Menu Bar is the best way to get started with Shortcuts for Mac

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 20

Yours truly for iMore:

Part of the core macOS experience is interacting with the Menu Bar, whether it’s choosing from the current app’s specific commands from the top left or using Menu Bar apps that sit at the top right of your screen all day long.

That’s why it’s fantastic that Apple released Shortcuts for Mac with Menu Bar support, showing a small Shortcuts icon that can be clicked to reveal a list of assigned shortcuts.

This small spot is perhaps one of the best to place the most-important shortcuts you use on a daily basis from your Mac, giving you quick access to running them, editing them, and even working interactively with what you currently have open on-screen:

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags iMore, Menu Bar, Shortcuts

iMore Offsite

The best ways to get started with Shortcuts on iPad

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 14

Yours truly for iMore:

The iPad has always provided the best experience for Shortcuts. From the much larger screen, to the drag-and-drop experience based on multitouch, and the natural opportunity for automation on a hand-held device, using Shortcuts on an iPad feels like the ultimate expression of the app.

But if you’re not familiar with good use cases for Shortcuts or don’t have a workflow based on the tablet, finding the best methods for working via Shortcuts on iPad might not immediately be obvious coming from a traditional computing experience.

That’s why we’re here to explain how multitasking, bookmarks, templates, and processing information are great opportunities for automation on your favorite iPad and how you can use Shortcuts to switch in and out of apps to get things done quickly, accurately, and without too much OS overhead:

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags iMore, iPad

iMore Offsite

12 ways to get the most out of Shortcuts for iPhone

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 7

Yours truly for iMore:

The best automation is the one you have with you, and that means Shortcuts for iPhone is the biggest opportunity for people to take advantage of Apple’s automation platform.

When building Shortcuts for iPhone, users should try to think about automation opportunities that work well for a small screen, can be carried around with you, and take advantage of the device-specific features.

With that in mind, here are four areas (with 12 example shortcuts) that are good to focus on in your own adventure:

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags iMore, iPhone, Offsite, Shortcuts

Livestreams Offsite

Shortcuts Live with special guest Rosemary Orchard

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 5

Join me and special guest Rosemary Orchard on Friday, August 12th at 10am PST to talk everything Shortcuts, especially her recently-updated book Take Control of Shortcuts (2nd edition).

Rosemary is the cohost of Automators on Relay FM with David Sparks, iOS Today on TWiT with Mikah Sargent, and her independent show Nested Folders with Scotty Jackson — she has a depth of knowledge about automation, smart homes, productivity, development, and everything in-between.

Come say hi in the chat and ask us questions as we talk all about Shortcuts!

Get notified here when the stream goes live.

Tags Livestreams, Rosemary Orchard, Take Control Books

iMore Offsite

Five apps Apple could automate to win over pro users

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date August 4

Yours truly for iMore:

Apple’s Shortcuts app is the best way to automate processes across its devices and develop professional workflows to get things done.

With iOS 16, Apple is adding many more actions for its own apps and improving its Shortcuts support with deep new actions. However, these updates have been limited to more everyday apps like Safari, Mail, and Reminders — but Apple’s pro-level apps haven’t received similar updates.

This piece covers five first-party apps that “pros” use to get their work done and some starter actions that Apple should add for each of them:

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags Actions, Apple, Apple Developer, Feedback Assistant, Final Cut, iMore, Logic, Shortcuts, TestFlight

iMore Offsite

Shortcuts gains powerful Find Tabs action for Safari, more in second public beta

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date July 30
1 Comment on Shortcuts gains powerful Find Tabs action for Safari, more in second public beta

Yours truly for iMore:

On Thursday, Apple released iOS 16 public beta 2, which includes a set of new actions for the Shortcuts app that work with Safari, Mail, and Reminders.

These actions include Find Tabs, Find Tab Groups, Find Bookmarks, Open Bookmarks, Find Reading Lists, Open Reading List Items, Search Mail, Open Mailbox, Open Smart List, Create Reminders List, and Search Reminders.

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags Betas, Bookmarks, Create actions, iMore, iOS 16, iOS shortcuts, Mail, Read later, Reading List, Reminders, Safari, Search, Tabs

iMore Offsite

Apple isn’t doing enough for new Shortcuts users — here’s how they can fix it

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date July 27

Yours truly for iMore:

When it comes Apple’s Shortcuts app, many new users are caught off guard. They hear about the potential, but the app is very complicated. When presented with a blank slate, many often don’t go further figuring it out.

For such an important app in Apple‘s ecosystem, the company needs to do a lot more to onboard first time Shortcuts users and get them familiar with the app and how to build in it. Here are three areas the company could improve on and why those matter for newbies:

Sometimes you need to call it like it is — I’ve written about some of these before, but I want to see a lot more so new users can get further quicker.

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags Apple, iMore, New users, Onboarding

iMore Offsite

Here are 7 ways to get started with Shortcuts for Apple Watch

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date July 23
1 Comment on Here are 7 ways to get started with Shortcuts for Apple Watch

Yours truly for iMore:

The Shortcuts app for Apple Watch is a small but powerful way to access the vast array of capabilities from the apps on your device, all from the convenience of a few taps on your wrist.

Some of the ways Shortcuts on Apple Watch can be most useful, however, are not immediately obvious — there’s a lot of potential in Shortcuts, but honing in on the best use cases and avoiding too much complexity is important for a good Watch-based experience.

This piece covers seven areas where you can build Shortcuts for Apple Watch that are worth exploring, have powerful actions to take advantage of, and work well when running from your favorite Apple Watch:

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags Apple Watch, Shortcuts

Guest appearances Offsite Podcasts

iOS Today #611: Setting up Focus Modes on your iPhone

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date July 22
1 Comment on iOS Today #611: Setting up Focus Modes on your iPhone

This Tuesday, I had the pleasure of being as a guest on iOS Today with Mikah Sargent:

Personalize your custom Focus modes in iOS 15 or iOS 16, from silencing specific notifications to switching screens based on location.

Home Screen customization

Lock Screen customization

Focus activation scheduling

Using particular colors for context

Watch the full episode on TWiT or on Apple Podcasts.

Tags Focus Modes, Shortcuts, TWiT

iMore Offsite

14 Shortcuts for Safari Views, Tab Groups, and Focus Filters to use with iOS 16

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date July 22
1 Comment on 14 Shortcuts for Safari Views, Tab Groups, and Focus Filters to use with iOS 16

Yours truly for iMore:

Safari has gained six actions of its own so far in the betas:

1. Open View
2. Open New Tab
3. Open New Private Tab
4. Create Tab Group
5. Open Tab Group
6. Set Safari Focus Filter

[…]

Currently only available for developers and public testers (but coming to everyone this fall), these actions are aimed at interacting with different “views” in Safari, plus creating tabs and doing basic Tab Group management.

To help you take full advantage of these, here are 14 shortcuts built out with each potential option across the actions so that you don’t have to build them yourself:

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags Betas, Focus Filters, iMore, iOS 16, Safari, Tab Groups

iMore Offsite

iOS 16 public beta adds 46 new Shortcuts actions for Focus Filters, Background Removal, Parked Cars

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date July 15

Yours truly for iMore:

If you’re installing the public beta, developer beta, or just curious about the new features for Shortcuts coming to iOS 16, you’ll be glad to know that Apple added 46 new actions that add deeper access and advanced functionality to the Shortcuts ecosystem.

The main set of actions for Shortcuts focuses on Notes, Voice Memos, and Safari, plus Shortcuts itself. Additionally, Apple added new actions for Clock, Files, and Parked Cars, plus more for features like Focus Filters, Background Removal, and Personal Hotspot, and PDFs.

Here’s the full list of what’s new (so far) in the public betas:

As a follow to my post covering the full set of actions coming in iOS 16, I wrote about the current set in the public betas — actions for Books, Mail, and Reminders aren’t working, so I’ll be publishing a follow-up on iMore when they become available in future betas.

Also of note — almost none of these work on the Mac either (yet?).

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags Actions, Betas, iMore, iOS 16, Public beta

iMore Offsite

8 ways to get help from Apple Support using Shortcuts

Post author By Matthew Cassinelli
Post date July 9

Yours truly for iMore:

Apple’s Support resources are incredibly helpful when you’re running into issues, need to repair a device, or for learning more about how to use your devices.

With an entire Knowledge Base online, the Apple Support app, and their social media pages, there’s a lot of ways to access help pages, get direct support, and browse more to learn on your own — so here’s a set of shortcuts to help you do just that.

Read the full story on iMore.

Tags Apple, Apple Support, iMore, Shortcuts