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Category: Siri Shortcuts
Last Tuesday, I gave a talk to over 300 developers at Deep Dish Swift about Apple Intelligence, where I made the following claim:
Apple will win the AI race
I’m an expert on App Intents, the API that powers the yet-to-be-seen features of Apple Intelligence – Actions and Personal Context. After designing implementations with my clients, and seeing the trends around AI-assisted coding, hearing rumors of an iOS 19 redesign, and seeing the acceleration effects of artificial intelligence, I believe Apple is skating to where the puck will be, rather than where it is now.
I’ll leave the thesis for the talk – but if you’re building for any Apple devices, you’ll want to understand how important App Intents is to the future of the platform:
Watch the 54-minute talk from Deep Dish Swift on YouTube Live.
I’m super excited to be giving my talk on Apple Intelligence live tomorrow at Deep Dish Swift – if you’re interested in tuning in to the conference stream, follow Deep Dish Swift on YouTube:
Check out Deep Dish Swift live and learn more about the conference.
I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Perplexity shortcuts for asking Perplexity to do research for you.
Use these to open the sections of the website, ask questions in new threads on iPhone and iPad, interact with the Mac app using keyboard shortcuts, go deeper on the Perplexity experience, and interact with the API:
Website
- Open Perplexity AI: Opens the website for Perplexity AI in your default browser.
- Open Perplexity Discover: Opens the Discover page from Perplexity, which curates top stories for you and summarizes them.
- Open my Spaces in Perplexity: Opens the Spaces section of Perplexity, where you can create research and collaboration hubs built on top of Perplexity search.
- Open Perplexity Library: Opens the Library section of Perplexity, where you can see Threads and Pages around searches you’ve performed.
iOS and iPadOS app
- New Search in Perplexity: Opens Perplexity to a new, blank search using the Auto mode.
- New Pro Search in Perplexity: Opens Perplexity to a new, blank search set to Pro mode, which acts as your conversational search guide. “Instead of quick, generic results, Pro Search engages with you, fine-tuning its answers based on your needs.”
- Ask Perplexity: Prompts you to “Ask anything” before opening into Perplexity to search for your query.
- Play Perplexity Discover: Immediately starts a Live Activity session for Perplexity Discover, using stories drawn from the Discover feed and spoken by ElevenLab’s voices.
- Summarize articles with Perplexity: Creates a series of Threads in Perplexity for URLs shared as input, either from the Share Sheet or by detecting what’s on screen. Includes logic for multiple links, opening each URL in the background until the final query.
Mac app
- Set up Perplexity for Mac: Opens the Mac app for Perplexity AI, resizing the window to 1024×770 and moving it to the center of the current display.
- New Thread in Perplexity: Simulates the keyboard shortcut for Command + Shift + P, which activates the Perplexity search bar from anywhere.
- Voice Mode in Perplexity: Simulates the keyboard shortcut for Command + Shift + M, which activates the Perplexity voice mode in a popover window.
- Upload File in Perplexity: Simulates the keyboard shortcut for Command + Shift + U, which activates the Perplexity upload process and shows a Finder window where you can select the file to upload.
- Voice Dictation in Perplexity: Simulates the keyboard shortcut for Command + Shift + D, which activates the Perplexity voice dictation in the search bar so you can enter a query hands-free.
- Screen Capture with Perplexity: Simulates the keyboard shortcut for Command + Shift + 0, which activates the Perplexity screen capture and prompts whether to capture an Area, Window, or Fullscreen.
Deep Dive
- Open my Perplexity account settings: Opens the Perplexity website to Settings > Account, where you can change general settings like the Appearance, as well as subscription details or system settings.
- Edit my Perplexity profile: Opens the Perplexity settings to the Profile section, where you can tell Perplexity information about yourself and your preferences to inform results.
- Read the Perplexity blog: Opens the Perplexity blog, where you can see stories and announcements from the team on new updates or changes to the service.
- Open the Perplexity discord: Opens the deep link into Discord for the Perplexity channel using the unique ID and channel ID.
- Show the Perplexity Supply store: Opens the website for Perplexity Supply, the clothing line for fans of Perplexity.
API
- Open the Perplexity API docs: Opens the URL for the Perplexity API documentation, so you can quickly reference how to get started or learn about the API.
- Open the Perplexity API reference: Opens the Perplexity API website to the API reference, starting with Chat Completions, you can test your commands against the API and see what’s working.
- Get my Perplexity API key: Stores your API key for Perplexity. Store the result as base64-encoded text so it’s not readable as plain text, which is then decoded as this is run.
- Manage my Perplexity API keys: Opens the Perplexity website to your API settings, where you can manage API keys and payment details.
Check out the folder of Perplexity shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.
New in iOS 18.4, Apple is making a new Food section available to Apple News+ subscribers, creating a curated browsing and recipe experience within the app. Located on iPhone under the Following tab and Food section, or in the Food section of the sidebar on iPad and macOS, this new category curates stories for you based on your chosen interests and browsing history, plus provides an entire Recipe Catalog and cooking experience for recipes with ingredients & instructions.
The entire experience for News+ Food is fantastic, albeit somewhat buried inside the News app – that’s why I’ve built a set of shortcuts to quickly access the sections from anywhere. In my folder of Apple News Food shortcuts, you can find shortcuts to access the main Food section, the Recipe Catalog, and two curated sections that are shown within the category for Healthy Eating and Kitchen Tools & Techniques.
You can use these with Siri, place them in a Medium widget, or even add them as Controls in Control Center or the Lock Screen – the Recipe Catalog would work great using Add to Home Screen as well, as Stephen Robles demonstrated in his video that highlights the Food feature.
So far, the News team at Apple has only ever created the Show Today Feed and Show Topic actions, and relied on the concept of “donations” (where an action only becomes available after the user interacts with a particular section) for sections like Magazines, Puzzles, and now the Recipe Catalog. Along this route, I’d love to see the Saved Recipes section available as a donated action, as well as being able to open directly to a saved recipe would make a lot of sense. But, going further, I wish the News team would adopt a full suite of actions like Get Recipes, Find Recipe, Save/Unsave Recipe, Cook Recipe, and Read The Story (for a recipe).
Get the folder of Apple News Food shortcuts in my Shortcuts Library (requires iOS 18.4).
I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Apple News Food shortcuts for the new Food section in Apple News+, available in iOS 18.4.
Use these shortcuts to browse stories from the Food, Healthy Eating, and Kitchen Tools & Techniques sections, as well as open directly to the Recipe Catalog.:
- Open Food in News+: Opens to the new “Food” section in Apple News+ that curates stories and recipes for you.
- Open Recipe Catalog in News: Opens the News app to stories from the Recipe Catalog feature, new in the new Food section in Apple News+.
- Show Kitchen Tools and Techniques: Opens the section for Kitchen Tools & Techniques in the new Food section for Apple News+ subscribers.
- Show Healthy Eating stories: Opens the News app to stories about Healthy Eating, located in the new Food section for Apple News+ subscribers.
Check out the folder of Apple News Food shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.
I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Conversations shortcuts that take advantage of the Open Conversation action available in iOS 18.4.
Use these to open from any conversation, choose from your pinned chats, or open into any group chat or solo conversation:
- Open a conversation: Prompts you to choose from all your conversations in Messages, listed in chronological order from recent to oldest, then opens your choice.
- Open from my pinned conversations: Presents a menu of nine conversations to open in Messages, matching your list of nine pinned conversations from within the app.
- Show the group chat: Opens the conversation in Messages for your primary group chat, so you can text them all the details.
- Open chat with Mom: Opens the Conversation in Messages with your mother, so you can ask when’s a good time to call her.
- Open chat with Dad: Opens the conversation with your father, allowing you to see your past messages.
- Open chat with Sibling: Opens the Messages conversation with your sibling, so you can stay better-connected.
- Open the Family thread: Opens the conversation for your Family group chat so you can keep up with everyone.
Check out the folder of Conversations shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.
Many people don’t know that the Shortcuts app can be automated on the Mac using its dedicated scripting dictionary.
This requires a bit of meta thinking, but that means both the application itself and all the shortcuts contained within it are available to control remotely via AppleScript and applications like Script Editor – as well as triggered via devices like the Stream Deck, which I use every day at my Mac mini.
In order to make these methodologies more accessible, I wanted to share instructions here on how to access the AppleScript dictionary for Shortcuts, plus share a copy of the commands so everything is freely available on the web.
Here’s how to access Shortcuts’ scripting dictionary:
- Open the Script Editor app
- In the Menu Bar, select File > Open Dictionary (or press Command + Shift + O)
- Browse through the dictionaries until you find Shortcuts’ (or type “Shortcuts” on the keyboard to navigate there directly), then open the Dictionary.
- There, you’ll see Standard Suite and Shortcuts Suite; under Shortcuts Suite, you’ll find the “Classes and Commands for working with Shortcuts.”
For reference, here’s what is documented in the command set:
Shortcuts Suite
Classes and Commands for working with Shortcuts
application n [see also Standard Suite]ELEMENTS
contains shortcuts, folders.
—-
shortcut n : a shortcut in the Shortcuts applicationELEMENTS
contained by application, folders.
PROPERTIESname (text, r/o) : the name of the shortcut
subtitle (text, r/o) : the shortcut’s subtitle
id (text, r/o) : the unique identifier of the shortcut
folder (folder) : the folder containing this shortcut
color (RGB color, r/o) : the shortcut’s color
icon (TIFF image, r/o) : the shortcut’s icon
accepts input (boolean, r/o) : indicates whether or not the shortcut accepts input data
action count (integer, r/o) : the number of actions in the shortcut
RESPONDS TOrun.
—-
folder n : a folder containing shortcuts
ELEMENTS
contains shortcuts; contained by application.
PROPERTIES
name (text) : the name of the folder
id (text, r/o) : the unique identifier of the folder
—-
run v : Run a shortcut. To run a shortcut in the background, without opening the Shortcuts app, tell ‘Shortcuts Events’ instead of ‘Shortcuts’.
run shortcut : the shortcut to run
[with input any] : the input to provide to the shortcut
→ any : the result of the shortcut
—-
To keep this post as reference material, I’ll share methods for utilizing these AppleScript commands here on my blog using my AppleScript tag.
To learn more about scripting, check out Apple’s documentation for Navigating a Script Dictionary – that’s part of the now-archived Mac Automation Scripting Guide which provides more insight into how Script Editor and AppleScript can be used across macOS.
Apropos of something admirable, I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of MacStories shortcuts for interacting with MacStories.net, the premiere independent website for Apple news, app reviews, and Shortcuts coverage.
Use these shortcuts to access different parts of the site, find and listen to MacStories podcasts, show the website’s social media profiles, and dive into Club MacStories content.
MacStories is the website that introduced me to Shortcuts originally, and I learned so much from the Workflow tag back in the day – check it out:
- Open MacStories.net: Opens the main homepage of MacStories.net, showing the latest stories from Federico Viticci and friends.
- Show stories from MacStories RSS: Pulls 25 items from the MacStories main RSS feeds and asks you to choose which to open in Safari.
- Show MacStories podcasts: Opens the Apple Podcasts link for the MacStories channel, where you can discover and follow podcasts from the network.
- Play a MacStories podcast: Presents a menu of MacStories shows, then plays the next episode from the selected show based on the preselected custom sort order (or default order from the Podcasts app).
- Open MacStories on Flipboard: Opens the MacStories account on Flipboard so you can read stories from Federico Viticci and friends.
- Show the Setups on MacStories: Opens the Setups page on the MacStories website where the team shares about their devices and desk setups in-depth.
- Show Reviews on MacStories: Opens the Reviews category on the MacStories website where the team posts app coverage and reviews.
- Show the Shortcuts Archive on MacStories: Opens the Shortcuts Archive page on the MacStories website where the team hosts over 300 shortcuts freely available to download.
- Open Club MacStories+ on Discord: Opens the deep link into the General channel in the private Discord for members of Club MacStories. Join Club MacStories for access: https://club.macstories.net
- Show the Shortcuts tag on MacStories: Opens the tag page on the MacStories website for stories marked with “Shortcuts.”
- Show the Workflow tag on MacStories: Opens the tag page on the MacStories website for stories marked with “Workflow,” the original version of the Shortcuts app – these stories introduced me to the app before I joined the team. So, uh, thanks Federico!
- Open MacStories on Mastodon: Opens the MacStories profile in the Mastodon app or on the web.
- Open MacStories on Bluesky: Opens the MacStories profile in the Bluesky app or on the web.
- Open from Club MacStories RSS feed: Given your custom Club MacStories RSS feed, this will retrieve the 25 latest items published for members-only and asks you which links you want to open.
- Open Club MacStories: Shows the main homepage for Club Macstories, the members-only portion of the MacStories website with weekly newsletters, community events, and private stories with more advanced techniques.
- Open Club MacStories on Discord: Opens the deep link into the General channel in the private Discord for members of Club MacStories. Join Club MacStories for access: https://club.macstories.net
- Advertise on MacStories: Opens the “Advertise” page on the MacStories website where brands can learn more about how to sponsor the website and advertise to the passionate group of MacStories readers.
Check out the folder of MacStories shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.
Apple has just released their Apple Music Replay feature for 2024, curating stats and visualizations around your listening habits from the last year on the web and in the app for the first time.
It’s always interesting to see your top tracks and artists, but some folks like Halide designer Sebastiaan de With have already run into a common problem – their children’s music is mixed in with their own:
The children’s music is gaining ground on my Apple Music replay. The burden of being a parent
— Sebastiaan de With (@sdw.bsky.social) December 3, 2024 at 10:00 AM
[image or embed]
Thankfully, Apple recently built a feature for the Music that lets you choose whether to Use Listening History, available in the form of a Focus Filter applied to a specific Focus mode.
In Settings, in the Focus section, you can apply a Focus Filter to a specific Focus by choosing which mode from the list and scrolling down to Focus Filters, which Apple says lets you “Customize how your apps and device behave when this Focus is on.”
When you select “Add Filter,” you’ll see a popover of App Filters and System Filters that let you pick which filters to use to customize during this Focus. Apple’s description explains “Selected apps will be notified when this Focus turns on or off,” immediately activating the filter outside the app and updating things like the widget experience or background tasks.
For the Music app, there’s a Focus Filter for “Use Listening History” where you can “Choose if music played will influence recommendations and mixes, appear in Recently Played, or be shown to others on Apple Music.”
Adding the Focus Filter will apply it to the current Focus, whether it’s set off to ignore your habits or enabled to track your listening history whenever the Focus is enabled. For someone like a parent, they could create a “Home” mode separate from their own “Personal” mode and disable listening history while at home but enable it while listening on their own.
In iOS 18, Apple also added a Set Music Focus Filter action to the Shortcuts app that enables automated control over one’s listening history. With a Shortcuts action, users can add or clear the Focus Filter from any focus mode as needed, plus enable it or disable it on the fly without fully designating a Focus mode just for this feature.
In my set of Apple Music Replay shortcuts, I built two shortcuts that take advantage of it: Enable Listening History and Disable Listening History, which you can run to pick a Focus mode and toggle the setting as needed.
Adding this functionality in Shortcuts essentially makes the “Use Listening History” feature available separately from a Focus Filter, letting you toggle it on for any period of time and turn it off manually again when you’re done.
Plus, if you want to go even further, Automations in Shortcuts can give you control over whether to Use Listening History in almost any context, from triggers like location-based automations to whether you pressed the Action button while holding your iPhone horizontally while driving.
I also built shortcuts to Toggle Listening History for any Focus mode that works really well as a Control in Control Center, as well as a shortcut to Clear the Focus Filter from any Focus mode should you be done with the feature entirely.
Plus, since I enjoy listening to my Apple Music Replay playlists, I built a set of shortcuts for each year to shuffle the songs and let me quickly jump back into all my favorite songs ever since I first got an Apple Music subscription – as well as a new shortcut to show Apple Music Replay on the web.
Check out the folder of Apple Music Replay shortcuts in my Shortcuts Library and check out Sebastiaan’s post on Bluesky.
I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Apple Music Replay shortcuts for the Apple Music Replay experience, from accessing playlists to manage your listening history.
Use these shortcuts to add Music Focus Filters to control whether to Use Listening History, jump into the Replay experience on the web, or play from your past Apple Music Replay playlists:
- Enable listening history: Asks you to pick a focus mode, then sets the Music Focus Filter for “Use Listening History”” to ON so anything you listen to will be tracked and added to Apple Music Replay.
- Disable listening history: Asks you to pick a focus mode, then sets the Music Focus Filter for “Use Listening History”” to off so you can listen to anything without it being added to your Apple Music Replay.
- Show Apple Music Replay: Opens the website for Apple Music Replay where you can visualize your past year of music listening habits.
- Play my Replay 2024: Plays the preselected Replay 2024 playlist on Shuffle. The biggest change for me in 2024? My top 5 songs are Dance tracks.
- Play my Replay 2023: Plays the preselected Replay 2023 playlist on Shuffle. This year, my top tracks are full of electronic and Fred Again – plus, Mall Rat from The Sims (which I listening to on repeat jokingly and then not jokingly while doing chores).
- Play my Replay 2022: Plays the preselected Replay 2022 playlist on Shuffle. My top tracks of the year were full of Kraughnbin and Foals.
- Play my Replay 2021: Plays the preselected Replay 2021 playlist on Shuffle. My top track of the year was “Treat People With Kindness” from Harry Styles, something I needed to remember after 2020 and the start of 2021.
- Play my Replay 2020: Plays the preselected Replay 2020 playlist on Shuffle. Apparently during lockdown, I listened to Lockdown and Make It Better by Anderson .Paak a lot – for some reason.
- Play my Replay 2019: Plays the preselected Replay 2019 playlist on Shuffle. My top artists included Vulfpeck, Big Wild, and Tycho.
- Play my Replay 2018: Plays the preselect Replay 2018 playlist on Shuffle. Top tracks include ‘Til Its Over by Anderson .Paak, which reminded me this was the year I first got a HomePod.
- Play my Replay 2017: Plays the preselected Replay 2017 playlists on Shuffle. Top tracks include Cash Machine, which I found infinitely funny/enjoyable during the same year when the company I worked at got sold to Apple.
- Play my Replay 2016: Plays the preselected Replay 2016 playlist on Shuffle. My top tracks of the year—not even joking—were Burn The Witch, Can’t Keep Checking My Phone, Daydreaming, Better Strange, and Bored to Death. Uncanny.
- Play my Replay 2015: Plays the preselect Replay 2015 playlist on Shuffle. Top tracks include Dreams, Let It Happen, and Eventually…
- Toggle listening history: Asks you to pick a focus mode, then toggles the current Music Focus Filter setting for “Use Listening History” so you can switch whether or not to Use Listening History for a chosen focus with an existing filter. Works well as a Control in Control Center.
- Clear listening history filter: Asks you to pick a focus mode, then clears the Music Focus Filter and removes all settings for “Use Listening History” for that Focus.
Check out the folder of Apple Music Replay shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.
I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Comixology shortcuts for reading comics using Comixology from Amazon and the Kindle website.
Use these to manage your library, find new comics to buy, and check out Comixology Unlimited:
- Show my Comics library: Opens the Kindle library on the web to the Comics tab where you can see your full list of comics available to read.
- Show my Comics notes and highlights: Opens the Amazon highlight notebook for all Kindle highlights, including from Comics.
- Search for Comics on Amazon: Asks you for a search query, then forms it for the Amazon search results URL with a filter for Comics applied.
- Open Comixology store: Opens the Amazon storefront for Comixology, their comics store and subscription service.
- Show my Comixology cart: Opens the main Comixology home page and shows the Basket so you can see the total items in your cart and check out.
- Show Best Sellers for you: Opens the “See More” link on your personalized Comixology storefront curating Best Sellers for you based on your collection.
- Show this week’s new releases: Opens the New Releases tab in the Comixology section of the Amazon website.
- Show New Release top sellers: Opens the “See More” link in the New Releases section of your Comixology home on the Amazon website where you can see comics curated for you that are top sellers.
- Discover a comic series: Opens the “See More” link from your curated Comixology homepage to the “Discover a new comic series” page on Amazon.
- Show comics inspired by browsing history: Opens to the curated page on the Comixology storefront where you can see recommendations based on pages you’ve visited on Amazon.
- Manage Comixology Unlimited collection: Opens your Amazon profile to the Digital Content management page for Comixology Unlimited where you can do things like delete comics or add them to collections.
- Show Comixology Unlimited preview: Opens the Amazon preview page for Comixology Unlimited so you can read about the experience, see what’s available in the collection, and manage your account.
- Sign up for Comixology Unlimited: Opens to the Subscribe page for Comixology Unlimited so you can start your free trial and agree to sign up after 30 days.
- Manage my Comixology account: Opens the Amazon website to the Comixology account management page, where find links to your library or the Kindle app and connect your Amazon/Comixology accounts as needed.
Check out the folder of Comixology from Amazon shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.
I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Bluesky shortcuts for accessing the different parts of the Bluesky social network.
Use these to switch to different tabs in the app or on the web, access your Lists, and open any profile:
- Open Bluesky Search: Opens the Search page on Bluesky where you can enter your query, find suggested accounts, and discover new feeds.
- Open Bluesky Home: Opens the Home feed on Bluesky so you can see your Discover & Following feeds, plus any pinned Lists.
- Open Bluesky Chat: Opens the Chat tab of Bluesky so you can see your messages, start a new chat, and change your chat settings.
- Open Bluesky Notifications: Opens the Notifications tab of Bluesky so you can see mentions, follower requests, and engagement such as likes and reposts.
- Open Bluesky Feeds: Opens to the Feeds tab of Bluesky, showing My Feeds and the Discover New Feeds section.
- Open Bluesky Lists: Opens the Lists tab of Bluesky, showing your user-created lists and letting you create a new one.
- Open from my Bluesky lists: Given a dictionary of Bluesky List names and unique IDs (from the URL), this prompts you to choose from your lists and opens it to the feed view.
- Open my Bluesky profile: Using your username, opens the link to your profile on Bluesky.
- Open my Bluesky followers: Using your Bluesky username, opens the link to your Followers list.
- Open my Bluesky following: Using your Bluesky username, opens the link to the list of people you are Following.
- Open a profile on Bluesky: Using a given username, opens the link to any profile on Bluesky.
- Open Bluesky settings: Opens Bluesky to the Settings tab, letting you manage multiple accounts, change basic settings, and adjust advanced account settings.
Check out the folder of Bluesky shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library and follow me on Bluesky.
I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Amazon app shortcuts for launching into Amazon’s iOS and iPadOS apps using the native actions provided by Amazon.
These are automatically available as App Shortcuts if you have the Amazon app; I made these so standalone versions are available, and you can use these to add them to your Shortcuts widget:
- Show Amazon home: Opens the Amazon homepage, which redirects to the main page of the app when opened on mobile.
- Launch Amazon to Search: Opens the Amazon app to the Search field, bringing up the keyboard automatically so you can type your query right away.
- Open my Amazon orders: Opens the Amazon app to the Orders page so you can track upcoming packages, search through past deliveries, and start a return.
- Open my Amazon cart: Opens the Amazon app to the Cart tab so you can what you’ve added so far, check the subtotal, and find items saved for later.
- Show my Wish List on Amazon: Opens the Amazon app to your main Wish List within the Your Lists view.
- Show my Amazon account: Opens the Amazon app to Your Account so you can see previews from categories like Your Orders, Buy Again, Keep Shopping For, and other account details.
- Open Today’s Deals on Amazon: Opens the Amazon app so you can find Today’s Deals in the For You, Lightning, and Can’t Miss offers categories.
- Show Amazon videos: Opens the Amazon app to the Inspire tab, where you can watch videos from Amazon creators about products related to you.
- Buy Again on Amazon: Opens the Amazon app to the Buy Again section where you can repurchase past orders, check Subscribe & Save options, and filter by Deals, Favorite Reorders, and “Get it with fast delivery.”
- Show my In-Store code: Opens the Amazon app to the In-Store Code that can be scanned for deals at Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, and Amazon Go stores.
- Show Amazon Lens: Opens the Amazon app to the Amazon Lens, where you can use your camera to scan barcodes and find pantry, health, & beauty products.
- Show Amazon Fresh: Opens the Amazon app to the Amazon Fresh page where you can order groceries for local delivery.
- Show Whole Foods on Amazon: Opens the Amazon app to the Whole Foods Market page where you can find and order food from your nearby store.
- Show Amazon Pharmacy: Opens the Amazon app to the Pharmacy page where you can find medications and refill prescriptions.
Check out the folder of Amazon app shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.
From Apple Support:
This update includes enhancements to the Shortcuts app across all platforms, including many updated or new actions and an expanded set of App Shortcuts available in the shortcut editor.
New actions
App Store
- “Open Page” is now available on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS
Control Center
- “Show Control Center” shows and hides Control Center on iOS and iPadOS, which can be triggered from Action button, Apple Pencil Squeeze, Back Tap, Home Screen, Widgets, and more
Finder
- “Get Info” is now available on macOS
Health
- “Open Data Type”, “Search in Health”, and “Open View” are now available on iOS and iPadOS
- “Open Sleep Schedule” is now available on iOS
Messages
- “Check In” starts a new Check In session in Messages on iOS, and watchOS
Shortcuts
- “Move Shortcut” and “Rename Shortcut” are now available on all platforms
Spotlight
- “Search” initiates a Spotlight search on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS
Text
- “Trim Whitespace” removes whitespace characters from text on all platforms
Tips
- “Open Collection” is now available on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS
More
- “Convert to USDZ” is now available on macOS
From Ulysses’ v36 release notes:
- You can now launch Ulysses from the Action button found on the latest iPhone models.
- “New Sheet” will launch Ulysses into a new, empty sheet in your Inbox.
- “Last sheet” will open the last edited sheet.
- “Search” will launch Ulysses directly into Quick Open.
- These actions are also available via Control Center on iOS 18.1.
Very excited to see these new actions – I got a chance to talk with the Ulysses team at NSSpain and have been eagerly anticipating these.
These actions join the new Table of Contents feature and updates to support Apple Intelligence Writing Tools.
On Sunday, September 8, on the Mac Power Users podcast, I had the pleasure of joining hosts David Sparks and Stephen Hackett – here’s the show notes:
Matt Cassinelli joins the show to discuss his background with Workflow and Apple and how it led to him becoming the “Shortcuts Guy.” The group then discusses Apple’s automation tools across its platforms, and how those tools have extended to the web.
Check out the Mac Power Users in Apple Podcasts or listen to the episode below:
I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Journal shortcuts.
These shortcuts come alongside new actions for Create Entry, Create Audio Entry, and Search Entries for the Journal app on iPhone, which are available in the iOS 18.1 developer beta (and possibly iOS 18, but I didn’t happen to come across them until my phone was updated).
Check out the new shortcuts:
- Open my Journal: Opens the deep link into the Journal app for iPhone.
- Open from saved searches for entries: Presents a list of pre-programmed Search options, then searches for the chosen text in the Journal app.
- Search my Journal entries: Prompts you to enter a query, then opens to search results for your input text in the Journal app.
- Create Journal entry: Prompts you to add enter text, then uses that text to create a simple entry in the Journal app.
- Create audio entry: Opens the Journal app to the recording screen so you can create an Audio entry.
- Create photo entry: Asks you to select an image from Photos or Files, then some associated text, then attaches it to a new entry in the Journal app.
- Create bookmarked entry: Prompts you to enter text and a title for an entry, then adds it to the Journal app marked as “Bookmarked.”
- Open Journal settings: Opens the deep link into Settings > Journal where you can adjust features like Journaling Suggestions, whether to lock your journal, and your journaling schedule.
Check out the folder of Journal shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.
New in the Shortcuts Library, I’ve just updated my folder of Apple Developer shortcuts (yet again) to a new set I’ve been using since WWDC:
Web links
For quick access to the main developer video website, sessions by topic or year, and to search, these shortcuts will suit you well:
- Show all Apple Developer videos: Opens to the “All Videos” page on the Apple Developer website so you browse the entire scope of what’s offered.
- Browse WWDC videos by year: Presents a list of categories from Apple’s developer pages, then reformats the option of your choosing into the URL for that category and opens it.
- Browse Apple Developer topics: Presents a list of categories from Apple’s developer pages, then reformats the option of your choosing into the URL for that category and opens it.
- Search Apple Developer sessions: Asks you to enter a search query, then URL encodes the result, and opens the results on the web.
AppleScript commands
For folks wanting direct access to features in the Apple Developer app for the Mac, these shortcuts use AppleScript to open the app and trigger keyboard shortcuts for all the main functions – these are great for Stream Deck users:
- Discover in the Developer app: Utilizes AppleScript to open the Developer and press Command + 1 to open to the Discover page, where you can see curated categories and recent articles.
- Show Bookmarks in the Developer app: Utilizes AppleScript to open the Developer and press Command + 2 to open to the Bookmarks page, where you can see sessions you’ve saved for later.
- Open Downloads in the Developer app: Utilizes AppleScript to open the Developer and press Command + 3 to open to the Downloads page, where you can find videos you’ve saved offline.
- Continue Watching in the Developer app: Utilizes AppleScript to open the Developer and press Command + 4 to open to the Continue Watching page, where you can resume sessions you’ve already started.
- Copy link from Apple Developer: Utilizes AppleScript to open the Developer and press Command + Option + C to copy the URL of the current session to your clipboard.
- Copy link at timestamp: Utilizes AppleScript to open the Developer and press Command + Shift + Option + C to copy the URL of the current session at your specific timestamp to your clipboard, so you can jump back to that moment at any time.
- Toggle Bookmark status: Utilizes AppleScript to open the Developer and press the Command + / keyboard command that adds a session to your bookmarks (or removes it).
- Toggle Watched status: Utilizes AppleScript to open the Developer and press Command + Shift + U to mark the current video as watched (or unwatched).
Session setup
Once you’re ready to watch sessions, these shortcuts make it easy to get set up on your Apple TV or Mac for a first-run, then a second pass to screenshot relevant information, and finally a way to scrape the titles from all the sessions you’ve saved, for referencing later:
- Open Developer TV: Opens the Apple Developer app for Apple TV so you can view bookmarks, browse presentations, and search for topics. When run from Mac, maximizes the window to Full Screen.
- Prep for session screenshots: Resizes the Apple Developer window to the second screen at my preferred size for taking screenshots, then opens Craft and centers it on the main display.
- Scrape session titles: For a given list of Apple Developer session URLs, this will iterate through each, grabbing the name of the webpage, cleaning it up, and reformatting it into a Markdown list before copying that to your clipboard.
Check out the folder of Apple Developer shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.
I’ve just updated a folder in the Shortcuts Library — my set of Apple Developer shortcuts:
- Watch Developer sessions: When run from Mac, opens the Apple Developer app and presses Command + 2 to switch to your Bookmarks. When run from iPhone or iPad, opens the Developer app on the Apple TV.
- Browse Apple Developer topics: Presents a list of categories from Apple’s developer pages, then reformats the option of your choosing into the URL for that category and opens it.
- Prep for session screenshots: Resizes the Apple Developer window to the second screen at my preferred size for taking screenshots, then opens Craft and centers it on the main display.
- Search Apple Developer sessions: Asks you to enter a search query, then URL encodes the result, and opens the results on the web.
Check out the folder of Apple Developer shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.