Category: Siri Shortcuts

Categories
Shortcuts

Tune In to TBPN for Today’s Technology and Business News (With These Shortcuts)

If you haven’t heard of TBPN, the “Technology Brothers Podcast Network” is an increasingly popular show by hosts Jordi Hayes and John Coogan that covers the major news of the day in the technology and business world – almost like a CNN for Silicon Valley. Streaming live from 11 AM – 2 PM PST every weekday, TBPN is known for high-profile guest interviews, clippable moments shared on social media, and a somewhat-irreverent tone paired with a deep knowledge & passion for the space.

I’m a fan of the way TBPN has given a breath of fresh air to technology coverage, simultaneously innovating on top of cable TV news, video & audio podcasts, and livestream formats in a new media organization for the current era. When things like AI are changing within a single week, the show provides a spotlight for understanding what’s going on as things move so quickly – and they demonstrate a better grasp of how to spread their content than any organization I’ve seen lately. The show has even evolved into a de-facto part of the technology media circuit, where having your startup’s news broken on TBPN is an indicator of success (much like getting coverage on TechCrunch).

With the show’s 3-hour runtime and multiple formats, it’s reasonable that an average listener won’t always engage with the entirety of each show, so it sure would helpful if there was some sort of way to access everything as needed… like a shortcut perhaps.

Me being me, I built a folder of shortcuts for TBPN for Apple’s Shortcuts app. These shortcuts let you listen to the show on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, watch the livestream or put the feed up on your TV, plus follow the team on X. Plus, as you’ll soon learn, the show is heavily sponsored by Ramp, so I created a cheeky shortcut for anyone to learn more from their website.

I also wrote a blog post about the technique for opening the TBPN livestream, which involves adding /live to any YouTube channel URL.

Check out the shortcuts in the TBPN folder of my Shortcuts Library, and view the blog post on YouTube livestreams. Plus, follow TBPN directly on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and X.

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: TBPN shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of shortcuts for TBPN, the tech & business news podcast.

Use these shortcuts to watch the video podcast, tune into episodes on the go, and find the show on X – plus check out Ramp, of course:

  • Watch TBPN TV: Takes the RSS feed for TBPuTube channel and opens the most recent item. Includes option to AirPlay to the Apple TV, or opens in full-screen on Mac.
  • Watch TBPN Live: Opens the /live URL of TBPN’s YouTube channel, which redirects to either the current livestream or the page of recent streams.
  • Play TBPN on Apple Podcasts: Finds and plays the latest episode of TBPN in the Apple Podcasts app. Also follows the show if you’re not already.
  • Open TBPN on Spotify: Opens the deep link into Spotify for the TBPN podcast.
  • Open TBPN on X: Opens the link into @TBPN’s profile on X, either on the web or into the mobile app.
  • Open Jordi Hays on X: Opens the X profile for cohost Jordi Hays.
  • Open John Coogan on X: Opens the X profile for cohost John Coogan.
  • Save time and money at Ramp dot com: Opens to the website for Ramp, the main sponsors of TBPN.

Check out the folder of TBPN shortcuts in the Shortcuts Library.

Categories
Links News Siri Shortcuts

What’s New in Shortcuts for iOS 26 »

From Apple Support:

New in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26

This update includes enhancements to the Shortcuts app across all platforms, including new intelligent actions and an improved editing experience. Shortcuts on macOS now supports personal automations that can be triggered based on events such as time of day or when you take actions like saving a file to a folder, as well as new integrations with Control Center and Spotlight.

New Actions (Editor’s note: shortened for sake of space)

  • Freeform
  • Image Playground, requires Apple Intelligence*
  • Mail
  • Measure
  • Messages
  • Screen Time
  • Sports
  • Photos
  • Reminders
  • Stocks
  • Use Model, requires Apple Intelligence*
  • Visual Intelligence, requires Apple Intelligence*
  • Voice Memos
  • Weather
  • Writing Tools, requires Apple Intelligence*

Updated Actions

For those building custom shortcuts, some actions have been updated:

  • “Calculate Expression” can now evaluate expressions that include units, including real time currency conversion rates, temperature, distance, and more
  • “Create QR Code” can now specify colors and styling
  • “Date” can now specify a holiday
  • “Find Contacts” can now filter by relationship
  • ”Transcribe Audio” performance has been improved
  • “Show Content” can now display scrollable lists of items, like calendar events, reminders, and more

Shortcut Editor

For those building custom shortcuts, updates have been made to the shortcut editor:

  • Improved drag and drop and variable selection
  • Over 100 new icon glyphs are now available, including new shapes, transportation symbols, and more
  • Rich previews of calendar events, reminders, and more
  • The ability to choose whether shortcuts appear in Spotlight Search

macOS Improvements

Spotlight

Shortcuts can now accept input, like selected text from an open document, when being run from Spotlight.

Automations

Shortcuts can now be run automatically based on the following triggers:

  • Time of Day (“At 8:00 AM, weekdays”)
  • Alarm (“When my alarm is stopped”)
  • Email (“When I get an email from Jane”)
  • Message (“When I get a message from Mom”)
  • Folder (“When files are added to my Documents folder”)
  • File (“When my file is modified”)
  • External Drive (“When my external drive connects”)
  • Wi-Fi (“When my Mac joins home Wi-Fi”)
  • Bluetooth (“When my Mac connects to AirPods”)
  • Display (“When my display connects”)
  • Stage Manager (“When Stage Manager is turned on”)
  • App (“When ‘Weather’ is opened or closed”)
  • Battery Level (“When battery level rises above 50%”)
  • Charger (“When my Mac connects to power”)
  • Focus (“When turning Do Not Disturb on”)

Control Center

Shortcuts can be added as controls to Control Center and the menu bar, including Run Shortcut, Open App, and Show “Menu Bar” Collection

View the full release notes from Apple Support

Categories
Shortcuts

Updated in the Shortcuts Library: TV app shortcuts

Hey members! I’ve just updated new folder in the Shortcuts Library — my set of TV app shortcuts.

These are redesigned for my new approach to building shortcuts, which is less targeted at separate actions and includes a more-bundled approach – each shortcut provides more functionality in a targeted area.

My favorite is the new Watchlist shortcut – I’ve been working on a version of this for the year or so! Enjoy:

  • Open into the TV app: Presents a menu of sections in the TV app and opens the deep link into the app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac – options include Home, Search, Store, Sports, Apple TV+, and Library. When run from Apple Watch, opens the Apple TV app.
  • Add to my TV watchlist: Accepts a list of TV shows or movies, scrapes the results from Apple’s Marketing Toolbox, and lets you pick where to send the media – with options to open into the TV app, add to your Watchlist, send to Reminders, or copy the links.
  • Open sports in the TV app: Presents a menu of Sports sections available in the TV app, include overall Sports, plus MLS Season Pass and Major League Baseball, as well a dedicated section for your favorite home team.
  • Browse the TV Store: Presents a menu for opening into the TV app to the Store section, either directly using a deep link, using the iTunes actions in Shortcuts, or Apple’s RSS feeds for top movie and TV content – plus categories for dedicated “rooms” in the TV app for special content.
  • Open from Apple TV Plus: Presents menu options for opening into the Home, Shows, Movies, and Upcoming sections of Apple TV+ in the TV app, plus categories for genres.

Check out the folder of TV app shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.

 

Categories
Offsite Podcasts Siri Shortcuts

Members-Only Podcast #3: New actions in the iOS 26 beta

From episode 3 of my freshly-rebooted members-only podcast:

Spoken-word episode of my article titled “Shortcuts gains actions for Apple Intelligence, Messages, and Notes checklists in iOS 26 beta,” available on MatthewCassinelli.com.

This content is marked as members-only – you’ll need a membership to access it.

View the archive of members-only podcast episodes.

Categories
Siri Shortcuts

How Apple Will Win the AI Race: My Talk on App Intents & Apple Intelligence

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.

Categories
Siri Shortcuts

Tune In To My Apple Intelligence Talk via Deep Dish Swift 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.

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Perplexity shortcuts

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.

 

Categories
Shortcuts

Immediately Browse Apple News’ Food Recipe Catalog With These Shortcuts

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).

Categories
Apple News Food News Recipes Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Apple News Food shortcuts

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.

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Messages Conversations shortcuts

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.

Categories
Shortcuts Tips & Tricks

Pro-Tip: Shortcuts Has Its Own Suite of AppleScript Commands

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:

  1. Open the Script Editor app
  2. In the Menu Bar, select File > Open Dictionary (or press Command + Shift + O)
  3. Browse through the dictionaries until you find Shortcuts’ (or type “Shortcuts” on the keyboard to navigate there directly), then open the Dictionary.
  4. 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 application

ELEMENTS

contained by application, folders.


PROPERTIES

name (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 TO

run.

—-

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.

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: MacStories shortcuts

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.

Categories
Actions Shortcuts

Apple Music Replay: Save Your Listening History From Kids Music With These Shortcuts

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

[image or embed]

— Sebastiaan de With (@sdw.bsky.social) December 3, 2024 at 10:00 AM

 

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.

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Apple Music Replay shortcuts

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.

 

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Comixology from Amazon shortcuts

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.

 

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Bluesky shortcuts

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.

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Amazon app shortcuts

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.

Categories
News Shortcuts

What’s new in Shortcuts for iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, macOS 15.1, watchOS 11.1 and visionOS 2.1 »

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

View the original.

Categories
Apps Shortcuts

Ulysses Adds Action Button & Control Center Shortcuts Alongside Table of Contents & Writing Tools »

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.

View the Release Notes on Ulysses’s site.