Categories
News Shortcuts

Vocal Shortcuts Will Let You Create Voice Triggers For Any Command (Without Saying Siri)

In their annual announcements for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), Apple announced a teaser for iOS 18 for Vocal Shortcuts, a new feature that lets you create custom voice commands like Accessibility features and custom shortcuts, bypassing the need for a “Siri” trigger phrase and using the vocal shortcut itself as the trigger.

Currently, Shortcuts does already allow users to run their shortcuts by speaking the custom name of the shortcut to Siri – however, it requires an activation phrase (or pressing the physical button).

Now, with Vocal Shortcuts as a feature, they can bypass the trigger entirely and use their Vocal Shortcut name as the complete trigger + action command. For example, rather than saying “Siri, turn the lights to 100%,” users could create a shortcut that sets the lights accordingly, and create a vocal shortcut to trigger anytime you say “Light Bright” – even without saying Siri first.

Here’s how Apple describes it in their announcement, alongside the Listen for Atypical Speech feature:

With Vocal Shortcuts, iPhone and iPad users can assign custom utterances that Siri can understand to launch shortcuts and complete complex tasks. Listen for Atypical Speech, another new feature, gives users an option for enhancing speech recognition for a wider range of speech. Listen for Atypical Speech uses on-device machine learning to recognize user speech patterns. Designed for users with acquired or progressive conditions that affect speech, such as cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or stroke, these features provide a new level of customization and control, building on features introduced in iOS 17 for users who are nonspeaking or at risk of losing their ability to speak.

Plus, Vocal Shortcuts can be assigned to any Accessibility feature, no shortcut required – adding in Shortcuts lets users take the feature to the next level and execute multiple actions, not just the one pre-assigned command.

In many ways, Apple has been learning from features introduced in the past to make this possible – the introduction and improvements to Sound Recognition have surely helped, as well as the recent dropping of “Hey” from “Hey Siri.”

Check out the rest of Apple’s announcements for Global Accessibility Awareness Day, including the very cool Eye Tracking and and Music Haptics coming this year.

Categories
Apps Shortcuts

iOS 17.5 Adds Quartiles to Apple News: Get These Puzzles Shortcuts

Today, Apple has released iOS 17.5 to the public, bringing with it a new game to the Apple News+ Puzzles section: Quartiles.

Quartiles divides a word into four parts, letting you select from the available tiles to form a word – each game has five rows, letting you adding up your score for each row to get the highest points possible.

Once you’ve visited the Puzzles, Crosswords, Crossword Mini, or Quartiles sections of the Apple News app (available for Apple News+ subscribers), the News app will “donate” suggested actions to the Shortcuts app for each section, which you can add to your custom shortcuts and run to quickly jump into the corresponding part of the News app again.

I’ve collected all four sections as individual shortcuts, which you can get in the Apple News folder of my Shortcuts Library. You can place this in a Shortcuts widget, add these to any of your Home Screens, or even open them from the menu bar on Mac – that puzzle is yours to figure out.

Quartiles is quite fun and, being so Wordle-adjacent, could attract casual gamers who might not be drawn to the Crosswords or Crossword mini features of Apple News – I’m sure Apple wouldn’t mind, since gaming is a fairly significant driver of revenue for the news business.

Happy gaming!

Categories
Siri Shortcuts

Apple Will Revamp Siri to Catch Up to Its Chatbot Competitors »

From The New York Times (summary from Techmeme):

Sources: Apple made generative AI a tent-pole project after Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea spent weeks testing ChatGPT and found Siri to be antiquated — Apple plans to announce that it will bring generative A.I. to iPhones after the company’s most significant reorganization in a decade.

Nothing much has been said beyond earlier reports, but the reality of it coming so soon has me stoked.

While you’re here, check out my appearance on MacRumors where I discussed App Intents and how that feature could tie into Apple’s AI efforts.

View the original (via Techmeme).

Categories
Links Shortcuts

Add Your YouTube Watch Later To The Home Screen With Shortcuts

From Levi Allen on Threads:

Best phone addiction change I’ve made lately is creating a shortcut to my watch later YouTube playlist (instead of having YouTube app on home screen)

YouTube long form is consistently my favorite platform to consume on. I constantly run into new ideas. I save almost 10videos a day to my watch later playlist. Feels refreshing after watching for 30-60mins. Doesn’t make me feel like a dopamine addicted wacko.

I’ve been using this method since way back in 2019 – except I keep it in my Shortcuts widget.

Get my Watch Later shortcut, check out my folder of shortcuts for the YouTube app in my Shortcuts Library, and view Levis’ post on Threads or below.

 
Post by @leviallen
View on Threads

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Accessories shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Accessories shortcuts to toggle your HomeKit accessories and scenes with the hidden Toggle Accessory action in Shortcuts (used in the Home widget).

For individual devices or accessories, select the device from the Toggle Accessory action. For complete rooms, set up a scene to control all the lights, then add the scene to your shortcut.

Get the shortcuts:

  • Toggle Living Room lights: Activates a Home scene set to control all the lights in my living room, turning them on/off depending on the current state.
  • Toggle Family Room lights: Activates a Home scene set to control the lamps in my family room, turning them on/off depending on the current state.
  • Toggle Studio lights: Activates a Home scene set to control multiple lights in my studio, turning them on/off depending on the current state.
  • Toggle Office lights: Activates a Home scene set to control multiple lights in my home office, turning them on/off depending on the current state.
  • Toggle Studio Key Light: Turns my Eve Switch on/off depending on its current state, which controls the large 42” softbox in my studio for filming.
  • Toggle Studio Fill Light: Turns my second Eve Switch on/off depending on its current state, which controls the secondary softbox in my studio space.
  • Toggle the bedside lamp: Switches the Hue light bulb in my bedside on/off.
  • Toggle the Sound Machine: Turns my Eve Switch on/off depending on its current state, which controls the sound machine we have in our bedroom for drowning out little noises and providing a constant background sound to sleep to.

I first discussed the hidden Toggle Accessory action in my stream with Stephen Robles back in April (starting at the 26:02 mark).

Check out the folder of Accessories shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.

 

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: QuickBooks shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of QuickBooks shortcuts for accessing the most important parts of the QuickBooks Self-Employed experience.

Add your banks and transactions, stay on top of quarterly taxes, and view your reports as your business grows:

  • Open QuickBooks Self-Employed: Opens the homepage for QuickBooks Self-Employed on the web. If not signed, will redirect you to the login page.
  • Log transactions: Opens the Transactions page in QuickBooks Self-Employed so you can view, update, and tag transactions as needed.
  • Manage bank accounts: Opens the QuickBooks page for connecting your bank accounts – use this to set up new accounts or update your connection if it falls out of sync.
  • Log mileage with QuickBooks: Opens the QuickBooks mobile app so you can log mileage for business trips directly in the app.
  • Check miles logged: Opens the Milage Log of QuickBooks Self-Employed so you can track how many miles you’ve travelled as business expenses.
  • Check business taxes: Opens the Tax page of QuickBooks Self-Employed so you can stay on top of tax bills, due dates, and other notices.
  • Check quarterly taxes: Opens the Quarterly tab of the Tax page for QuickBooks Self-Employed so you can view and file your quarterly taxes (to avoid paying in one big lump-sum the year after).
  • Show QuickBooks reports: Opens the Reports page of QuickBooks Self-Employed so you can track and visualize your progress.
  • Import transactions: Opens the page for importing transactions into QuickBooks Self-Employed (for anything that can’t be handled directly through your bank).
  • Manage Intuit account: Opens the account manager for QuickBooks Self-Employed on Intuit’s site.

Check out the folder of QuickBooks shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.

Categories
Links Shortcuts

New shortcut helps users find product manuals and guides on Apple’s website »

From 9to5Mac:

With the help of the Apple Support website, users can find a lot of information about the Apple devices they own. This includes things like technical specifications, guides, and support articles. However, all this information used to be spread across multiple pages – but Apple is changing that with a new “Documentation” page.

I’ve updated my folder of Apple Support shortcuts to include a new “Show Apple Support documentation” shortcut.

Read the full article.

 

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Regal Cinemas shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Regal Cinemas shortcuts:

  • Show my Regal Unlimited Card: Opens the Regal website to your Unlimited account page so you can tap to reveal the QR code for your card number.
  • Show my Regal orders: Opens the Regal site to your orders so you can see past or upcoming tickets.
  • Open Regal cinemas site: Opens the main Regal Cinemas website to show curated categories like Now Playing, Coming Soon, Saturday Morning Kids Flicks, and Limited Engagement pictures.
  • Show Regal movies: Opens the “Movies” page of Regal Cinemas so you can see current, upcoming, and special release films that are available to buy tickets for.
  • Show Regal theaters: Opens to a page of nearby theaters available from Regal Cinemas.
  • Browse my favorite Regal theaters: Presents a menu of your favorite nearby theaters, then opens the corresponding URLs for that theater so you can buy tickets.
  • Open Regal Mystery Movies: Opens the site for Regal Cinemas’ Mystery Movies, where they show an upcoming film without releasing which movie it is ahead of time.
  • Show my Regal account: Opens the main Account page of your Regal Cinemas profile, where you can log in and see an Overview of your past upcoming & past books, plus rewards status.
  • Show Regal promotions: Opens the Regal cinemas Promotions page where you can see new categories, current promos, available upgrades, and special engagements.
  • Open Regal Crown Club: Opens the Regal Crown Club site where you can see your credit balance, check out featured rewards, order gift cards, and link out to even more member deals.
  • Show Regal value days: Opens the Regal cinemas Promotions page for Value Days to see prices and days for low-cost tickets at your nearby theaters.
  • Show Print and Poster rewards: Opens the Regal Crown Club rewards for items like movie posters and special prints.
  • Show Regal store: Opens the Regal Cinemas store where you can buy branded merch from current movies or the Regal brand itself.
  • Show Merchandise rewards: Opens the Regal Crown Club merchandise page where you can see physical products for sale like the Dune or Ghostbusters popcorn buckets.
  • Show Concessions and Ticket rewards: Opens the Regal Crown Club section for Concessions and Ticket rewards, like discounts on popcorn or free passes/upgrades.
  • Open Regal TV: Opens the Regal Cinemas app on the selected Apple TV, then shows the Remote so you can navigate.

Check out the folder of Regal Cinemas shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.

 

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Groceries shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Groceries shortcuts:

  • Show my grocery list: Opens the “Groceries” list in Reminders.
  • Add to my grocery list: Presents a dialog to input a title for a new reminder, then adds it silently.
  • Dictate groceries: Dictates text, then splits it by new lines and adds them to Reminders in your groceries list.
  • Mark off items from my list: Asks you to pick from incomplete grocery reminders, then marks them as complete.
  • Get travel time to the grocery store: Asks you to pick from pre-programmed grocery store locations, then estimates travel time, distance, route, and arrival time before presenting the option to get directions.
  • Add from past trips: Asks you to pick items from previous grocery orders, adds new copies to the list, and clears the old ones.
  • Clear my grocery list: Asks you to pick from completed grocery reminders and removes them.

Check out the folder of Groceries shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.

Categories
Shortcuts

Now streaming in the Shortcuts Library: Disney Plus shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Disney Plus shortcuts:

Check out the folder of Disney Plus shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.

 

Categories
Shortcuts

Let’s All Go To The Movies: Shortcuts for Fandango

In celebration of going to the movies and seeing films like Dune 2 in theaters, I’ve made a set of shortcuts for the Fandango service.

This set of 8 shortcuts can be added to Siri or in a Home Screen widget to help you quickly find movies or theaters nearby, get to the theater on time and show them your ticket, and quickly access the rest of Fandango when needed – here’s how they work:

Getting A Ticket

When you’re in the movie-going spirit, the first thing to do is check what’s available in theaters now – you’ll find films you may know about already, plus some that snuck under-the-radar or came out in re-release.

When using Fandango, you’ll find this under the “Movies” banner at the URL https://www.fandango.com/movies-in-theaters. When run with the Open URL action in Shortcuts, this URL redirects into the app to the Movies tab – get my shortcut “Show movies in theaters” to do just that at any moment.

Similarly, the Theaters banner and tab of Fandango can be opened using the URL pattern https://www.fandango.com/[ZIP code]_movietimes, where the [ZIP code] portion automatically gets replaced by your local ZIP code once Fandango detects from the web browser or asks permission for your location.

Using Shortcuts, we can automatically detect your ZIP code and replace it in the URL using two methods – using the Get Current Location action, and a faster trick using Get Current Weather that provides an approximate location slightly quicker than making a full GPS call.

My shortcut “Show theaters nearby” uses the Weather technique, grabs the ZIP code using Get Details of Location, and then places it into the Fandango link – this works great on both Mac and mobile devices.

Getting Into The Theater

Once you’ve decide on a movie and location, you’ll want to purchase your ticket directly through Fandango – they should then email you a confirmation, which, if you use Apple Mail, is then detected by Siri automatically and added to your calendar (hence why I didn’t build a shortcut for this step).

Once you have the automatic calendar event set up, I have another shortcut for estimating the time it takes to get to theater and getting directions there – my “Leave for theater” shortcut.

This shortcut asks you to pick the upcoming calendar event (I decided to confirm which one rather than simply picking the next event, in case you check earlier in the day), then that chosen event’s location is used in the next few steps. From there, the event name and driving time to that location are extracted, to be used in the next prompt.

In the final prompt, “Leave for theater” delivers a message full of information about the trip, showing total travel time, the quickest route, and the arrival time – that way you know for sure when to get there to park, get food and drinks, and get seated before the show starts.

Once you’re at the theater, Fandango actually provides a native shortcut for “Find my ticket,” which opens the Fandango app and displays the upcoming ticket, so the ticket-taker can scan you in.

You can also see details about the which theater your movie in being shown in at this location, which I find helpful – knowing where to go once you’re inside can save time if you’re running late.

Admittedly, your ticket might already show on your device if you’ve added it as a pass in Apple Wallet, but I wanted to include Fandango’s only native Shortcuts action – perhaps they’ll take these URL-based shortcuts and turn them into native actions in the future?

Quick access to Fandango

While the previous four shortcuts are my favorite of the group, and the main ones I use on iPhone to manage my ticket-buying experience, the following I designed to round out the experience and are still helpful occasionally in my iPad widgets and via search on Mac.

First, is “Browse Fandango,” which simply acts as a redirect to the main page of the Fandango website and app – here they curate categories like Coming Soon, Watch At Home, and Features that are nice to check out.

Search Fandango” takes advantage of Shortcuts scripting to prompt you to enter a search term, uses Replace Text to swap out spaces for the + symbol, and includes that all in the URL pattern for their search results – run this, type your search, and see results on Fandango’s website.

Fandango also produces their own news content, including custom features, trailers, upcoming ticket sales, and more – my “Show movie news” shortcut takes you to the web page for it all at https://www.fandango.com/movie-news.

And finally, “Show purchase history” is the only shortcut that requires you to sign in to Fandango, after which you’ll be able to see your full list of movies you’ve been to – a fun experience to reflect on (and something that definitely prompted me to go to the movies more last summer once I realized I hadn’t been since Rise of Skywalker!).

See You At The Theaters

As someone who very much fell off of seeing movies in theaters the last couple years, I’ve enjoyed going back and watching a few new films on the big screen again – there’s something undeniable about the movie-going experience, from the massive visuals, blow-away sound, and just getting a bucket of popcorn & drinks to enjoy.

Since I usually buy my tickets from Fandango anyway, these shortcuts make the experience just a little bit smoother – and having the Shortcuts widget on my Home Screen next to the Fandango icon acts a nice reminder to check out what’s available and head to a theater nearby; something that’s just plain good for the soul.

Get my Fandango shortcuts in the Shortcuts Library.

Categories
Shortcuts

New for moviegoers: Fandango shortcuts

In honor of seeing Dune 2 tonight, I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Fandango shortcuts:

  • Show movies in theaters: Opens Fandango to the section with movies available to go see now in theaters.
  • Show theaters nearby: Gets your current ZIP code, then opens Fandango to movie times in your area.
  • Leave for theater: Checks for a movie calendar event (automatically added via Gmail when you purchase tickets) and presents the total travel time estimates, then opens Apple Maps to get directions.
  • Find my ticket: Shows your recent movie ticket to be scanned by the tixket taker – or tap to open your ticket details.
  • Browse Fandango: Opens the Fandango app when run from iPhone or Fandango.com when run from other devices.
  • Search Fandango: Asks you to enter a query, then reformats it for Fandango’s search results and opens the URL into the app/website.
  • Show movie news: Opens the “Movie News” section of Fandango to show reporting on upcoming films.
  • Show purchase history: Opens the “My Purchases” section of your Fandango accounts to see recent tickets you’ve purchased.

Check out the folder of Fandango shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.

Categories
Shortcuts

New shortcuts: Quick access for the YouTube app

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of YouTube app shortcuts:

  • YouTube on TV: Opens the YouTube app on the chosen Apple TV, then opens the YouTube app on your mobile device – this lets you connect the two and manage your TV queue from your phone or iPad.
  • Search YouTube: Prompts you to enter a query and then opens it YouTube in Safari.
  • Open my Home feed: Opens YouTube.com on the web or redirects to the Home tab in the app.
  • Open YouTube Shorts: Opens the YouTube Shorts feed in the iOS and iPad apps, or the YouTube Shorts page on web.
  • Open my Subscriptions: Opens the Subscriptions tab in the YouTube app to show only videos from people you’ve followed.
  • Show YouTube library: Opens the link to the Library tab of YouTube, which shows your History, Watch Later, Playlists, and Liked Videos.
  • Open my Watch Later: Opens the deep link into the Watch Later page of the YouTube website, where I can then watch videos in picture-in-picture. Requires opening in Safari after showing page.
  • Browse my movies on YouTube: Opens the YouTube section for purchased movies, including films synced with Movies Anywhere.
  • Open my YouTube Clips: Opens your personal feed on Clips saved from YouTube videos. Use this feature to capture important ideas and give them custom titles, and have a feed of personalized clips to view again later.
  • Show my Liked videos: Opens the automatic playlist for Liked videos created for every YouTube account.
  • Open my watch history: Opens the deep link into the History section of the YouTube library page in the app.
  • Manage subscribed YouTube Channels: Opens the feed of channels you’ve subscribed to on YouTube – use this to directly access channels using Search, or clean up your subscriptions by removing some.
  • Watch in YouTube app: Redirects a web URL for a YouTube into the mobile app by replacing https:// with youtube:// in the link.
  • Who’s live on YouTube?: Opens the Subscriptions feed sorted as a list so you can see who’s live at the top.
  • YouTube TV: Turns on my living room TV, opens the YouTube app, and shows the remote control on the current device so I can navigate the interface. When run from Mac, opens YouTube in Safari in fullscreen.

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

Categories
Shortcuts

New shortcuts for Apple Vision Pro: my Rooms concept

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Rooms shortcuts designed for my Apple Vision Pro concept video:

  • Open Studio apps: Opens a set of apps designed for everyday use in the studio – includes Widgetsmith, Fantastical, Freeform, Music, and Photos.
  • Open Music Room apps: Opens a set of apps designed for everyday use in the music area of my family room – includes the MusicHarbor, MusicBox, and Ultimate Guitar Tabs apps.
  • Open Video Game apps: Opens a set of apps designed for everyday use in the family room with a game console – includes Twitch, GameTrack, Xbox, Discord, and Telegram.
  • Open Living Room apps: Opens a set of apps designed for everyday use in the living room – includes Books, Home, Calendar, Podcasts, News, Streaks, and Structured.
  • Open TV apps: Opens a set of apps designed for everyday use near your living room couch – includes Letterboxd, TV Forecast, Fandango, IMDB, and a menu choosing between TV, Disney, Amazon Prime, MAX, Plex, or Juno.

Note: these shortcuts require visionOS 1.1, which is, as of publishing, in beta – that means it requires a developer or public beta installed on your Apple Vision Pro to work as intended.

Second note: Be sure to read the description of my concept video to understand how these work – these shortcuts won’t place your apps for you, but will reopen them in the same place once closed (assuming you haven’t reset your position).

Check out the folder of Rooms shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library and watch the concept video.

Categories
How To Shortcuts

How To Check Your App Store Subscriptions with Reminders and Shortcuts

This morning, I saw creator Tyler Stalman talking about his app subscriptions, giving a tip about free trials:

Pro Tip: first thing I do when I sign up for an app free trial is immediately cancel it

The trial period still works & if I don’t end up using the app I’ll probably forget to cancel the subscription before I get charged

If I do like it I’ll be sent a reminder to renew

If you’re unsure about new subscriptions and want to evaluate the true value of your apps, this is a great strategy.

I have a technique (which I shared in the replies) to access this same page using Shortcuts, plus set a reminder to run that shortcut regularly – using my Check My App Subscriptions shortcut.

This shortcut uses a deep link into the App Store’s infrastructure, taking the URL itms-apps://apps.apple.com/account/subscriptions and opening the link using Open URLs. When run, Shortcuts opens the URL into the App Store page, showing your list of current subscriptions – including those trials you may have cancelled by default using Tyler’s method.

Once you have the shortcut in your collection, you can ask Siri using the name of the shortcut (which you can customize to your own preferred trigger phrase) and open right to this page at any moment. Or, you can keep it in an instance of the Shortcuts widget – I have mine in a small widget to the left of my Home Screen in a widget stack that I can rotate to when needed.

If you really want to stay on top of your subscriptions, however, I recommend using a little-known technique involving Shortcuts, Reminders, and Siri’s capability to “Remind me about this” – which you can use with Shortcuts to create a special button in your new reminder that, when tapped, opens Shortcuts and runs the shortcut.

With my “Check My App Subscriptions” shortcut open, you can ask Siri to “Remind me about this” (and even “Remind me about this once a month”) to create the special reminder.

Then, you can customize the details like putting it in a different Reminders list or making the reminder repeat on a schedule – once on the weekends, or monthly on the 15th or the last Sunday are good starting points.

Get the Check My App Subscriptions shortcut in the App Store folder of my Shortcuts Library, and check out Tyler’s original post.

Categories
Shortcuts

New shortcuts for Callsheet to Search Cast & Crew Details

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Callsheet shortcuts.

Built for the Callsheet app from indie developer Casey Liss, these shortcuts are designed to help you find more information about TV shows or movies you are watching.

Use these to pull up the Callsheet search field, query right away, or even search TMDB directly using Toolbox Pro and open the redirect into Callsheet:

  • Activate Callsheet: Opens Callsheet with the input field open and the keyboard active
  • Search Callsheet: Asks you to enter a query, then encodes the text and opens the deep link into Callsheet.
  • Find movie and open in Callsheet: Searches The Movie Database for a movie using Toolbox Pro, extracts the ID, and opens the deep link into Callsheet.
  • Find show and open in Callsheet: Searches The Movie Database for TV shows using Toolbox Pro, extracts the ID, and opens the deep link into Callsheet.
  • Open Callsheet instead of IMDB: Simple shortcut for an App Automation for the IMDB app to instead open Callsheet – this name will appear as the title of your automation.
  • Open in Callsheet: Redirects a link from The Movie Database to Callsheet by replacing the URL with the deep link.

Check out the folder of Callsheet shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library and get Callsheet on the App Store.

Categories
Shortcuts

New shortcut: Crop Podcast Artwork with Pixelmator

I’ve just started a new folder in the Shortcuts Library — the first of my set of Apple Podcasts for Creators shortcuts:

  • Crop podcast artwork with Pixelmator:
    Extracts the name and artwork for a given podcast, crops it to 16×9 using Pixelmator Pro for Mac, and saves the renamed file into Downloads.

I built this to help with any future “podcast mentions” on my site, like today’s from the show Magic Rays of Light – all my blog posts require a 16×9 image, so this shortcut scrapes the Artwork from Apple Podcasts and uses Pixelmator’s Machine Learning crop to find the best position.

Check out the folder of Apple Podcasts for Creators shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.

 

Categories
Shortcuts

New shortcuts for the Shortcuts app

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of shortcuts for the Shortcuts app itself:

  • Create a new shortcut: Prompts you to enter a name, then creates a shortcut.
  • Add a new shortcut in a folder: Asks you which folder to open, then prompts for a name and creates a new shortcut with that title in that folder.
  • Search in Shortcuts: Use this shortcut to quickly find a shortcut in your library to run or open and edit. Works well if you have a large shortcuts collection.
  • Open a folder: Prompts you to type in a folder name, then opens that folder in Shortcuts. Assigned to Shift + Control + O as a keyboard shortcut on macOS, and placed in the iPad dock.
  • Run a shortcut from a folder: Asks you to pick a folder, then a shortcut, then runs it right away.
  • Run a shortcut: Asks you to enter the name of a shortcut, then finds and runs that shortcut. Also uses scripting to check if more than one exists with that name and asks which to run.
  • Open a shortcut: Asks you to type in the name of a shortcut, then opens it so you can edit the actions.
  • Open a shortcut by folder: Asks you to pick from all your Shortcuts folders, then a shortcut from that folder, then opens the shortcut.
  • Open into a Shortcuts folder: Opens a Shortcuts folder of your choosing; accepts the name of a folder as input as well.
  • Get a list of my shortcut names: Using a text field populated from “List Folder names,” lets you select multiple folders, grabs the shortcut names from all of the folders, and lets you copy out the titles.
  • Copy my Shortcuts folder names: Gets a list of all the titles for your Shortcuts folders. On macOS, uses the Shortcuts Command Line Interface (CLI) to make the request; on iOS, uses a Regular Expression to find the results. Also saves a .txt file of the output.

The second half of the folder is designed for accessing different pre-built folders in the Shortcuts app – I use these in the iPad widget, searching on macOS, and the Stream Deck:

  • Show all of my shortcuts: Use this to open the main view of Shortcuts and see everything in your collection. If you have a lot of App Shortcuts, this is the best view to see them all.
  • Open the Gallery: Use this shortcut to quickly access the Gallery and see what kinds of shortcuts Apple recommends based on your usage, as well as curated categories put together by the Shortcuts team.
  • Open my Automations: Use this shortcut to see your Personal and Home automations set up on iPhone and iPad. Works well from the Shortcuts widget or using Siri when you want to set up a new Automation.
  • Show my Menu Bar shortcuts: Use this shortcut to sort the list of shortcuts that appear in the Menu Bar on macOS.
  • Show my Apple Watch shortcuts: Use this shortcut to sort your shortcuts set to show up on the Apple Watch. Use this view to rename them, change the colors, sort the order, or drag & drop shortcuts out to remove them.
  • Show my Share Sheet shortcuts: Use this shortcut once you have a few Share Sheet shortcuts and want to organize them accordingly. You can also drag shortcuts into and out of this folder to add/remove them from the set, which works well with multi-select and drag & d
  • Show my Quick Action shortcuts: Use this shortcut to quickly access, organize, and edit your Quick Actions shortcuts set as Services on macOS. This shortcut uses the Open Folder action, which includes the auto-generated folders Shortcuts creates for features like Quick Action.
  • Open my Services folder: Opens the macOS folder System > Library > Services so you can see shortcuts you’ve added as Services.

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

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Apple TV Apps shortcuts

While updating my Apple TV shortcuts for multiple devices, I cleaned up my Apple TV apps and built out a new set of shortcuts to open them all.

I’ve just added the folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Apple TV Apps shortcuts:

  • Open Fireplace TV: Opens the Winter Fireplace app for Apple TV on a selected TV.
  • Open Twitch TV: Opens Twitch on the TV of your choice, showing the Remote after so you can select a channel.
  • Open YouTube TV: Opens the YouTube app on a selected Apple TV, then shows the Remote so you can select a video.
  • Open Play TV: Opens the app Play for YouTube on an Apple TV of your choice so you can select videos you’ve saved for later to open in the YouTube app.
  • Open Plex TV: Opens the Plex app for Apple TV on a device of your choosing.
  • Open Letterboxd TV: Opens the Letterboxd app on the selected Apple TV, then shows the Remote so you can navigate
  • Open MasterClass TV: Opens the MasterClass app for Apple TV so you can browse or continue watching a lesson.
  • Open Developer TV: Opens the Apple Developer app for Apple TV so you can view bookmarks, browse presentations, and search for topics.
  • Open Lumy TV: Opens the app Lumy for Apple TV, which lets you see relevant times for sunrise and sunset so you can know when to take the best photos.
  • Open Unsplash TV: Opens the Unsplash app for Apple TV, then shows the Remote so you can select a set of photos to display.
  • Open Lightroom TV: Opens the Adobe Lightroom app for Apple TV, then shows the remote so you can select an album to view.
  • Open VSCO TV: Opens the VSCO app for Apple TV where you can select photosets to display in an abstract gallery.
  • Open the TV Clock: Opens the tvClock app for Apple TV that shows the time in a large flip-style format.
  • Open Wordy Clock: Opens the app Wordy for Apple TV that displays the time in an abstract text style, like “Quarter to twelve” rather than actual numbers.
  • Open Fin TV: Opens the app Fin for Apple TV, which lets you select timers and display them in a huge format.
  • Open RadarScope TV: Opens the RadarScope app for Apple TV that lets you see large weather maps and see conditions in your area.
  • Open SpeedTest TV: Opens the SpeedTest app for Apple TV which lets you check your internet’s upload and download speeds.
  • Open PCalc TV: Opens the PCalc app for Apple TV and shows the remote so you can perform calculations on the big screen.
  • Open Criterion TV: Opens the Criterion Collection app for Apple TV that lets you view films from the catalog.
  • Open App Store TV: Opens the App Store app on the Apple TV so you can browse new apps.

I’ve also updated the folder of Apple TV Remote shortcuts for multiple devices:

  • Turn the TV on: Turns on the specified Apple TV, including any connected TV sets.
  • Turn the TV off: Sleeps a specified Apple TV, also turning off any HDMI-CEC connected devices like a TV set.
  • Pause the TV: Pauses the specified Apple TV playback.
  • Resume on the TV: For the specified Apple TV, resumes playing the currently-active program.
  • Show the remote: Shows the Apple TV remote and lets you control the device from your iPhone or iPad.
  • Switch to my profile: Turns on the TV and sets the Apple TV to your personal profile, appearance preference, and Reduce Loud Sounds setting, then shows the remote.
  • Turn on the screensaver: Wakes up the specified Apple TV, then activates the built-in Screen Saver feature to display ambient scenes instead of the Home Screen.
  • Open Apple TV settings: Opens the Settings app on Apple TV where you can tweak your preferences.
  • Open Music TV: Opens the Apple Music app for Apple TV on the selected device, then shows the Remote so you can play something.
  • Open Podcasts TV: Opens the Podcasts app for Apple TV on the selected device, then shows the remote so you can pick something to listen to.
  • Open Fitness TV: Opens the Apple Fitness app on the selected device, then shows the Remote so you can pair your Apple Watch and begin a workout.
  • Open Photos TV: Opens the Apple Photos app for Apple TV, then shows the Remote so you can select an album or a memory to play.
  • Open the TV app: Opens the Apple TV app on the selected TV, then shows the Remote so you can pick something from your Up Next or a connected service.
  • Open Netflix TV: Opens Netflix on the selected Apple TV, or opens the website from Mac.
  • Open HBO TV: Opens the MAX app on Apple TV and on the web if run from Mac.
  • Open Hulu TV: Opens the Hulu app on Apple TV and on the web if run from Mac.
  • Open Disney TV: Opens the Disney app on Apple TV or website if run from Mac.
  • Open Prime TV: Opens Amazon Prime Video on Apple TV or on the web if run from Mac.

Check out the folder of Apple TV Apps shortcuts and Apple TV Remote shortcuts in the Shortcuts Library.

Categories
Shortcuts

New shortcuts in the Shortcuts Library: Kindle shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Kindle shortcuts:

  • Open the Kindle app: Opens the Kindle app on iOS and Mac to the default library view, letting you browse your collection and select a book or PDF to read.
  • Read my Kindle book: Opens the Kindle app to the most recent book you were reading.
  • Send to Kindle: Takes the file from input and emails it to your Send To Kindle email address.
  • Set Kindle charging reminder: Sets a reminder 4 hours from the current time that your Kindle is done charging.
  • Buy books on Amazon: Opens the Amazon page for Kindle so you can buy books directly.
  • Manage Kindle books: Opens Amazon to the Digital Content page of “Manage Your Content and Devices” to show your Kindle books.
  • Manage Kindle Docs: Views the Docs category in the Content section of Amazon’s “Manage Your Content and Devices” for Kindle.
  • Manage Kindle Unlimited: Opens Kindle Unlimited to let you manage your digital content, to deliver, remove, or return your book.

Check out the folder of Kindle shortcuts on the Shortcuts Library.