Category: Shortcuts

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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 for managing your Kindle in the Shortcuts Library

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.

Categories
Shortcuts

New shortcuts to Post Threads in the Shortcuts Library

I’ve just added new shortcuts to my folder of Threads shortcuts in the Shortcuts Library — a set that works with Threads’ create URL scheme:

  • Create new Thread: Opens the deep link to Threads’ Create menu so you can post a new thread. On Mac, opens the Threads website.
  • Post to Threads: Asks you to enter the text of your post, then URL encodes the result and passes it to Threads’ URL scheme for creating posts. On Mac, copies the result and opens Threads.net.
  • Post link to Threads: Presents the link excerpt, then asks you to share your commentary along with the URL in a new post on Threads.
  • Post media to Threads: Asks you to select media to store on your clipboard, then asks you to enter a post to pass to Threads where you can paste your media. On Mac, gets file from Finder/Services and opens Threads.net.
  • Cross-post to Twitter and Threads: Prompts you to enter in a message, then copies the text, opens to Twitter for you to post, waits for you to return, then opens Threads with the message filled out. On Mac, opens the Threads website.
  • Cross-post to Ivory and Threads: Prompts you to enter in a message, then copies the text, posts it to Mastodon via Ivory, then opens Threads with the message filled out. On Mac, opens the Threads website.
  • Cross-post everywhere: Prompts you to enter in a message, then copies the text, posts it to Mastodon via Ivory, then opens Threads with the message filled out. On Mac, opens the Threads website.

Also, I’ve moved the Threads scraping shortcuts into their own folder, plus updated the rest of the Threads folder to work cross-platform with macOS:

  • Open Threads app: Opens the Threads app from Instagram/Meta. On iPhone, works well with custom icons. On iPad, uses Stage Manager to make proper window. On Mac, opens web app created using Add to Dock.
  • Open Threads search: Opens the link to Search in Threads so you can find posts about specific topics.
  • Open username in Threads: Prompts for a username (or accepts one as input) and opens the redirect into the Threads app.
  • Show my Profile in Threads: Switches the Threads app to your own profile. Userful for checking your follower count.
  • Share my Threads profile: Takes your pre-inputted Threads URL and asks whether to copy it, share, or display it as a QR code.
  • Open Threads settings: Opens the link to the Settings page for Threads.

Check out my Threads shortcuts and Threads scraping shortcuts in the Shortcuts Library.

Categories
Shortcuts

New shortcuts for the Phone app in the Shortcuts Library

For iPhone users, I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Phone shortcuts:

  • Open the Phone app: Opens the deep link to the Phone app (mobilephone://).
  • Activate noise control: Opens the deep link to the phone app, then sets playback to AirPods and turns on Noise Cancellation.
  • Open Favorites: Opens the deep link to the Favorites tab in the Phone app (mobilephone-favorites://).
  • Open recent calls: Opens the deep link into the Recents section of the Phone app to see your incoming and outgoing calls, plus any missed calls (mobilephone-recents://).
  • Open my voicemail: Opens the deep link into the Voicemail section of the Phone app (vmshow://).
  • Get my number: Gets the first phone number from your preselected contact card, copies it to the clipboard, and shows it to you in a dialog. Use to quickly show to or share with someone else.
  • Dial a number: Prompts you to enter a phone number, then asks you to confirm before calling.
  • Call a contact: Presents your list of contacts, then calls the person you select. If they have multiple numbers, asks you which one to dial.
  • Phone a friend: Looks for contacts added to a “Friends” group and asks you to pick one before calling them.
  • Call a coworker: Looks for contacts from a given company name (added on input), then asks you to choose which contact and calls them.

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

Categories
Membership Shortcuts

New podcasting shortcuts for Transistor.FM

After working on my podcasting workflow this week, I’ve added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Transistor.FM shortcuts (make sure to get the required* API shortcuts):

New episodes

When posting a new episode, these are the relevant links you’re likely to visit before publishing:

Continue reading “New podcasting shortcuts for Transistor.FM”

Categories
News Shortcuts

What’s new in Shortcuts in iOS and iPadOS 17.2, macOS 14.2, and watchOS 10.2 »

From Apple’s support doc titled “What’s new in Shortcuts for iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS 14, and watchOS 10”:

New in iOS and iPadOS 17.2, macOS 14.2, and watchOS 10.2

This update adds enhanced VoiceOver support in the Shortcuts library and improved app performance.

Updated Actions

  • Choose from Menu and Choose from List now prevent your device from sleeping when run from the Action button and awaiting a response
  • Combine Images now correctly aligns images when output on macOS
  • Split Screen Apps now correctly handles ratios on iPadOS

I’m marking these as closed 😎:

  • FB13202947 (Action button falls asleep while running; Shortcuts menus/lists don’t register as Lock Screen taps)
  • FB12510235 (Combine Image places photos in wrong place)
  • FB13204850 (Split Screen Apps has incorrect sizes; places windows opposite where described)

Another issue not mentioned, but fixed – changing folders on iPad: FB9365048 (Pressing Control + Tab is broken; redirects to Search field).

Also from Colin Hughes on Twitter:

I called for Apple to allow users to ask Siri for blood oxygen levels back in April 2022. Delighted to see the company has listened and this, and other health features, will be accessible via Siri commands in iOS 17.2 set to be released this week. So inclusive and accessible


View the full set of release notes from iOS 17 and see Colin’s quote tweet.

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Keynote shortcuts

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

  • Open Keynote: Opens the Keynote desktop app on Mac and the mobile app from iPhone/iPad.
  • Open my presentation: Opens a pre-selected Keynote presentation. I use this with any current presentation that I may be working on.
  • Open password-protected presentation: Asks you to enter the password for a locked presentation, then passes it to the file as it opens it in Keynote.
  • Open from Keynote docs: Gets the contents of the Keynote folder in iCloud, asks you to pick from a presentation, and opens it in Keynote.
  • Start presentation: Asks you to pick from your Keynote folder in iCloud Drive and opens the presentation in Show Mode.
  • Rehearse presentation: Presents your presentations in Keynote, asks you to pick one, and opens it in Rehearsal Mode.
  • Create custom presentation: Creates a presentation from your “My Themes” section, which appears when you use Edit > Save Theme in Keynote.
  • Create Basic presentation: Presents a menu of Basic themes from Keynote to create – choose from Basic White, Basic Black, Classic White, White, and Black.
  • Create Dynamic presentation: Pick from Apple’s cool movement-based Dynamic presentations in Keynote – including Light, Dark, and Rainbow options.
  • Create Minimal presentation: Asks you to choose between Miniminal themes in Keynote – pick from Basic Color, Color Gradient Light, Color Gradient, Gradient, Showroom, Modern Portfolio, Slate, and Photo Essay.
  • Create Bold presentation: Presents a list of Bold presentation themes available in Keynote – choose from Bold Color, Showcase, Briefing, Academy, Modern Type, and Exhibit
  • Create Editorial themes: Presents a menu of Editorial themes in Keynote – pick from Feature Story, Look Book, Classic, Editorial, and Cream Paper.
  • Create Portfolio presentation: Presents a menu of Portfolio-style presentations to create in Keynote – choose from Industrial, Blueprint, Graph Paper, Chalkboard, Photo Portfolio, and Leather Book.
  • Create Craft presentation: Pick from Craft presentation themes in Keynote – options are Artisan, Improv, Drafting, Kyoto, Brushed Canvas, or Craft styles.
  • Create Textured presentation: Asks you to pick from various Keynote themes in the Textured category – choose between Parchment, Renaissance, Moroccan, Hard Cover, Linen Book, Vintage, Typeset, Harmony, and Formal.

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

 

Categories
Shortcuts

Updated in the Shortcuts Library: Apple Music shortcuts

I’ve just updated a folder in the Shortcuts Library — my set of Apple Music shortcuts:

  • Play my radio station: Plays the personalized radio station curated for you by Apple Music.
  • Play Discovery station: Plays Apple Music’s newest “Discovery” station that plays curated tracks from outside your library or playlists.
  • Play Apple Music 1: Plays the main curated radio station for Apple Music, previously known as Beats 1.
  • Play Apple Music Hits: Opens the Apple Music Hits radio station that plays top tracks from the service (as opposed to the main Apple Music 1 channel).
  • Open Mood playlists: Opens the curated pages of playlists for various Moods included in Apple Music.
  • Open Genre pages: Opens deep link into the genre pages in Apple Music.
  • Open Apple Music artists: Presents a list of Apple Music 1 radio shows and opens the corresponding URL to their curator page.
  • Open Apple Music TV: Opens the deep link into Apple Music TV, immediately starting the currently-playing music videos.
  • Open Apple Music Essentials: Opens the Apple Music curator page for Essentials playlists of the top tracks from popular artists – great for playing across an artist’s discography instead of picking an album.
  • Open Apple Music News: Opens the News app to the special Apple Music curator page.
  • Play my Favorites mix: Plays the automatic Favorites Mix curated by Apple Music for you, updated Mondays.
  • Play my Get Up mix: Kick off some energetic tracks from your Get Up Mix in Apple Music, with new tracks added every Tuesday.
  • Play my Friends mix: Starts the “Friends Mix” playlist from Apple Music’s Made For You feature – playlist is updated every Friday.
  • Play my New Music mix: Plays tracks from the New Music Mix updated every Friday in Apple Music.
  • Play my Chill Mix: Plays the Chill Mix that’s “Made For You” by Apple Music. Updated every Sunday, this one is good for unwinding in the evening or relaxing on the weekends.
  • Share my Apple Music profile: Shares the link to your Apple Music profile found in the Music app.
  • Open EDC live sets: Opens the editor page in Apple Music for EDC’s series of live sets from over the years.
  • Open Soulection Radio: Opens the editor page in Apple Music for Soulection radio, a laid-back show that airs on Sunday nights.
  • Open the Boiler Room: Opens the editor page in Apple Music for the Boiler Room, a series of shows for underground dance music with a webcam showing the set.
  • Explore Apple Music hosts: Presents a playlist of Apple Music host pages and opens the deep link into that section of the Music app.

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

 

Categories
Apps Shortcuts

Customize Threads With These 8 Alternate Home Screen Icons

If you’re one of the 100 million people who got on Threads since launch, you might want to customize your Threads experience on your iPhone and iPad using Shortcuts’ “Add to Home Screen” feature.

I’ve found eight alternate icons you might want to use (so far), plus I’ll share how to set up the icons using Shortcuts and Add to Home Screen:

Continue reading “Customize Threads With These 8 Alternate Home Screen Icons”
Categories
Shortcuts

Updated in the Shortcuts Library: Threads shortcuts

Check out my updated folder in the Shortcuts Library — my set of Threads shortcuts.

I’ve updated my scraping tool, figured out how to make post embeds, and built out a set of shortcuts to send Threads to various apps based on feedback from the community:

  • Scrape Threads post: Accepts a Thread link as input, extracts the username and excerpt, and formats it with multiple link types into a JSON dictionary shared as output.
  • Quote Thread: Accepts a Thread link, scrapes the data, then formats it as a quote from the author and links back to the post/profile. Works well as a function for saving Thread posts quickly.
  • OCR Thread: Accepts a Thread link, scrapes the data, then opens the link, waits for it to load, takes a screenshot, extracts text from the screenshot, then prompts you to delete the extra text before replacing the excerpt in the Thread JSON dictionary.
  • Copy Threads post embed: Scrapes a Threads post, gets the embed code using the URL and username, and copies it to the clipboard.
  • Capture Thread as link post: Accepts a Thread link, scrapes it, then OCRs the text, asks for a title, and created a linked post in Ulysses.
  • Capture Thread to Reminders: Scrapes a Threads post, then formats the excerpt and links in the notes as well as the URL in a new reminder.
  • Capture Thread to Things: Scrapes a Threads post, then adds it to Things with links in the notes and a “Research” tag.
  • Capture Thread to Craft: Scrapes a Threads post and formats it for a Craft document, using the rich embed as the URL reference.
  • Capture Thread to Bear: Scrapes a Threads post, formats the title, except, and link, and opens Bear to add it as a note.w
  • Capture Thread as note: Accepts a Thread link, scrapes the data, and formats it quickly for Notes.
  • Post Thread to Mastodon: Scrapes a Threads post, fulls out the excerpt and URL, asks you to add commentary, then posts it using the Mastodon app.
  • Capture Thread as Markdown file: Asks you to OCR a post, add a title, forms the excerpt as a Markdown file, then asks you where to save it.
  • Show Threads link: Opens a Threads URL in the app on iOS, on the web on Mac, and in a preview on iPad.

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

Categories
Apps Shortcuts

How To Directly Access Threads Profiles Using Shortcuts

In Federico Viticci’s post on Threader, a shortcut to open Threads profiles from Mastodon and Twitter directly in the Threads app, he mentioned in a footnote that Threads’ URL scheme uses the unique pattern barcelona:// – which immediately got my attention.

In the post, his excellent shortcut uses OCR to look at the device’s screen and extract the username, before passing that into barcelona://user?username={Username}.

In my attempts to recreate my Twitter follow graph on Threads, I used Viticci’s shortcut to capture as many links to Threads profiles that I come across – many, many people were posting theirs on launch day, so I ran his shortcut a lot initially.

However, lots of people were (and still are) simply mentioning their profile or posting screenshots of the handle, like my friend Crim – so, I wanted to make another Shortcuts solution that let me type out any username and redirect into their profile.

My “Open username in Threads” shortcut will prompt you to enter in a username, then fills out a URL like barcelona://user?username=MatthewCassinelli – then, the Open URLs action activates the deep link and redirects you into the profile inside the Threads app, so you can follow the person.

Going further with the URL scheme, Viticci also followed up on Threads with yet another discovery – using barcelona://user redirects the app to account tab, making it easy to check your profile from Shortcuts – so I made that into a shortcut too.

Get these in my Threads folder of shortcuts – and make sure to check out my story on how to make Threads work well on iPad with Stage Manager.

Categories
Shortcuts

New in the Shortcuts Library: Camera app shortcuts

I’ve just added a new folder to the Shortcuts Library — my set of Camera app shortcuts – built off the Open Camera action new in iOS 17 developer beta 4 which lets users select a specific camera mode to open each time.

Use these with Siri, the Shortcuts widget, Spotlight, or the app to quickly access the mode you need – they work particularly well in new Lock Screen widget too:

  • Open Photo Mode: Opens the default Photo mode in the Camera app.
  • Open Selfie Mode: Opens the front-facing Selfie mode in the Camera app.
  • Open Portrait Mode: Opens Portrait mode in the Camera app. If Preserve Settings is used, the Portrait Zoom level stays between shots instead of being reset to default.
  • Open Portrait Selfie Mode: Opens the Portrait camera to the Selfie mode – my preferred way to take selfies, but one I forget to use (until now)
  • Open Video Mode: Opens the Camera app to the Video mode. If Preserve Settings is enabled, opens to your last-specific settings.
  • Open Cinematic Mode: Opens Cinematic mode in the Camera app – set in 4K at 24 fps.
  • Open Time-Lapse Mode: Opens the Time-Lapse mode in the Camera app.
  • Open Pano Mode: Opens the Pano mode in the Camera app – use this for shooting panoramas that you can view later on the Apple Vision Pro.
  • Open Slo-Mo Mode: Opens the Slo-Mo mode in the Camera app – mine is set to 1080p 240 fps.

Check out the folder of Camera app shortcuts in the Shortcuts Library.

Categories
Apps Shortcuts

Use This Sample Discord Shortcut To Get Started Building Your Own Bot »

From @whatqm:

Just made a discord bot using Apple Shortcuts lol pic.twitter.com/mKSuaZzZkC

While searching Twitter for Shortcuts keywords, I came across this video that demonstrates using Shortcuts to post to a Discord channel as a bot – I’ve been wanting to build my own shortcut to do the same, so I added the sample shortcut linked in the reply and will be testing it out in my own Discord community.

View the full video from the tweet.