Siri Shortcuts (3rd Dev "beta", build 672) - Bug fixes, changes and Improvements

[GreyOS]

At the time I snapped that original screenshot I was trying to figure out how to use a variable to adjust the brightness control and just wanted to illustrate that there was, in fact, a screen brightness control.

That way didn’t work. But the one below, using a Magic Variable does work. It was not intuitive that you had to tap on the slider to bring up the “insert variable” feature. I added the “divide by 10” action so the desired brightness can be entered as a whole number between 1 and 10 (the slider accepts values between 0 and 1).

Thanks, that’s a lot clearer
[doublepost=1534937061][/doublepost]One more question actually... what is the UI for the question/input? Especially when invoking from Siri. Thanks

 

[badatusernames]

One more question actually... what is the UI for the question/input? Especially when invoking from Siri. Thanks

In that case it will open the Shortcuts app and ask you for the input.

 

[GreyOS]

In that case it will open the Shortcuts app and ask you for the input.

Thank you.

(Also I hope it’s common knowledge that you can just ask Siri to adjust brightness to a certain % without Shortcuts. But it’s good to know these building blocks could be used in bigger and more complex workflows)

 

[badatusernames]

Thank you.

But it’s good to know these building blocks could be used in bigger and more complex workflows)

Yes you can If I recall correctly, CPG Grey used Shortcuts in conjunction with another app to alert him when he's 'far away' from home to enable low power mode.

 

[hanser]

Is it possible to start a Radio App on the iPad and airplay to an Airport express with Shortcuts? It is something I do manually each morning.

 

[badatusernames]

Yes you can If I recall correctly, CPG Grey used Shortcuts in conjunction with another app to alert him when he's 'far away' from home to enable low power mode.

If anyone is interested in doing this you can use Launch Center Pro and the Shortcuts app.

1. Create an action in Launch Center by tapping the edit icon in the top right-hand corner.
2. Tap the plus icon on one of the tiles.
3. Tap 'Action'
4. The action creation screen will pop up.
5. Tap Action Composer > Apps with Actions
6. Search for Workflow, tap Run Workflow. Then enter the Workflow/Shortcut name

Then under options you can have a notification appear based on a schedule or based on your location.

I am using mine to alert me anytime I live home to remind me to enable low power mode. I can see others using it to remind them every weekday at 9:00 a.m for example.
[doublepost=1534941108][/doublepost]

If anyone is interested in doing this you can use Launch Center Pro and the Shortcuts app.

1. Create an action in Launch Center by tapping the edit icon in the top right-hand corner.
2. Tap the plus icon on one of the tiles.
3. Tap 'Action'
4. The action creation screen will pop up.
5. Tap Action Composer > Apps with Actions
6. Search for Workflow, tap Run Workflow. Then enter the Workflow/Shortcut name

Then under options you can have a notification appear based on a schedule or based on your location.

I am using mine to alert me anytime I leave home to remind me to enable low power mode. I can see others using it to remind them every weekday at 9:00 a.m for example.

[doublepost=1534941193][/doublepost]

Is it possible to start a Radio App on the iPad and airplay to an Airport express with Shortcuts? It is something I do manually each morning.

You can have the shortcuts open a specific app but selecting AirPlay options won't able possible.

 

[hanser]

You can have the shortcuts open a specific app but selecting AirPlay options won't able possible.

Thanks, that is a pity. Perhaps it will be added later.

 

[KarimLeVallois]

Question for those that have played around with this if I may...?

Can you set up commands to use within the Apple mail app to set reminders for a given email by saying "Snooze until tomorrow" and Siri set up a reminder for a set time tomorrow, linking the specific email? Or the user place a given email into a "Snooze Tomorrow" folder and this be automatically noticed and a reminder set up for this. The latter I'm guessing is a bit too technical lol

I've been trying out "Siri, remind me about this..." action to do this exact same thing, but it's very temperamental.

 

[GreyOS]

I am using mine to alert me anytime I live home to remind me to enable low power mode.

Isn’t having location trigger on all the time going to use more battery than low power mode saves? That outline of a location arrow in you status bar is going to be there all the time now. Sure, it's only geofence location and uses less power than more precise location, but I wouldn't be happy having that permanently on, especially if concerned about battery. Am I wrong?

Is it possible to start a Radio App on the iPad and airplay to an Airport express with Shortcuts? It is something I do manually each morning.

You can have the shortcuts open a specific app but selecting AirPlay options won't able possible.

Not even if/when "Radio App" adds support for Shortcuts? i.e. apps will soon be able to add their own actions to the Shortcuts toolbox, as well as offer up their own suggestions for Shortcuts based on your regular actions and paths through the app. I'm not aware of any specific reason why sending audio to an AirPlay device couldn't be one of these paths, but I don't know the technicalities of the API well enough.

 

[gwhizkids]

Thank you.

(Also I hope it’s common knowledge that you can just ask Siri to adjust brightness to a certain % without Shortcuts. But it’s good to know these building blocks could be used in bigger and more complex workflows)

Right now, you're correct: many of the actions doable by Shortcuts by themselves merely mimic functions Siri can already do. Its the concatenation of those building blocks that will make it powerful. Combining it with things like LauncherPro, even more so.

Plus, I suspect, we've merely had a taste of what is to come, action-wise: when all the apps get upgraded to the iOS 12 API, there will be a lot more 3rd party stuff to play with. It may even give rise to a whole new category of "things" I would call "meta-apps" (c) - chains of actions involving "pieces" of multiple apps arranged to your liking. Makes you wonder if the Gallery will expand to a "Shortcuts Store". May be difficult, as it requires the individual apps to be on your device also.

 

[GreyOS]

Right now, you're correct

Why only right now?

 

[gwhizkids]

Why only right now?

Because I expect more in the future. And, you're right, you'll be correct in the future, too. Just wanted to emphasize that I think the app is a bit limited now as the number of actions are limited. I just didn't want people left with the impression that Shortcuts is limited to doing what Siri is capable of now already.

 

[GreyOS]

Does Shortcuts have any access to the Stopwatch? Can you start/stop it and/or read its current value?

 

[gwhizkids]

I think I know why you’re asking.
Not per se. The following *might* be a way to synthesize it. I’ll have to play around with it to see how you can pass input into this function to make it useful for the use case envisioned in the other thread.

EDIT: there might be the kernel of something in this Reddit post: https://amp.reddit.com/r/workflow/comments/36c98r/persistent_variables/

EDIT 2: Yes. Assigning the start time to a reminder does work. You can use that as input for the Date Difference function above.

 

[hanser]

Thanks, that is a pity. Perhaps it will be added later.

I recently looked again into shortcuts after not using them for a long time, and found to my surprise that now it IS possible to select an airplay target! So now my morning routine has gotten much easier.