Logged All Quiet on the Western Front, 2022 – ★★★★ on Letterboxd:
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What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #087
Welcome to Issue 87 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — it’s Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. and that means downtime, Black Friday sales, and and the beginning of the extended holiday season.
In the current beta cycle, we’re at iOS 16.2 beta 3, which means a new “Get Battery Status” action is available for testers.
On the Shortcuts Catalog, I spent over 15 hours streaming around my shortcuts upload process, scraping information from .shortcut files, and working on the YouTube streaming process.
I’m basically solving my own problems live on-camera and stacking my progress to gain better momentum while developing in Shortcuts. Plus, I’m honing my streaming skills for future sessions — which will be a lot more approachable than these very complex discussions.
Otherwise, this week we have another great set of app updates, clever Shortcuts ideas, and more feedback from the community:
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What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #086
Welcome to Issue 86 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — I can’t believe I’m already back up to this many issues after switching to Revue (and soon to another service), so thank you for reading along. ?
This week, we got Apple Frames 3.0 from team MacStories, there’s an intriguing set of apps who’ve upgraded their Shortcuts support, I found some helpful shortcuts for ADHD & autistic folks, and we’re seeing more & more good ideas around Color Filters.
Plus, I’ve started to release my Apple Watch updates — enjoy:
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What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #085
Welcome to Issue 85 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — it’s been quite a week in the wake of new leadership at Twitter, but thankfully the Shortcuts community kept up their efforts in sharing good ideas.
Before we get to that all though, I saw in the news that Twitter will be shutting down Revue (the service I use to send these newsletters) by the end of the year.
Right now, I’m not sure what tool I’ll use to replace it — but I will import my subscriber list over so there shouldn’t be a change there, and I will let you all know of any news before I switch over.
However, I will have to rethink how I deliver the material, as Revue uniquely allows me to embed links and tweets easily/natively into the email — something other services don’t provide, especially for free. As such, this change means I may have to reconsider what I can feasibly offer.
I don’t have anything to share now, but I wanted to be transparent ahead of the change — plus, if you have any thoughts on what I should do, feel free to respond to this email and let me know:
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What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #084
Welcome to Issue 84 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — I’m back after some time off for my 33rd birthday!
In the last two weeks, we saw the launch of this year’s iPadOS and macOS Ventura releases, Live Activities coming to iPhone 14 Pro in iOS 16.1, the M2 iPad Pro and 10th generation iPads shipping, and the next iOS beta dropping — lots has gone down.
I also have some exciting news: I have an Apple Watch Ultra review unit from Apple!
I’ll be working on my initial impressions after unboxing it, plus focusing on Apple Watch shortcuts/apps/tips (amongst others) in the coming weeks — fun times!
Until then, here’s what’s new in Shortcuts:
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What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #083
Welcome to Issue 83 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — this week has Apple announcement energy in the air, but no news as of yet.
iOS 16.1 is just over the horizon and with it iPadOS & macOS — I’ve written that line too many times, but it’s creeping up now.
Aside from some continued sync issues that I ended up ranting about, the community puttered along quietly in anticipation of what’s hopefully a more-stable period for Shortcuts ahead.
Until then, here’s what’s new in Shortcuts since the last issue:
I had the pleasure of being a guest host on this week’s iOS Today:
Matthew Cassinelli joins Rosemary Orchard this week to supercharge iPhone/iPad shortcuts with some very useful apps that enhance functionality. Matthew also explains App Shortcuts and how they’re organized in iOS 16.
Thanks to Rosemary for having me on again — and Mikah for taking a week off so I could host in his place! ?
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What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #082
Welcome to Issue 82 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — this week we saw some critical bug fixes in the iOS 16.1 betas, a lot of ideas from the Twitter community, and great resources popping up elsewhere online.
Especially with Shortcuts reaching a more stable footing than in the past few months, I got the sense that I was finally actually experiencing the full iOS 16 release in a regular week.
I’ve still only really used Stage Manager on iPad a handful of times, I finally gave in and set up “Open Folder” shortcuts for all of my folders—a strategy that 100% only makes sense for me alone—and truly tapping into App Shortcuts is taking time after bugs in the betas preventing all of them from showing up.
I’m excited for the iPad and Mac releases to drop in a few weeks and be able to really settle into this full release — it’s definitely making my daily work more productive.
Until then, here’s what’s new since last time:
Join me and special guest Stephen Robles of AppleInsider as we work on shortcuts for managing a podcast — we’ll be live Wednesday, October 5th at 1pm PT / 4pm ET.
Stephen runs the AppleInsider podcast, a top-charting technology podcast from the folks who cover everything Apple — and I’m sharing my podcasting workflows that I built over the course of hosting 150+ episodes across my past shows Supercomputer and Smart Tech Today (and being a guest on various other shows).
We’ll be talking about podcast production, how to use the Podcasts app actions in Shortcuts, and how to take advantage of Apple’s Podcast Marketing Tools.
Join us in the chat to ask questions, share your favorite podcasts, or just say hi!
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What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #081
Welcome to Issue 81 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — fall is here, iOS 16 has been out for a few weeks now, and all of Apple’s new products have been in folks’ hands for a bit.
Now that we’re into October, we’re expecting iPadOS 16, macOS Ventura, and possibly another hardware announcement — potentially via press release only — and all Apple platforms will thankfully be back in sync.
Hopefully by then, Shortcuts will reach a bit more stable ground than in the latest betas, which has had ongoing bugs from the last few rounds — make sure to keep filing Feedback if you run into anything!
This week, I’m digging into the iPhone and the AirPods more, waiting on an Apple Watch Ultra, and settling into my new schedule now that this newsletter goes out Mondays.
Plus, in light of reduced columns at iMore, I’ve been massively reworking my member releases so I can publish much more often — thanks as always for your support.
Until next time, here’s what’s new this week:
Yours truly for iMore:
In iOS 16, one of the hallmark features for iPhones is the new Lock Screen customization — users have been excitedly adding their own combinations of widgets to show up on their always-on displays. However, one of Apple’s own apps was curiously missing from the options: Shortcuts.
Across its platforms, Apple makes it easy to run shortcuts in tons of places — the Shortcuts widgets are extremely useful, you can run shortcuts from the Menu Bar on Mac, and the Apple Watch extends the functionality to your wrist.
But in this newest release, Apple didn’t add a Lock Screen widget for Shortcuts. And while this did open up the demand for third-party developers, it’s left an odd gap for everyday users who want to run shortcuts right from the first screen they see.
In this story, I’ll share a few reasons why Apple might not have added the Lock Screen widget, argue that Apple should one anyway, and share the best apps for adding shortcuts to your Lock Screen as it works in iOS 16 today:
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What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #080
Welcome to Issue 80 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — this last week, we saw the Apple Watch Ultra & AirPods Pro 2 ship, and with those the extension of the hype cycle around the Apple event.
I’ve got my hands on the new AirPods—and used the excellent new volume controls while writing this newsletter multiple times—but I’ve not gotten the Apple Watch Ultra just yet…
However, I did get a chance to take the ferry over the Bay into San Francisco with a small group and test out the new iPhone camera for a photowalk on Sunday. As a follow-up, I’m also streaming this evening to edit up some of the shots we took. I will definitely be hosting another in-person event sometime in the future — we had a lot of fun!
Also, a bit of housekeeping: this newsletter will be going out Mondays now — that way, I can cover the entire Monday-Sunday week prior, plus do more fun experiments (and take proper breaks) over the weekend.
Here’s what’s new in the last week:
Yours truly on iPad Pros episodes 149 and 151:
Matthew Cassinelli is back for our 5th annual catchup on what’s new with Shortcuts! In this first part we catchup on how he sees the iPad, all of the updates Apple rolled out after the initial releases for Shortcuts last year, and begin our discussion on what’s new with Shortcuts for iPadOS 16, iOS 16, MacOS Ventura, and watchOS 9.
If you want to listen to our past episodes; check out episodes 41, 42, 58, 90, 91, and 122.
A few weeks ago, I had my annual appearance on iPad Pros to talk through all the latest Shortcuts updates — as usual, we covered everything in detail.
Listen to the episodes on Apple Podcasts or see the show notes on iPadPros.net.
Yours truly for iMore:
Released with iOS 16, the new App Shortcuts features adds powerful new Siri capabilities automatically, generating folders of shortcuts for your apps programmatically in the Shortcuts app for you — it’s a big deal for Apple’s Siri strategy.
Taking advantage of App Shortcuts does require having supported apps installed — once you have them installed, however, their shortcuts will work with Siri right away.
To help you get started taking advantage of this new feature, we scoured the internet and found every app we could that adopted App Shortcuts for iOS 16 — here’s over 50 apps to get you started:
Hello photographers! ?
I am hosting a friendly neighborhood photowalk with my pal Mikah Sargent from TWiT this Sunday, September 25th.
We’re starting at 10 AM outside the San Francisco Ferry Building and then walking through the city — and you’re welcome to join us!
Ahoy, SF folks! @mattcassinelli and I are planning an iPhone 14* Photo Walk this Sunday (09/25). We’re going to meet at the Ferry Building @ 10 a.m.
*Any camera is fine; you won’t be turned away if you don’t have the latest iPhone. pic.twitter.com/lD2AeZjzNc
— Mikah Sargent (@mikahsargent) September 20, 2022
We are both casual photographers trying to get together with other folks who are looking to practice their photography skills as a group — what better opportunity than the new iPhone launch?
You don’t need an iPhone 14 to attend, but we’re looking to share tips on places or things to shoot in SF, cool mobile apps or gear we use, and just spend time getting to know how to use our new phone cameras.
Feel free to attend or bring a friend if you live in the area — we’ll meet up at the large space just outside the building (the Harry Bridges Plaza) at 10. We’ll take photos for 15 minutes or so there, then head off into the city for a few hours.
Once we’re done, we can all share our photos and get everyone’s different perspectives on the same places — it should be fun!
If you do plan on attending, please let me or Mikah know in some way—preferably on Twitter—just so we can understand if you’re coming and we know to wait for you!
Hope to see you there ?
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What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #079
Welcome to Issue 79 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — iOS 16 is finally out, the iPhones 14 are in people’s hands, and that means it’s time for a new set of Shortcuts actions!
I’ve released my set of iOS 16 shortcuts below, which everyone can get for free — these are my own App Shortcuts-like folders for each of the new actions available for Voice Memos, Notes, Clock, Hotspot, Parked Cars, Safari, Background Removal, and Shortcuts.
Basically, I wanted each of you to immediately have a new shortcut for each action available, so you don’t have to generate them yourselves — get them below.
Plus, as you’ll see in this issue, I managed to go viral this week with over 3 million views, I shared an initial look at App Shortcuts in iOS 16, and tomorrow I’m hosting three app developers to talk about their implementations — enjoy:
Yours truly for iMore:
Apple released iOS 16 on Monday and with it the latest update to their Siri Shortcuts feature, this time making “App Shortcuts” automatically available to users when they install supported apps. With App Shortcuts, users can speak the trigger phrases of no-setup shortcuts that are now generated ahead of time and found in the Shortcuts app, acting as pre-programmed Siri commands for everything you might want to do in that app.
As I wrote at the beginning of the summer, App Shortcuts is Apple’s big bet on Siri, switching from the top-down model of defining “intents” in specific categories that Apple needed to build ahead of time and lay out a path for certain types of apps to work with Siri. Now, the “App Intents” feature that powers App Shortcuts gives developers the control, defining every way their app might be used with Siri and automatically creating every permutation of that action as individual shortcuts for the user.
With iOS 16 now live (and our iOS 16 review ready for you to, er, review), and developers releasing their App Shortcuts into the wild, here’s how you can expect to see more Siri Shortcuts throughout your experience, plus how to best take advantage of what’s possible.
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What’s New in Shortcuts – Issue #078
Welcome to Issue 78 of “What’s New in Shortcuts” — did you order an iPhone too?
After this week’s keynote, I opted for a black iPhone 14 Pro and upped my storage to 1TB (in case of video), plus put in an order for AirPods Pro 2 to replace my aging set — and I’m still thinking about getting an Apple Watch Ultra in-store at launch… (you’ll know why in a moment).
Now, iOS 16 is all set to release on Monday and I’ll be going wild over all the new App Shortcuts & more-powerful Shortcuts actions — I can’t wait to try everything out once they hit the App Store in full.
Plus, I’m super excited to put out my set of iOS 16 shortcuts, start in on covering this year’s new opportunities, and get back to YouTube videos now that I’m fully settled in my new apartment — until then, here’s what new this week:
Yours truly for iMore:
The iPhone 14 pre-orders will go live bright and early Friday morning from Cupertino, with Apple releasing the newest versions of its flagship product alongside the new Apple Watch Ultra, AirPods Pro 2, and just a few days before iOS 16 is released to customers. Folks are setting up their orders now ahead of the store going offline.
If you’re looking to secure the best iPhone for you during pre-orders and want to maximize all your options for getting in and out as quick as possible, we’ve built a set of eight shortcuts you can use with Siri, in a Shortcuts widget, or right from the Home Screen around pre-order day.
Yours truly for iMore:
The Apple keynote day is upon us and, as usual, Apple nerds will descend upon Twitter and endlessly share their thoughts for a few hours. In lieu of excitedly eating popcorn, we’re collectively leaned in toward our iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple TVs, ready to share hot takes, funny quips, and the latest news. Nothing else quite brings us all together — except maybe some fun automations.
To get the best of both worlds, here’s a set of shortcuts you can use on keynote day to get set up to watch, organize your live-tweeting apps accordingly, and take notes on anything new: