Actions

Before I downloaded Actions, I was making lots of simple programs in Shortcuts, but kept running into things I couldn’t do. I knew my ideas were possible. I knew exactly what features I was missing. Now, with Actions, I’m making a tool that triangulates the location of a distant object. In order to do that, you need access to your phone’s compass, which there is an Action for (Get Compass Heading). You can also access the phone’s gyroscopic movement sensors (Get Device Motion Data, Get Device Orientation). These appear alongside the standard actions in the Shortcuts app. So there are some things like that, that aren’t possible in Shortcuts without Actions. Many other things such as list processing are possible without it but easier or fewer steps with it. There are a bunch of random cool features such as Get Related Words (multiple languages supported) and lots of basic little workhorses like Remove Duplicate Lines. You can encrypt and decrypt. You can process images or create a blank one from scratch. There are some Actions that duplicate standard Shortcuts actions but with nitpicky improvements in how they’re carried out. My complaints are minor. Current version of iOS required. Some fields need a press & hold to select a variable or prior action. Some descriptions are detailed and helpful while others are like “Shuffle List: Shuffles the input list.” Some bugs exist, but nothing like the Shortcuts app itself. In fact, some of them are due to Shortcuts bugs that Apple would need to fix. This is my first ever app review but now I want to review Shortcuts! No five stars there! Maybe Apple should hire the person who made this app. Work like this is a gift to humanity.

There are many actions in the shortcut command, but some actions are still not. This App adds more actions, and some useful things are basically added. But some actions are not added, but they are also useful. For example, I would like for a shortcut to require the device to be unlocked in order to be used (Not only remind the user, but guide the user to unlock the device), yet neither the shortcut nor the App itself provides this action. I hope to add this action in the upcoming updates. Of course, if this action cannot be implemented, it cannot be added either. Secondly, the language of this App is only English. I hope more languages can be added, which will not only expand the scope of use, but also make it more convenient to use.

I am a copywriter, editor, and pulp fiction writer that has managed to downsize my work setup to just an iPad Air with Magic Keyboard and an external monitor. Everything works great — once I get the apps up and running! The problem was in creating an automated way to starting what I need, sending a message to my husband letting him know what I am doing (and whether or not he can drop in without texting first), and enabling the accessibility settings to make my life easy. Actions has solved that problem. The expanded options makes it easy for me to create a one-click solution that allows me to put in my earplugs, tug on my headset, and get to work. I have three custom actions enabled with the extra features Actions add to Shortcuts — start an hour writing session, start an hour dictating session, and return to normal life. All three icons are now just a tap away on my home screen. :)