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Ask HN: What are your favorite iOS/macOS automations?

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11–20 of 39 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite iOS/macOS automations?

#11
post #10
post #9

Not an automation, technically, but maybe it could be: I have an AppleScript that is set to run every hour that grabs any files on my desktop that have been there longer than a day, and puts them in a dated folder in an archive folder. Same for my downloads.

Could you share this? I have something similar for my own workflow but it's manual and involves a folder called "Everything".

I'm also interested in this!

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite iOS/macOS automations?

#12
post #8
post #4

Automatically battery saving mode when battery charge drops below 50%

I have mine set to go to power save mode whenever I unplug it. I don’t know what a non-power-save-mode phone works like.

Same. My phone goes for 3 days on that mode, easily.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite iOS/macOS automations?

#13
Not a specific automation, but the ability to run automations upon receiving an email lets you do some very cool stuff. For instance, I forward emails to a particular alias of mine, which kicks off a shortcut that adds the email to my reminders. But since you have access to the email body you could really do anything.

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite iOS/macOS automations?

#14
Podcasts in the shower: on bluetooth speaker connect, add 15 mins to the current time, set focus mode that ignores everyone until 15 mins later, resume podcasts playlist wherever it was left off. Only annoyance with this shortcut is it’ll pop up a notification to approve running the shortcut when it detects the speaker has been turned on.

I have those cheap paper nfc stickers hidden in random spots around the house and we have the same shortcuts setup on our phones so we can add dog food/loo roll/cleaning supplies etc etc to the shared shopping list in todo.

Similarly i like being able to tap my phone on the way out my home office to run script over ssh and shut everything down, turn off the lights and plugs etc

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite iOS/macOS automations?

#15
post #7

Wish I could create an automation, which would notify me when battery level in either of my AirPods drops bellow 10%... because sometimes when I put them in, they don't start charging. But nope, I cannot do it.

they should automatically be playing a sound when it reaches low battery levels

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite iOS/macOS automations?

#16

NFC card/sticker/tag tap: vibrate-confirm with audio description of associated object for vision impaired users. URL -> ssh -> shell script for actions not possible on iOS.

i used to have a couple of these stickers in my kitchen so when i need a timer for a specific amount of minutes, i just tap that one (rather than be pained to use siri and withstand the emotional turmoil using siri is)

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite iOS/macOS automations?

#18
post #10
post #9

Not an automation, technically, but maybe it could be: I have an AppleScript that is set to run every hour that grabs any files on my desktop that have been there longer than a day, and puts them in a dated folder in an archive folder. Same for my downloads.

Could you share this? I have something similar for my own workflow but it's manual and involves a folder called "Everything".

Here's what ChatGPT spits out: https://chat.openai.com/share/89b37ac6-cbe1-4f07-b1dc-7736c5...

Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite iOS/macOS automations?

#19
post #7

Wish I could create an automation, which would notify me when battery level in either of my AirPods drops bellow 10%... because sometimes when I put them in, they don't start charging. But nope, I cannot do it.

they should automatically be playing a sound when it reaches low battery levels

they do, the moment I plug them into the ears... :-(
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