The best app to manage the on/off status of your Shortcuts Automations as well as have them run only if specific conditions are met. Automation Control on the App Store
After countless hours of development and testing with my amazing beta testers, I am excited to introduce Automation Control 2.0. This release includes numerous changes and enhancements to meet your Shortcuts Automation needs. Special thanks to all my beta testers!
What is this app?
In a nutshell, this app is a sophisticated IF statement that determines whether your automations should run. By simply adding Automation Control’s “Get Status of Item” action to your Shortcuts Automations or using the Automation Control Template, you gain unparalleled control over enabling, disabling, pausing, or setting conditions for your automations. Controllers are simple on/off toggles for your automation, while Conditioned Items are Controllers with additional conditions.
Please backup your data prior to updating in the even your data is lost, it can be imported back in.
An example use case with 2.0: I want my automation to run every Wednesday and Thursday between the hours of 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., only if I am at home and the weather is clear outside.
What’s New:
- Allow your automations to run based on various conditions such as location, weather, Focus modes, and more.
- Referred to as Controller and Conditioned Items. Controllers are just on and off toggles, while Conditioned Items have specified conditions.
- Active Conditions for an item are displayed using SF Symbols.
- Unified or split view of all your Controller & Scheduler (Conditioned) Items.
- Automatic logging of each automation.
- More detailed log view of your automation’s successful runs or failures.
- Three beautiful layouts to choose from.
- Multiple customization options.
- Tagging/Grouping of your items.
- Pinning your favorite items to the top of the list.
- Utilizes Apple’s WeatherKit and MapKit frameworks.
- Timer for Automatic Toggle Timer function is displayed on the item rows and in the log view.
- Ability to prevent an automation from running again if it has executed within a specified amount of time.
- Version History can be viewed in the app’s Settings - About Automation Control page.
- Introducing Automation Control GPT (Beta) - An expert on Automation Control features, history, and assistance in using Automation Control within your Shortcuts Automations.
What’s Changed:
- Unified Shortcuts actions now handle both Controller and Scheduler (Conditioned) items, eliminating separate actions for each.
- All Controller items can now remain as a Controller item or become a Conditioned item by simply enabling the Enable Additional Conditions toggle.
- Simplified usage of the Shortcuts actions.
- Streamlined the app’s interface.
- Default location for backing up your data.
- Import/Export now displays the number of items imported or exported.
- Seamless transitioning between 12-hour and 24-hour modes, no need to recreate your items.
How to Use:
- Create an Automation Control item by tapping the “+” button in the top right corner.
- Name, describe, and select an icon, and of course, enable it.
- Leave it as a Controller item by simply saving the new item or tap the controls button and set various conditions.
- Download the Automation Control Template shortcut, rename it to match the name of the control item you’ve created, and set up your actions. How to use the Template Shortcut.
- Set up your automation via the Automation tab in the Shortcuts app. Add a Run Shortcut action from the list of actions and select the modified shortcut.
Also add to your Shortcuts library:
- Automation Control Log View - no need to modify this shortcut, just needs to be in your library.
- Automation Control Get Icon shortcut
What’s Next:
- Widgets
- Control Center Controls
- Apple Watch app to toggle on/off status
Download or update the app here. Full details are available here.