Live Buttons/Widgets for Shortcuts, a sneak peek at what lies beyond LaunchCuts

iOS
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Here’s a link to a sneak peak video of my upcoming native app to bring dynamic buttons/widgets to Shortcuts and iOS.

Yes, we’ve heard all the rumors about widgets in iOS 14, so I am eager to see how my app stacks up tomorrow at WWDC 2020. A quick bullet list of features:

  • Profiles: Create multiple profiles of buttons, tailored for a particular task or information display.
  • Custom layouts: Go with a square grid, adjustable grid ala LaunchCuts, or an elegant photo album grid, with more layouts to come.
  • Multi-function buttons can run shortcuts with parameters, ping URLs, switch to other profiles, or simply act as receptacles for text, icons, and images.
  • Custom shortcut actions: control, customize, and power your buttons.
  • Complications: Display information in up to ten different sections of a button.
  • Trigger Server: Effectively Autocuts 2.0, the app runs in the foreground and automatically runs your shortcuts (with parameters). If you switch to another app to do something, the app will wait until you return and continue running shortcuts. You can also use it to run entire profiles of buttons via an Open App personal automation.
  • Time and Interval Limits: For instance, you can create a shortcut that only runs between 9am and 10am or a shortcut that runs once every 5 minutes.

There’s more to share in the coming days and weeks, including a beta for people to try this out before release. Assuming this app isn’t Sherlocked out of the gate by iOS 14, I think you are all going to enjoy it!

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Certainly looks interesting in terms of potential, and not entirely dissimilar to something I’d proposed to the folks at Launch Center Pro some time back based on some thoughts around Panic’s Status Board app.

I’m expecting any widget stuff for i*OS to be fairly simplistic in an initial release. Something like this I would consider more a monitoring dashboard for use at my desk on an iPad rather than more occasional glanceable stuff on my home screen. Even if Apple knock it out of the park tonight (UK) on widgets, I would fully expect there to be room and benefits for both.

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