Set focus mode on macOS?

macOS
1

Is it possible to activate a specific focus mode in macos via automator…?

I am trying to run shortcuts on my apple device when something in homekit happens. It seems that the only way this could be done is to use the focus trigger on the iphone. So change the focus on my mac mini → it synchronizes the change to all icloud devices → and triggers the shortcut on the iphone.

I checked automator with watch me do and I saw that it records the change but it if not very elegant to move the mouse and push buttons to archive this. Do not disturbed can be activated with BTT but no other focus mode. So any idea?

Even more difficult would it be to change the focus mode on the device of my wife =)

2

How about making Automator run a shortcut on the mac that that sets the focus mode?

3

Joa maybe but then I neet to trigger automator via URL. How would I do that?

A long way…

Example:

Motion detected → automation to trigger url on mac → automator starts shortcut → shortcut sets focus → this triggers shortcut on iphone → that sets my apple watch to theater mode

4

But yes thank you, this could work :slight_smile:

5

I’m not adept with Automator but if I have to do this and I only have built-in tools:

  1. Create a shortcut to set focus mode, e.g Set Theater Focus Mode
  2. Homekit automation to Run script over SSH then motion is detected
  3. Script to run is shortcuts run "Set Theater Focus Mode"
  4. Focus mode sycs
  5. Focus mode automation on iPhone to set watch theater mode.
6

Wow thank you supermamom. Very elegant to make this via a ssh script… ! This works great!

7

how can I do that? A got through all automator triggers and didn’t find anything about Shortcuts.

8

Shortcuts can be triggered via a terminal command, which you can trigger from Automator.

9

wow! it’s great! THank you!

10

I’ve been using this method for quite some time, however it has one caveat. When setting a focus mode using a shortcut, it can sometimes take up to 20 seconds to propagate to all of your other devices. This causes quite a delay especially with time sensitive automations. Ironically, when turning off a focus mode using the same method, it’s almost instant. Go figure…