WatchCuts + Cronios - automatically run shortcuts on your iPhone and iPad from any iCloud-connected device

Shortcuts
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Happy to share my latest shortcut here. I’ve been posting on Reddit up until now.

WatchCuts lets you trigger the running of shortcuts on your iPhone and iPad from all of your connected iCloud devices. Pair WatchCuts with Cronios — the shortcuts scheduler for iOS — and have your shortcuts run automatically when you complete tasks on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch!

WatchCuts Hero
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WatchCuts Trailer

Check out the WatchCuts trailer which shows how WatchCuts can automatically run shortcuts on an iPad using a Mac, iPhone, and Apple Watch.

Overview

WatchCuts works by monitoring a specific Reminders list that is shared by all iCloud-connected devices. Each task in the Reminders list corresponds to the name of a shortcut on the iOS device.

WatchCuts uses device-specific settings, so the shortcuts you trigger on your iPad can be different from the ones on your iPhone.

When you mark these shortcut-reminders as complete, WatchCuts will know which shortcuts to execute the next time you run WatchCuts. It will then re-add the shortcut-reminders back to the Reminders list so you can check them off again. When you pair WatchCuts with Cronios, you can automatically run shortcuts as you complete tasks in Reminders. Shortcuts can optionally return a WatchCuts Response which will be added to a specific WatchCuts calendar for viewing on your iCloud connected devices.

Documentation

Full documentation is available from the WatchCuts Help menu or at: https://tow.com/shortcuts/watchcuts/

2 Likes
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Love the level of documentation :sunglasses:

I had a quick read as I was concerned about the impact of the polling approach. Glad to see the general warning for impact on battery was discussed and about the reliability.

For me I can’t trade off the battery life that much and scheduling shortcut runs via LCP is “good enough” for me. It requires a tap to action - which is okay… though a native IOS cron job would, I agree, be better. As it is, web services and my Mac mini automations meet my hands off background processing needs.

What has the real world feedback been from users in regards to battery life and stability? Any figures?

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I’ve been using Cronios for a couple of months now on both an iPhone X and iPad Pro 12.9" (2018). Yes, it does impact battery life if you’re running many shortcuts during each check interval (which I do in my frequent testing and development of the shortcut). I mitigate this with external battery packs (which I use) or the Smart Battery Case (which I don’t have).

If Cronios is just polling and not running any shortcuts, however, I have not found the battery to drain excessively.

LCP and Reminders are fine if you’re okay with tapping on the notification. For the use cases that I’m trying to address with Cronios, WatchCuts, and an upcoming shortcut, I want things to run automatically without any intervention on my part.

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