You'll need to make sure the feature is turned on in Settings. On the next screen, select which sounds will trigger your automation. Tap 'Create personal automation' and choose 'Sound Recognition'.I have mine set to turn the volume up fully, play an alarm sound from the Apple Music library and offer me the option to either call emergency services or cancel the alarms. It's cheating because I don't use it every day, but it is on every single day.īuilding off of Apple's sound recognition feature, creating an automation for emergency situations is great for a more customized response. In case of emergency - this one is especially useful if you have multiple Apple devices as a deterrent for crime and a speedy way to get help. Search for the ' Set Focus' action and make sure it's set to 'On' until 'Turned off' / 'When I leave'.Ħ.I have mine set up to show certain apps and block notifications while I'm in the office or in my local library, and to show a colorful display when I'm at the gym with all my music and entertainment apps ready for my workout. Location-based focus mode - along a similar vein, the one is particularly useful to help keep you productive in different environments using Apple's Do Not Disturb/Focus modes. Enter a message to send, or select the 'Ask each time' variable, and select the contact you want to send it to.Ĥ. Search for the ' Send message' action.On the next screen, select a location and time range, if applicable. Tap 'Create personal automation' and choose 'When I arrive'.Which I often do.Īnnoyingly, its time selection doesn't work across two days, meaning you'll need two separate automations if you want it to trigger between, for example, 11PM and 3AM. Automated location-based texts - this one is especially useful for me as a woman living in a big city, and automatically texts my nearest and dearest whenever I arrive home late at night in case I forget. Search for the 'Set low power mode' action and select it.Ĥ.On the next screen use the slider to adjust what percentage you want to trigger the automation. Tap 'Create personal automation' and choose 'Battery Level'.Automated Low Power mode - If, like me, you're a terror to all battery conservationists, this automation will be mega useful, automatically switching on your iPhone's low power mode when your battery dips below a specific percentage. Add another 'Set Focus' action to turn off your Focus mode.ģ.Search for the 'Wait' action and change the variable to 'Calculation Result'.Search for the ' Calculate' action and change the variables to 'Provided Input' x 60.Search for the 'Ask for input' action, and set it to ask for a number.

(Optional) If you also want a timer attached to it.Search for the ' Set Focus' action, and make sure it's set to 'On' until 'Turned Off.'.From the next screen select 'is opened' and choose which app(s) you want to trigger the automation. Tap 'Create personal automation' and choose 'App'.Tap the '+' to create a new automation.Open the Shortcuts app and tap 'Automation' on the bottom of the screen.This automation can also be set up to help you monitor how long you're spending on apps and stop doomscrolling. A blanket solution is to use Do Not Disturb or focus mode, but it's all-too easy to forget to toggle these on in the control centre and miss the perfect shot because of distractions. Do Not Disturb while using specific apps - there's nothing worse than a banner notification interrupting you while you're playing games, reading or working out.

Automate selfcontrol app