The main reason for this is for keeping an eye on various repositories of Pythonista and other iOS automation stuff. So, if you’ve got something you think I might be interested in then please let me know. Here’s a link to my GitHub profile.
Tag: Automation
I like the idea of automating things and getting one thing to control another. I experiment with a lot of stuff like that.
iOS Automation and Workflow resources page
It’s only a start, but I’ve published my iOS automation and resource page here. There’s only a couple of links there at the moment, but both of those are very useful indeed, and I expect to add more over time.
iOS Automation apps page is live
If you’re interested in automating stuff on your iOS device then I’ve just published a little list of the main apps I use for this. I hope to publish some more on the subject too, but for now, the list is available here.
A huge and amazing guide to iOS automation and workflow has arrived
I was recently contemplating setting up a page to collect all of the various resources for iOS automation and then today, Mac Stories published this guide to automating iOS workflows! It’s huge! I haven’t actually read the whole thing as yet, in fact I’ve just started reading it, but it has enormous promise, and I’m very hopeful that it is, in fact, just what I’ve been looking for to get me going.
So, I’m going to read the whole thing and then embark on my task of getting things properly automated in iOS. I think I probably will put together a resources page as well soon, and I think that this guide will almost certainly be on it.
Of course, if you don’t know about drafts (for iOS iPhone or iPad) then this won’t mean a lot to you. However, if you’re an iOS user and automation is something you’re interested in then this is the app to start with according to this guide.
Drafts (for iPad) on the app store:
Some things I’d like to see happen, some time soon …
Here’s my little app wishlist so far …
- I’d like to see the IFTTT (iTunes link) app go universal and work properly on the iPad as it just doesn’t cut it running it in 2x mode.
- I’d also like to see IFTTT come to Android as well, as I think it’d be an interesting way to cross platforms and automate from iOS to Android and into the real world etc.
- I can’t wait for the next version of the Editorial app for iPad. I mentioned this only a few days ago as an app that I’m already very impressed with. I’m looking forward to seeing the workflow directory directly in the app itself, that’s going to be so useful.
- Whilst on the subject of the Editoral app, I’d like to see it go universal and come to the iPhone as I think it would be amazingly useful.
- Continuing with apps, one of the best email apps for iOS (iPhone, not universal) is Dispatch (iTunes link) in my opinion, and I’d love to see it go universal as I think it would work brilliantly on the iPad, especially the iPad mini.
- Finally, I’d like to see Zapier bring their service to iOS as well. Even though it’s more business focused than IFTTT I think it would be useful.
So that’s my little list for now. I wonder what I’ll get from that list?
Editorial for iPad, powerful automation, workflow and scripting for iOS
I bought this app a while ago and have only just really started getting to grips with it, but I’ve started to see just how powerful it is. The real power in this app is in the workflow features. Think Automator for mac, but inside an iPad app that’s built for writing and with added power besides.
Editorial is a nice writing app and has a lot of features for writing and publishing, but its real power comes with a series of built in workflows that are pre-configured to do some straightforward things you might need for writing. These built in workflows are great as a place to start from with automation in Editorial, but making simple workflows is also a very easy process. Workflows are assembled by connecting simple building blocks, almost the same as automator for mac. Building blocks like ‘if … then’ statements, copy, select, etc. Combining these together is easy, and you can make some very powerful automated processes.
But it doesn’t stop there either. The workflow editor can also include python code which vastly expands the options available to any workflow. Obviously writing python code isn’t for everyone, it isn’t easy, but the option is there. There is also another option. There’s now an Editorial workflow directory in beta. If you access the directory from your iPad with the Editorial app installed on the device you can directly install workflows to the app without any difficulty at all. What this means in that you can add complex workflows into the app that have been designed and built by other people and use them for yourself.
Apparently in the next version of Editorial the workflow directory will be even more beefed up so you can upload and download within the app itself. That’ll be popular I’ll bet, and it’ll give everyone access to some great workflow and automation.
I’ve got a long way to go with this app and getting used to creating workflows, but I think that it’ll be worth the time investing in this app. In the end it’ll send a lot of time.
My app of the week is Launch Center Pro
The new version of Launch Center Pro looks like it’s a big improvement on the previous version. Having said that it is an iOS7 only update so I’m having to move up before seeing what it can really do. Not that I’m upgrading just for Launch Center Pro, there’s quite a few other reasons too, but I think that Launch Center is a handy way of automating stuff in iOS and that’s something I increasingly need.
IFTTT and connecting things to other things
I haven’t written about IFTTT for a while now although I’m still a big fan. Of course, of late, their big news is their iOS app. It was a very clever way to bring the service to iOS. They didn’t just bring the web version of the service to the app store. Instead they made it work beautifully, but over and above that gave the app specific iOS only channels. Now that’s clever.
Of course one of the big problems with IFTTT is that it works so well. Which means that actually you can for the most part just forget about it and leave it to get on with what you wanted it to do in the first place. However, I guess that is almost a problem for IFTTT as they probably want you to do more than set up a bunch of recipes and then never return, or rarely return.
So the app addresses that to a degree. I found myself using it for a while and then recently a lot less. Again, the reason is that IFTTT works so well that I don’t need to do anything more.
There are still lots of things I think that IFTTT could improve. Support for multiple accounts for twitter and other services for example, but even without these it is very good.
So, what’s next for IFTTT? Well of course there’s Android. There’s room for an extended iPad version. But always wonder if they could perhaps push a little further than connecting two services. Perhaps they could become IF THIS THEN THAT (AND THIS), or perhaps IF THIS THEN THAT ELSE IF THIS? You get where I’m going anyway.
Who knows. One things for sum. Automation will continue.
When things stop
I had thought that I had all of July to sort out my google reader account. I was wrong. Google reader shuts down on the 1st of July, just over a month away! The realisation only came yesterday. So what should I do? Procrastination hasn’t helped at all, but thankfully feedly have a solution, and not only a solution but one that works with one of my favourite solutions IFTTT. Problem solved.
But it makes me think. We (I) depend on services like google reader, and of course these services won’t go on for ever, companies start things and stop things and when they do you have to use something else of find a different way of doing the things you need to get done. I’m sure at some point feedly will do something different or IFTTT will stop connecting things.
It’s the way of things I guess that’s all, but it does make life inconvenient at times.
My iOS App of the week is …
Pythonista. I’ve been using it to make little scripts to run from Launch Center Pro and it’s quite easy to use so far. I’m enjoying getting to understand how things work and learning about Python at the same time.
But by far the best thing about it is that I’m able to use it for something productive that makes daily tasks easier and that’s really worth doing. So, all in all a great app for automating stuff in iOS and for learning at the same time.
I am Ashley Elsdon 