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Integration with the Shortcuts app


brudderman

Question

The free iOS Shortcuts app adds a considerable degree of automation and flexibility capabilities to other apps that support it. This includes the ability to trigger a shortcut with a voice command rather than having to manually locate it within Shortcuts to run it. So for me, integration of Cachly with Shortcuts could simplify some actions that I routinely perform. 

Here is one example that would simplify my Cachly workflow:

1. When placing caches, the way that works the best for me is to create an offline cache and then try to navigate to it, adjusting coordinates as necessary to get close. The process isn't complicated but does involve several steps just to create the offline cache: go to Live view, click on "current location" icon, click the three dots, select "Create an offline cache," choose the desired offline list, add a name for the new cache in the resulting dialog, save. A very helpful shortcut would capture the current coordinates and, with a preselected offline list, bring up the dialog so that only the name had to be filled in. Thus with a Siri voice command such as "Create offline cache" to launch the shortcut, all of the manual steps except entering the cache name and saving would be automatically performed. This would be especially helpful when scouting for possible cache locations since an offline cache for a likely spot could be quickly created with minimal manual intervention. 

For those not familiar with the Shortcuts app, here is a recent article outlining a few illustrations of its capabilities: http://bit.ly/2RYl0YR.

Thanks!

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I've started doing something else that could be enhanced a bit with some Shortcuts integration in Cachly.

Many times when I find a cache, I will enter details of the find  (what, where, how, etc.) in the Personal Note area. I will often take a picture as well, but sometimes associating a picture back to a particular cache afterwards can be confusing. Recently I've started using a Siri Shortcut (https://shortcutsgallery.com/shortcuts/imgur-uploader/) to upload the picture right then to IMGUR.com. The shortcut copies the link to the uploaded picture to the clipboard, ready to be pasted into the cache's Personal Note for safekeeping and future reference. The the picture can be deleted from Photos if desired to save space. The manual process isn't hard, but a future version of Cachly might benefit from some integration such that a shortcut could be initiated from the cache's page and then return, for example, clipboard text from whatever source to the Personal Note. 

The IMGUR uploader referenced above has a couple of negatives. First, it requires an IMGUR account, which can be free. And second, all accounts must be verified with a phone number. I don't like either one of those but did it any way just to test. Since I already use Google Photos extensively, a way to upload there via shortcut would be more preferable but so far haven't discovered one. Or there might be some other free upload service without the negatives of IMGUR that would be better.

One other comment on the uploader shortcut. It's configured to upload JPG files, but new phones (such as my XS) have the option to save photos as HEIC. I use that option and had to tweak the shortcut accordingly so it would work properly.

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I had built a new feature into 6.0 that allow uploading a private image into the Personal Note using iCloud. Sadly in testing we found a bug in iOS 13 which prevented this feature to be included in 6.0. :( Hopefully in the future.

Yes, this sounds like a very nice feature! Perhaps iOS 14 will fix the bug so that it can be added at some point. For now my IMGUR uploader Siri shortcut (with menu choices for Take Picture, Choose Picture and Use Latest) is working well, but it's certainly not as smooth as this built-in option will be once it's finished. Looking forward to it!

Thanks!

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With the new "Auto Visit" feature in 7.0 (thank you, thank you, thank you, I've been wanting this feature for years!!) I would love to have a Shortcut that could adjust which TB's I'd like to auto-visit. For example, I have several "contexts" I can think of when caching, for example "Kayaking", "Hiking", "With the Dog", "Road Trip", etc., and various TB's I'd auto-visit with each (e.g. Kayak, Walking Stick, Dog, Campervan, etc.). So it would be great for Cachly to donate intentions that would adjust those settings. Well, most settings (I'm sure I'd find a use for them all!)

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