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Developer of Shortcuts JS here, happy to answer any questions!

At the moment the future of Shortcuts JS is uncertain. In the latest (iOS 13) betas of the Shortcuts app Apple have removed the ability to import Shortcuts from a file, only allowing them to be installed from the iCloud Shortcut sharing service. I’m hopeful that this feature will be added back in when the Shortcuts app comes out of beta in a few months. If not, then unfortunately Shortcuts JS may be dead in the water.

If you want to read a bit more about how Shortcuts JS came to be, then take a look at the medium post I wrote when I launched it. https://medium.com/@JoshFarrant/creating-ios-12-shortcuts-wi...




I believe you can still import shortcuts from files in iOS 13, you just need to “Allow untrusted shortcuts” in the Settings app first.


Unfortunately it doesn't look like that works. I've been testing periodically as new betas are released, but I'm still seeing this every time I try to AirDrop a .shortcut over.

https://imgur.com/a/NmHcPY2


I mainly came across it while I was printing a QRcode to actually run a shortcut:// and while I see the file -> Airdrop as being useful you could at the end of the process deliver the same thing a QRcode to the shortcut you just developed no? Or am I missing something?


I don’t believe so, unfortunately. Regardless of what you use to trigger the Shortcut (a QR code, NFC, running it manually) the actual .shortcut file needs to be on the device so that it can actually be run. This means that you still need to find a way to import your generated .shortcut file onto your iOS device.

There is an ‘Allow Untrusted Shortcuts’ option in the Shortcuts section of the Settings app, but as far as I can tell this currently has no effect. Hopefully enabling that toggle will, in the future, allow the import of .shortcut files directly into the app.


I wonder if Apple disabled it accidentally. They still have documentation up on importing from a url: https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/import-a-shortcut-...


I really hope so. I've submitted a radar, but as of yet there's been no progress on it.

I've not explored importing a Shortcut from a URL to be honest, I may look into that later.

EDIT: That doesn't work either.


Besides this particular change in shortcut deployment that do not allow users to import from external sources and that is constraining for your project, can you please share your thoughts on Apple vision regarding shortcuts ? Shortcut being deployed native in ios 13 means a programmatic interactivity with the OS that powers much of digital life of decision makers in Occident.

Assuming that ios is :

- famous for being pretty closed

- in the hands of many industry decision maker

what do you think will happen ?

cheers !

edit : clarity


Sorry, I'm not sure I completely understand your question. Would you mind clarifying slightly please?




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