Tip of the week: My favorite new iOS feature
Apple released iOS 15.4 on Tuesday, letting you use FaceID with a mask, expanding your emoji options, adding a gender-neutral Siri voice, and introducing Universal Control, which lets you control a Mac and IPad with a single mouse and keyboard.
But the feature I’m most excited about right now is one that’s flown under the radar: You can finally run personal automations on an iPhone or iPad without triggering a notification.
Here are some automations I’ve previously set up on my iPhone:
- Toggling auto-rotate based on which app I’m using.
- Toggling Low Power Mode based on my battery level.
- Refreshing my wallpaper on a daily basis.
Getting pop-up alerts each time these routines ran was annoying and would quickly lead to a cluttered notification center. With iOS 15.4, you can tap any automation in the Shortcuts app, and as long as “Ask Before Running” is disabled, you’ll see an additional toggle for “Notify When Run.”
Without the nuisance of notifications, iOS automation should get a lot more interesting. How-to Geek has a few other ideas to try, such as changing your Apple Watch face based on the time of day. If you prefer an alternative camera app such as Halide or Obscura, you can even use automation to launch it from the lock screen.
The latest from PCWorld
One of my all-time favorite Advisorator columns—on why printers are the most unfairly maligned technology in modern history—is now available to read over at PCWorld. Not only do I offer praise on the one tech product everyone loves to hate, but I fulfil my usual service journalism duties with five ways to make your printer more loveable. Check it out!
Meanwhile, this week’s subscriber-exclusive column is all about my experience with $18 AirPods Pro alternatives, which managed to surprise me in several ways even if they’re not as good as the real deal. I also wrote about Apple’s big news event last week and a slew of great tablet deals (iPad and otherwise.) Sign up for a free trial, and I’ll pass along the latest issue!
One last thing: I’ll be taking next week off, and will be back in your inbox on Tuesday, March 29. Thanks for reading!
– Jared