Apple automations: Shortcuts vs Focus vs Automations vs Scenes

Yes, if you’re using Apple devices, creating automations is a massive PITA due to the number of competing ways of doing it. Each has its own unique positioning but it’s even worse than that as there are additional methods, such as the Automator app that comes with MacOS.

Here I’m going to compare the 4 methods I’ve mentioned in the title, detailing why you’d use each one. And, inn all cases, the automations that I talk about are available on both Mac and iPhone/iPad.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts is probably the most powerful of the automation features that Apple offers. You can create powerful, logic-based, flows that can hook into all sorts of things – both features of your device, but also the apps you’re running too.

There’s a great Subreddit for Shortcut users, where you can people sharing their own, often quite complex, shortcuts.

To run a Shortcut, you either need to go into the app and run it, ask Siri to, or you can create a widget button on your device. The downside is that there’s no automated method of running the Shortcut (ironically).

However, you can get Siri to speak, amongst other things, so this is great for setting up automated announcements, for example (I have one to call my daughter down from her bedroom for meals).

Focus

You’ll be aware of Focus mode – that’s what happens when your phone thinks you’re driving or it’s bedtime and it automatically mutes notifications. In recent versions of the OS’ this has been made more powerful so that you can create your own Focus’.

Unlike Shortcuts, this isn’t its own app, but is found in your device’s Settings. There are 3 pieces of information you provide when setting one up…

1. Allow Notifications – here you decide which people and/or apps you’ll allow notifications from.
2. Customer Screens – only available when creating a Focus item on a mobile device, this allows you to specify a Lock Screen and/or Home Screen for your iPhone or iPad and/or a face for your Watch
3. Set a Schedule – this is what triggers the Focus to start. It’s either Time (when a specific date/time occurs), Location (when you’re at a specified location) or App (when you open an app). It can only be one of these.
4. Focus Filters – certain changes can be made very specific apps when this Focus starts. For example, on my Mac I can only make changes to Calendar, Mail, Messages and Safari.

Focus’ can be shared across devices or otherwise.

So, Focus is very focused (pun intended) towards a very specific target audience and aim (muting your device in various ways automatically and making that as simple as possible). However, its simplicity can also mean frustration due to a lack of flexibility.

I mentioned before, for example, that a schedule can only be one thing – I have a Focus for when I play Badminton. I’d love it to be a specific location at a specific time rather than just one of these, but I can’t do it. I have just the time instead, which means that when I can’t go, the Focus runs anyway. And, to be clear, you can set up multiple filters, but each one will trigger the focus, rather than only when all of them are true. Also, the lack of triggers (or “filters” as they’re called here) is disappointing.

Scenes

Scenes are created within Apple’s Home app. There is no automated trigger mechanism and what it then does it dependant on what devices you have set up in Home, but essentially you can select for them to do something (e.g. turning a light on and off). There’s no logic functionality, though, and device sensors don’t have any purpose here either (e.g. a HomePod has a temperature sensor bur you can’t do anything with this).

So, a Scene is something you have to run yourself, either through hitting the appropriate button in the home app or by use of Siri.

Automation

Like Scenes, this is available from inside the Home app and is like a Scene, only with a trigger. Triggers, however, are only specific times of the day (inc. sunrise and sunset).

Except.

Head into your Shortcuts app and you’ll also find a tab named Automation. Confusingly, this lists the same automations in your Home app, under a section named “Home”. But there’s also a section named “Personal”. Under this you can create much more complex triggers, many of which are device dependant – e.g. when battery level gets below a certain amount or when you connect to your home Wi-Fi. Equally, what you can then do is a lot more sophisticated too, although I found few third party apps had any functionality available. Although one of the more powerful options, it’s no-where near as complex as Shortcuts, as there is no logic available here – just a “if this, then that” set-up.

However, there are unique things you can do which you can’t with Shortcuts Considering Personal Automations are part of the Shortcut app, that makes all of this even more confusing.

---

So, let’s try a quiz based on something I set up (and, if all this wasn’t enough, my automation for this broke during the last big iOS update, as the apps required to do it were changed). Every Tuesday morning, at 11am, I want to start the Badminton workout on Workout and switch the Watch face ,

1. Create a second Focus that, at the specified time, starts a Focus named “Badminton”. This switches my Watch Face.
2. Then create a Personal Automation within Shortcuts that looks for the Badminton Focus, starts a Workout

So, even for something this relatively simple, I need to set up 2 different rules in 2 different apps.

Let’s be honest, the sooner Apple can find a single method of creating automations, the better it will be for everyone. Albeit, one that allows both simple and advanced configurations, the latter for those who want to get their teeth into something more complex. But, as it is, we have a stupidly complex and fragmented system.