Having just listened to the Automators episode where Simon Stovring was interviewed, Rose mentioned Launch Center Pro, somewhere during the podcast. I took a look at some videos showing it’s use, and I’m wondering if it’s still worth using given all of the recent advances in iOS automation.
I realize that Workflow, Siri Shortcuts and Scriptable and different things, I’ve just grouped the, all into the automation category, for convenience.
Given that I haven’t even started with iOS automation, I thought it may be better to start with something basic, rather than jump into Scriptable or one of the others I’ve mentioned.
I bought it a long time ago. But I have not been using it for a long time, either.
I am fine with just using Siri Shortcuts.
But I am really interested in what the other MPUs have to say about your question because the app is really nice. For me, I have to admit that it feels a little redundant these days.
I believe you’re referring to Launch Center Pro - an app I use every day!
The beta is NDA, however I will tell you there’s some extremely useful additions coming
In the mean time, I’ll give a quick overview as to how I use it now:
Prompt me at a time to run an automation/open TestFlight to check for updates, etc.
Prompt me at a location, GPS or iBeacon based to run automations, great for when I actually get home from work (I live on the 4th floor), or when I am really in my office (6th floor).
Give me a constrained input list for an automation, e.g. if I run it from LCP I have it give me a list which I choose from, but if I run the Shortcut directly or without input it asks me for input.
Quick links to stuff/people, e.g. I love to stalk @MacSparky on Twitter (mostly joking), but it’s nice to have a direct link to his profile in Tweetbot to eliminate typing so I can easily see Disney pictures.
A resource to figure out URL schemes - LCP is the king in this area, they literally downloaded thousands of apps to get the URL schemes themselves, and still do that today (unless complete documentation is provided).
iBeacons are just bluetooth location indicators, there’s not a lot to it. I have one in my desk drawer so when I get to within 50 meters of my desk (give or take) I get pinged to clock in between 8am and 10am, and clock out when leaving it from 3pm to 6pm - and between those times it prompts me to open my OmniFocus important work tasks perspective. I use them in Launch Center Pro instead of GPS locations which are far too large for me for work, home and my hotel when travelling
I just subscribed for a year, and will soon be playing with iBeacons and NFC stickers (Which I ordered)… but wanted to know how to connect it to shortcuts. I would launch a shortcut with the launchcenter pro and according to the automators show it was possible.
