4 Apps to Take Apple Shortcuts to The Next Level

If you use Shortcuts on Apple devices at all and especially for iPhone and iPad then you will find these apps will add whole new dimensions to what Shortcuts is capable of.

Data Jar — Data Jar is a data store for Shortcuts. Basically any kind of data you want to share or keep for your Shortcuts can be facilitated and stored with this app. It understands the JSON data format. Typically with Shortcuts you are providing some kind of internal data or other data has to be generated again and again, but for anything persistent to reference this is where the app comes in. You can create your own table of effectively global variables to use.

Pushcut — Where Data Jar is like a database for Shortcuts, Pushcut is like a server. It turns Shortcuts from an automation for each device locally to effectively an online automation tool. You can set up one device to act as your server (one that you know will always be on), then it can trigger any devices with Shortcuts you have. It makes use of webhook allowing you to tie in Shortcuts to online automation services such as IFTTT and Zapier.

Toolbox Pro — Toolbox Pro extends the action capabilities of what can already be done with Shortcuts alone. It adds over 130 possible actions to draw upon when setting up your automations.

Jellycuts — If you’re into programming at all or like text rather than a visual interfac then this app is for you. It’s an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for Shortcuts. The advantage of text/writing the Shortcuts is that it can actually be a lot faster than the visual interface. It’s also available as a plugin for VS Code on desktop.

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