6 AMAZING iPhone Automations I wish I'd known about YEARS ago!

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A little while back, I made a video about the Automations side of the Shortcuts app on the iPhone, where I said I thought it was the iPhone’s best kept secret. Well, in this video, I’m bringing you 6 more, including 2 that make use of inexpensive NFC tags that you can pick up for literally a few cents each, to help you create game-changing automations around your home. If the idea of being able to simply tap your iPhone against something in your house and have it add an item to your shopping list sounds interesting to you, keep watching until the end of the video.

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Chapters
0:00 - Intro
0:55 - VPN Auto Connect
4:57 - Tell your alarm to stop
7:39 - Silence unknown callers
10:22 - Auto play roadtrip music
11:51 - Intro to NFC Tags
12:45 - Tap NFC to create Reminder
16:20 - Tap NFC to view PDF

[ProperHonestTech]

Protect your online privacy with PIA VPN and get 86% OFF + 4 EXTRA months for free! 🔥🔥 Only using my link!

[georgee]

Excellent video. More tutorials on using NFC tags would be very useful and appreciated. Many thanks!

[matthewjoscott]

NFC to create reminder is a neat trick, and CarPlay automation is also cool. More NFC automation ideas would be welcome.

[fastflash]

I really enjoyed this, I would like another video with more examples with NFC tags

[ChangshaNotes]

Thank you for this video. The VPN toggle is a game changer for me as I live in China and use a VPN for some apps but not local ones. Works perfectly. Subscribed.

[stephencooper]

Apple AirTags also contain a built in NFC. By default, I think they show the owner's contact info (if you provide it at setup).

But they can also be used to trigger automations. So if I name an AirTag "My keys", I can set an automation on my phone to run an action every time it detects "My keys". I set up a simple automation to give me directions home with one tap. The good thing is that if someone else were to scan it, they would only get the default because the automation is specific to my phone.

Just saying that if you want to try out NFC automations, and you already have an AirTag you can try it out on that.

[fenham]

Great info.
As someone with macula degeneration and therefore poor eyesight, the use of NFC dots could be very useful for me around the house. I have not used automations or reminders to any great degree so time all of these together, could be very handy for me and people like me.
Many thanks.

[eduardojacob]

Thanks for another brilliant video. After watching this I added a tag to many of our home appliances, boiler and other stuff, pointing to their PDF manuals

[jeanwillis]

Wow Tom everyday's a school day for me. I love your channel, I've never heard of a NFC tag until today so yes please more info when you're ready thank you. I so pleased I'm able to support your channel in a small financial way and hope that others will too I appreciate your generosity and everything you do for us.

[billfitzpatrick]

YES! I would like to see more automations and I particularly like the NFC tags. Thank you.

[iitsactuallytj]

The alarm automation doesn’t allow any voice control settings in iOS 17 :)

[FountainPenJourney]

Thanks for this video - you’ve sparked my interest in NFC tags and a video suggesting uses for these would be appreciated… I can imagine getting carried away with these around the house!

[yourDecisin]

An addition to 7:39: You can also just use your work focus and then trigger an automation based on whether your focus is turned off or on and therefore set the unknown callers silent or not. This is especially useful when your work focus is triggered with your location, at certain times or you just trigger it manually

[jeanlucLeSaux]

Great video! Your explanations are incredibly clear and helpful. This is my first time watching your channel, and I'm impressed by the amazing clarity and usefulness of your content. I'll definitely be checking out all of your videos, starting from the beginning. Thank you so much!

[jniska]

Its nice to see clips like this focusing on every day topics - keep’em coming..!

[SmudgyRules]

I just say “Siri Snooze” or “Siri Stop” when my alarm is going off. But I would also like to say - loving this series, there are things I didn’t know, and it’s presented very well.

[frontadvisors]

Great video. Looking forward to see another one about other NFC use cases and automation. I just ordered 50 tags too, so I'm ready for your next one.

[matthewbundy]

Would love to see more on NFC tags. Great video!

[TheDervMan]

Wow that shortcuts app is brilliant. I had no idea that excised. Thanks PHT 👌🏻🎉

[b-Maker-Street]

Tom, thank you for an _excellent_ video – *again.* Like many others, I'd be really interested in a video solely devoted to the NFC tags.

Particularly thinking of my elderly Dad who is partially sighted _and_ has ADHD, so anything that automates things will also help him stay living independently for as long as possible. Wondering if NFCs can also integrate with Alexa to cue audio prompts?🗣