Personal automations: Get tasks done with Assignments app

The possibilities are very extensive with the personal automations in iOS and iPadOS. In this guide we tell you what you can automate. We also provide a few handy examples that may come in handy. You will soon notice that you must have a ‘problem’ yourself that you want to solve by automating it. Our examples will not be useful for everyone, so be creative and learn by doing! What can you do

• Explanation
• Possibilities
• Examples
• notifications

Personal automations are different from Siri Shortcuts. Read all about Siri Shortcuts in our separate guide.

What are personal automations?

Personal automations are automatic actions that only take place on your device. They are different from regular Siri Shortcuts. With Siri Shortcuts, you often use the Siri assistant to link certain tasks together (for example, send a message to your partner with your estimated time of arrival when you are on your way home). Automations happen automatically as soon as something changes on your device: you connect to a Bluetooth device, it’s a certain time or you arrive somewhere. The applications for personal automation are often more practical and therefore less complicated.

The automations are a bit like services like If This Then That: if this happens, do that automatically. The big difference with the personal automations is that they all relate to events and changes on the device itself.

You can find the personal automations in the Assignments app. Open the app and tap the Automation tab at the bottom. This option has been available since iOS 13.2 and iPadOS 13.2. Unfortunately, the personal automations aren’t available in the Shortcuts app on the Mac.

What can you automate with the Assignments app?

The possibilities are not endless, but sometimes it feels that way. You can trigger automations by entering or leaving a certain location, but also at specific times. Settings of your iPhone, such as connecting to WiFi, Bluetooth or the Do Not Disturb function can also trigger an automation. This is an overview of all main functions and triggers:

Activities

• Time (e.g. 8am on weekdays)
• Alarm clock (e.g. when my alarm goes off)
• Sleep (e.g. when ‘Relax’ begins)

• Apple Watch workout (e.g. when I start a workout)

To travel

• Arrival at location (e.g. when I arrive at home)
• Departure from location (e.g. when I leave home)
• Before I commute (e.g. 15 minutes before I go to work)

• CarPlay (e.g. when CarPlay connects)

Communication

• Email (e.g. When I receive an email from Janet)
• Message (e.g. When I get a message from Mom)

Institutions

• Airplane mode (e.g. when airplane mode is on)
• Wi-Fi (e.g. when I connect to my home network)
• Bluetooth (e.g. when my iPhone connects to my AirPods)
• NFC (e.g. when I tap an NFC tag)
• App (e.g. when the Weather app opens)

• Sound recognition (e.g. when my iPhone recognizes the sound of a doorbell)
  Power and energy

• Energy saving mode (e.g. if energy saving mode is off)
• Battery level (e.g. when battery level is above 50%)
• Charger (e.g. when my iPhone is connected to the mains)

Focus

• Do Not Disturb (e.g. when ‘Do Not Disturb’ is on)
• Driving (e.g. when ‘Driving’ is turned on)
• Personal (e.g. when ‘Personal’ is turned on)
• Work (e.g. when ‘Work’ is turned on)

Many of the above triggers have underlying options that further expand your options. You can find them all in the Assignments app, right here:

1. Open the Assignments app.
2. Tap the Automation tab at the bottom.
3. Tap the plus sign at the top right and choose Personal automation.

You can use the Open app task for many automations. This will allow you to open all the apps you have installed. Note: This is not the same as Apps, another task you will encounter. Do you want to open an app? Then tap in the search field: Open app.

Examples of automations

Although it is good to know what is possible in theory, practical examples give a much better impression of what the possibilities are. You can come up with your own variant or expand the automations nicely. Have you come up with a super handy automation that we don’t discuss here? Send it in via the contact form below!

• Start navigation app in the car
• Open the banking app with your debit card
• Music apps launch when you connect earphones
• Using another camera app on your lockscreen

Automatically start navigation in the car

Do you like to use a navigation app while driving or do you want to be aware of traffic jams and speed cameras? Then you can have these kinds of apps start automatically when you get into the car. The condition is that you either have a CarPlay system or a Bluetooth connection to your car. By properly setting up the automation, you can even open Flitsmeister, and then Apple Maps. For example, Flitsmeister is activated in the background for traffic reports, while you can navigate with Apple Maps.

The automation then looks like this:

→ When CarPlay connects, open Flitsmeister/Apple Maps/Google Maps
or
→ When iPhone connects to [naam van Bluetooth-verbinding in de auto]open Flitsmeister/Apple Maps/Google Maps

You can read how to automatically start navigation apps in the car in our separate tip.

Quickly open your banking app with your debit card

Because nowadays all debit cards have NFC for contactless payment, you can also use this in a different way. You can set your bank’s app to open automatically when you hold your iPhone against your debit card. The iPhone cannot read what is on your debit card, but it can read that an NFC chip is present. That is sufficient for this. This NFC option is only available from the iPhone XS. This is how you set it up:

1. Open the Assignments app and tap Automate at the bottom.
2. Tap the plus sign and select Personal automation.
3. Scroll down and select NFC.
4. Scan your bank card, give it a name and tap Next.
5. Add the Open app task by searching for it in the search field. Under the heading Tasks, select the option Open app, which can be recognized by the icon with the colored squares.
6. In the task, tap Choose and select your banking app.
7. Turn off Prompt before running and tap Done.

You can also apply this principle with other NFC cards, such as your public transport chip card that opens the NS app.

The automation then looks like this:

→ When [naam van je pas] is detected, open [jouw gekozen app]

You can use NFC tags for many more things than just debit cards and public transport chip cards. Read all about using NFC tags with your iPhone in our separate guide.

Music apps start automatically when you connect headphones or earbuds

Wouldn’t it be handy if you connect your Bluetooth earphones and the music app opens already? Fortunately, it is possible! With a simple automation you ensure that not only AirPods from Apple, but all Bluetooth earphones and headphones can open your music app. It also doesn’t matter whether you use Apple Music, Spotify or another music service. As long as there is an app for it on your iPhone. You can read how to do this in our separate tip about letting music apps start automatically.

The automation then looks like this:

→ When iPhone connects to [jouw gekozen koptelefoon of oordopjes]Open [jouw gekozen muziek-app]

Use other camera app from your lockscreen

You have been able to quickly open the camera from the lock screen on your iPhone for a long time. However, you never have the choice of which camera app that is, because only the standard Camera app can be opened. If you prefer to use another app, such as Halide or Camera+, you always have to search for the app yourself. Fortunately, we know how to open these or other camera apps from your lock screen. You can read exactly how it works in our tip about adjusting the default camera app.

The automation then looks like this:

→ When Open Camera is detected, open [jouw gekozen app]

Your selected camera app will now always open when you tap the default camera app. This works if you press the button on the lock screen (on iPhone X and later) or swipe the lock screen to the left to open the camera. You do have to unlock your iPhone to use another camera app.

We also have a separate in-depth guide on how to automate the Focus feature using the Assignments app. There you can read five practical examples for five different focus modes that you can change to your own liking.

Notifications on personal automations

At the end of setting up your personal automation, you have a few more options to adjust. You can choose that your iPhone or iPad should always ask whether the automation should be performed, so that you have to press a button again in the message that appears on screen. But ideally you want everything to happen automatically. Therefore, when setting up an automation, turn off the Ask before running switch.

Since iOS 15.4 you can also choose to turn off notifications for personal automations. Normally, your iPhone or iPad always alerts you when an automation has been performed. This way you know that everything went well or if something went wrong. But if you find this annoying, you can disable it from iOS 15.4. To do this, turn off the Report when executed switch.

More options with extensive apps

Apps that provide extended support for the Assignments app often offer more options. For example, you can automatically send someone a WhatsApp message as soon as you connect to CarPlay or activate a HomeKit scene when you scan an NFC tag. You can string multiple tasks together, so that only one action is needed to set everything in motion.

Do you have more handy automations of your own? Send them to us using the form below!