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Automate your iOS life with Workflow
In the beginning, there was DeskConnect. It was an amazing set of apps that gave the pre-iOS 8/Yosemite world the ability to do AirDrop-style transfers between Macs (and PCs) and iOS devices. It's still around for those who haven't yet upgraded to the new operating systems. But it appears that the developers at DeskConnect saw the Sherlock writing on the wall, so they decided to create an app that is -- in one word -- amazing. Workflow (launch price of US$2.99, regularly $3.99) is an app for creating automated workflows on your iOS devices that can do just about anything you can think of. Upon launching for the first time, Workflow takes you through a short tutorial to demonstrate the process of creating a very simple workflow -- having the iPhone or iPad camera take three pictures, turn them into a GIF movie, and then share the GIF. Doing this is easy; you create a blank workflow, then begin dragging actions from a huge list (153 built into the app at launch) over to that blank sheet. All of this is done with simple, colorful drag and drop interface. Actions are categorized by type: calendar, contacts, documents, maps, music, photos & video, scripting, sharing, text and web. For example, under calendar you'll find actions like "Get end date" and "Current date"; under maps, a way to get a Google Street View image of a location or request an Uber. Web actions include adding something to your Safari reading list, or getting contents of web pages. Music can control music play, or return the title of the currently playing song to Workflow. Probably the most powerful actions, however, are those for scripting. Have you ever wanted Apple's Automator on your iOS device? The scripting actions in Workflow are the next best thing, and the ability to control the flow through choose from menu/if/repeat/wait/exit commands actions brings conditionals to your workflows. There's device control in those scripting actions as well; a workflow can return the name of the current network, launch an app, set the screen brightness, turn on or off the "flashlight", or set the volume of the device. Notifications can be scripted -- showing alerts, notifications, playing sounds or vibrating your device. And it's not just limited to your iOS device, either -- you can run a shell script on a desktop machine over SSH. Workflows can be standalone "apps" that you can add to your home screen, or you can create Action Extension workflows that run in the share sheets of other apps. If you've created a workflow that is useful and you're proud of, you can share it with others through the Workflow gallery. There's probably nobody on the planet who can explain iOS scripting better than the creator of MacStories.net, Federico Viticci. Viticci had pre-release access to Workflow and as such, was able to create a number of workflows that he's shared -- including "Print to PDF" (an Action Extension), "Find Lyrics", and more. I used the Print to PDF extension to save his Workflow Review to PDF, because I'll want to keep it around for reference in the future. For myself, I wanted to create a workflow that would take recipes I've found on the web, convert them to PDF, and then save them to a Dropbox folder. Since there was already a Print to PDF Action Extension (thank, Federico!), I grabbed that one to start off with, changing the name to "Send Recipe to Dropbox" and using the built-in library of glyphs to make a "utensils" icon. The only thing I really needed to do was get rid of the Quick Look action and replace it with a Save to Dropbox action. That action asked for access to my Dropbox account, and there was a choice to either have it ask which Dropbox folder to save the recipe to or set a predefined path. I chose the latter, saved and ran the extension from Safari while looking at a recipe on a food website, and seconds later that recipe was sitting in Dropbox. That Save to Dropbox action is one of many that link with existing apps or services, and it's expected that many developers will open their apps to Workflow. Personally, I'm hoping for a "Grab Screenshot" action, since I already have a workflow idea that could use it. Another quick Workflow I developed expanded on "Print to PDF" by creating a PDF, then asking through a menu whether I want to store it to Dropbox or a folder in iCloud Drive. I could just as easily have it save to both services with a few easy edits. Since I've only had a handful of hours to work with Workflow, I can't get into the details that Federico Viticci did. I highly recommend that anyone with interest in iOS automation and Workflow in particular take a look at his post over at MacStories.net. In those few hours that I've been able to test Workflow, it's already earned a space on my Home Screen as a standalone app rather than being put into a folder. Being able to create your own "apps" and extensions is an amazingly powerful tool to add to any operating system, and DeskConnect should be commended for creating a 1.0 version that works so well. Workflow deserves a place on your iPhone or iPad; it's a universal app that requires iOS 8.0 or later, and is optimized for iPhone 5, 6 and 6 Plus.
Alternatives to AirDrop between iPhone and Mac
Like a lot of you, one of the first things I did when I had both OS X Mavericks and iOS 7 (in beta form) on my devices was to try AirDrop. I mean, it's been in OS X for a while and it was added to iOS 7, so of course you're going to be able to zap files back and forth between your iPhone and Mac, right? <crickets> Yeah, that was a major disappointment, and something we'll probably have to wait for Apple to add to the next versions of OS X and iOS. In the meantime, there are several third-party solutions you can use to give you the ability to "AirDrop" your files from a mobile device to your desktop. DeskConnect (free) Not only does it have a great price -- free -- but it also works very well. You'll need to create a free account with DeskConnect, so apparently they're using some sort of online caching of information being sent between your devices. On the iOS device, DeskConnect displays an easily understandable interface that has four buttons: send photo, send clipboard, send websites and send documents. Documents are stored for 30 days, so you'll always have recourse if you sent something between devices and then accidentally deleted it. The share clipboard feature must be turned on (it's not a default setting), but works great. Instashare (US$2.99 for OS X, free iOS app with ads or $0.99 without ads) This is a solution that both Shawn "Doc Rock" Boyd and I use, since he turned me onto this pair of apps a while back. Installing Instashare on your Mac adds an AirDrop-like icon to your menu bar. Click on that icon to bring up a blank window upon which you can drop files and folders, and they're immediately sent to your "Trusted Devices." However, the app was supposed to allow sending of clipped text between devices, and I could never get that to work... and the online help files are less than helpful. Pastebot ($3.99 for iOS, free Mac companion app) Pastebot's been out for a while, more as a "clipboard manager" for iOS than anything else. However, developer Tapbots created an OS X companion app called Pastebot Sync that runs in the background on your Mac and lets you send text and images back and forth between devices. Neither of the Pastebot apps has been updated lately, but they both still work with no issues. Do you have any other suggestions for cross-platform AirDrop alternatives? If so, let us know in the comments.
iOS 7 AirDrop: Information sharing without a bump
AirDrop is a Wi-Fi ad-hoc file sharing service, built into iOS 7. It enables information to be quickly sent to another iOS device. While AirDrop isn't perfect yet, it's certainly making sharing files between iOS devices a lot easier than sending them through Mail. Think of it as an "electronic sneakernet", where two parties just agree to share a file, bring up an AirDrop dialog, and then happily fling files at each other. Now this capability is built into iOS 7 making transferring files as simple as tapping a few buttons. How to use AirDrop AirDrop doesn't require you to "bump" your phone or tablet against another device like so many Android phones do. Instead, you easily share files with any device that's on the same Wi-Fi network with you that's nearby and has AirDrop active.* Imagine you are at a meeting with 5 other people who are all on devices running iOS 7 and want to share a Notes document containing a meeting agenda with all of those folks. Here's how you do it: Make sure that everyone at the meeting has AirDrop set up so that they're discoverable to everyone. This is done by bringing up Control Center with a swipe from the bottom of the iOS screen, then tapping on AirDrop and selecting "Everyone". Pop into Notes, tap on the note you wish to share, and then tap the share button. When the share sheet appears, an icon appears for everyone on the same Wi-Fi network who has made their iOS device discoverable. Tap the icon to begin sending. The recipient is notified of your file transfer with a small dialog that asks them to either decline or accept the transfer. If they accept, the file is transferred and usually opened in the appropriate app (i.e., Notes). If they decline the transfer, the sender sees the word "declined" below the "face" of the person who they sent the file to. If you only want to make your iOS device discoverable by friends, family and co-workers, use Control Center to change your settings to "Contacts Only." AirDrop-compatible apps At the present time, AirDrop works with the following built-in iOS apps: Notes Contacts (send a business card to another user) Voice Memos Photos (AirDrop lets you preview the photo before accepting it) Safari Passbook Maps Podcasts I anticipate that more developers will catch on to the utility of being able to send files to nearby users. It's a bit of surprise that Apple hasn't updated the iWork suite for iOS to be able to take advantage of AirDrop, but it wouldn't surprise me to see an update soon that makes it possible to beam Keynote presentations and Pages documents to other users. Compatibility So, this sounds pretty good, huh? Well, don't get too excited -- AirDrop doesn't work on all iOS devices. The devices that are AirDrop-savvy are the iPhone 5/5s/5c, 4th generation iPad, iPad mini, and 5th generation iPod touch. What other capability is AirDrop lacking? It can't send or receive files to or from a Mac. Apple introduced AirDrop for OS X two years ago with the release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. To transfer files between Mac and iOS device, you're still going to need a third-party app. I'm a big fan of Instashare (free, US$0.99 in-app purchase to remove ads), which is a cross-platform set of applications that's perfect for sending most file types between your Mac and iOS device. Mike Rose recently took a look at another app -- DeskConnect (free) -- that also offers iOS to Mac transfers, but appears at this time to be much less robust in terms of the apps and file types it supports than Instashare. I'd much rather see Apple "Sherlock" (build a third-party app's functionality into the OS) Instashare's capabilities so we are able to zap files hither and yon right out of the box instead of having to install and run a third-party app. Conclusion I hope that future updates, both to iOS 7 and to third-party apps, make AirDrop even more useful to the Apple world. Right now, it's a great implementation of something that has been needed in iOS since the first iPhone appeared. If developers embrace the ability to share more information through AirDrop, it could well turn out to be one of the most useful features ever created for iOS. *Note: AirDrop does not require that the sharing devices be on the same WiFi network; it uses Bluetooth and peer-to-peer WiFi to transfer files. We apologize for the error.
DeskConnect delivers Mac-to-iOS quick sharing
The forthcoming AirDrop functionality in iOS 7 will deliver a straightforward way for some iPhones and iPads to quickly share photos, contacts and more. That's great -- but, aside from the fact that iOS 7 isn't yet generally available, there are a few other flies in the ointment. Even though iOS 7 will run on devices back to the iPad 2 and iPhone 4, only the latest-gen hardware (iPhone 5, fifth-gen iPod touch and current iPad / iPad mini) are eligible to fling files. AirDrop may not connect your Mac's files and photos to your iPhone, either -- as defined right now, it's iOS to iOS. That's why the new, free DeskConnect app from Ari "AriX" Weinstein and Ben Feldman is so impressive. DeskConnect, which launched today on both the Mac and iOS App Stores, delivers on the promise of AirDrop while extending the concept of instant, easy sharing to the desktop. DeskConnect supports iOS 6 and devices back to the iPhone 3GS. The DeskConnect Mac app lives in the menu bar, monitoring the OS X clipboard and the frontmost application window. Sign in to your Desk Connect account on both Mac and iOS, and go to town. Want to send an image to your phone? Drag it to the menu bar, select the iOS device you are targeting and boom. Have a browser open with Google Maps directions to your vacation spot? Click the menu, send to your device and the directions open immediately (in your choice of Apple Maps or Google Maps, if installed). Web links open Safari (or Chrome), and other file types can be opened easily with any appropriate installed iOS app. It's all very quick and very easy. Going the other direction, iOS devices running the DeskConnect app can share photos, clipboard contents, documents (from apps with a sharing button/Open In option) and websites (with a bookmarklet that works in Safari) with ease. Received items stay in the DeskConnect "tray" for 30 days, and the app can handle and preview any datatype that iOS supports natively. Although the app does work on iPad, it's a 2x iPhone look for the moment; this doesn't really affect functionality, but it does limit the utility of the previews within the app. I've been pleasantly surprised by DeskConnect's little grace notes. It integrates with the Mac Contacts app, so you can quickly send and dial a phone number in one step. The drag-and-drop file transfer ability is a much, much nicer solution than using iTunes to manage files. The slight rough edges (the iPhone 2x UI on the iPad, inability to track the frontmost window in PowerPoint, an unspecified file size limit on transfers) will all be cleared up in time. DeskConnect is available from the Mac App Store and in the iTunes App Store now. I encourage you to download and play around!
