Workflow for iOS is easily the best way to put automation to work for you on iPhone and iPad, and today the popular utility is out with a significant update that includes a cleaner look and better discovery. The gallery of automations within Workflow has been redesigned with search and profiles for finding new actions and seeing who created them.
The new gallery looks similar to the App Store so it should be somewhat familiar for both new and existing users. There’s a carousel of banners along the top to promote popular actions, and other recommendations are well organized under collections like Stay Healthy and iOS 10.
Search also includes collection suggestions with featured and location categories to start and an option to reveal a full list of collections to give you some clues of what to discover.
As someone who doesn’t spend much time with automation myself, I tried out the new Workflow 1.6 update to see how the setup process has changed. The on-boarding stage is useful as always and even helps you add the Workflow widget while showing you how that works with 3D Touch iPhones on iOS 10.
Workflow also helps you create your first action with a short list of options. I chose an Apple Music action that creates a grid of artwork from tracks you’ve played over the last week. This taps into your Apple Music app and cranks out a 1280×1280 image that you save or share.
A collection dedicated to Apple Music automation includes dozens of tasks in Workflow, too, if you like the idea of creating actions around music.
More Improvements
- Design refinements across the app, adding a bit more shine and shimmer
- The Choose from List action now shows rich information about each item in a list. For example, a list of map items from Search Local Businesses now includes each location’s distance from you, a list of songs show album artwork, and more.
- In a workflow’s settings, you can now set up Import Questions, which make it easy for others to customize workflows you share. Import Questions are asked when you get a workflow, and the answers are automatically filled into the workflow.
- The Choose from Menu action now supports variables
- Added PATCH support to Get Contents of URL
- You can now pass a Dictionary item to Choose from List to show its keys and values as a list
- The first-time user experience has been rebuilt from scratch, accessible in Settings › Open Intro
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a crash on launch related to older workflows that post to WordPress
- Fixed a crash on iOS 8.1 and earlier
- Fixed an issue where YouTube URLs would not open
- Fixed an issue where the wrong value may be removed when deleting values in a dictionary
- Fixed an issue where an Action Extension workflow that opens another app may hang when run twice in a row
- Other bug fixes and minor additions
Workflow for iOS is available on the App Store for $2.99; version 1.6 is a free update for existing customers.
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