Siri Shortcuts for Weather Gods - canvassing support

By Weather Gods (Scott), 5 August, 2018

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi Everybody,

Just starting to look at iOS12 and WatchOS5 and something which might be useful for Weather Gods is Siri Shortcuts.

These are new to iOS12 and allow a developer to let Siri know about a shortcut.

For example, if you checked the weather every day at 7 am for New York using Weather Gods then we would let Siri know about this. Eventually or maybe quite quickly, Siri will start to suggest this as a shortcut and this would appear on the lock screen at 7 am or on the Siri watch face.

It would say something like 'Check the weather!'. You would tap on this and it would launch straight into Weather Gods with the weather for New York.

You could also record a voice command for Siri 'New York Weather' and say this to Siri anytime.

We can also take it one step further and return the weather for New York right on the lock screen, no app launch needed.

Ok, how likely would you be to use these shortcuts? Would they be of benefit?

Thoughts?

Thanks
Scott

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Comments

By Holger Fiallo on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

I check the weather at 6:00 AM and sunset at night.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

Thanks, Holger, hadn't considered sunset.

Do you go into Weather Gods to check?

By Dawn 👩🏻‍🦯 on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

I'm in! I use Siri a lot and sometimes, that involves checking weather. And your app is the only weather app I have, for forecasts and related data. I launch the app, check notifications to check too. I think it'd be worth a try. Plus, when you get data like allergy forecasts, and warnings and watches, I think it'd be useful. Plus, like what Holger says, for me, it'd be rain and thunderstorms. Where we live, the weather is unpredictable, and I don't like storms, so, I like knowing in advance of their approach. I'd see using it also for spicific weather events: (sunset/sunrise, storms, etc etc.

I'm not sure what's all in ios 12, but, if it can make Weather Gods more useful, and accessible then I'm all for it!

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

Thanks, Dawn,

I think I might be able to do something around the queries - still getting my head around shortcuts :)

I can imagine something like ... 'Hey Siri, will it rain today?"

And this would query Weather Gods to find out if there is rain in next 12/24 hours.

Same for storms etc

Also, for you and Holger, "Hey Siri, when is sunset today?"

By Jeff on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

Siri will already tell you the time for sunrise and sunset. Just thought I'd point this out.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

Thanks, Jeff, good point - we don't want to duplicate functionality.

By Kelly Pierce on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

Some of the proposed Siri functionality is already provided through notifications. If someone in New York checks the weather daily at 6:00 a.m. they could receive a daily summary notification of the weather forecast. Also, users can receive notifications of rain or snow either in real time or as a forecast notification. The iOS weather app already offers a mini forecast. It is only for the day though and does not include rain or snow.

Unfortunately, notifications in Weather Gods are not follow me and need to be configured for each city. I discovered this recently when I vacationed in Colorado. I was getting Chicago notifications and my only options were to pause notifications or cancel Chicago notifications and enable the ones for Colorado Springs. I stopped the notifications altogether because I was not going to configure the app for a few days here and there. If someone travels long distances regularly, notifications would likely be of little use. A Siri forecast would be location based without opening the app or configuring anything. Also, Siri could ideally analyze weather data and respond to questions like “when will it rain next?” and offer a day and hour and likelihood of rain. Also, Siri does not offer lunar forecasts but Weather gods does. Siri through Weather gods could tell someone when the next full moon was happening. This is useful for people in rural areas without lights who are walking or working outdoors.

By Sports Lover Dave on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

How about, Siri, Weather god's forecast for today? the complete for cast for that day, and that would be where u are located at the time. Sincerely Dave

By charles on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

Each day, I receive the announcements of what is expected for today or for tomorrow through push notifications. How is what you are proposing different? This is a great weather app, and keeps getting better. Thanks for the continuous work in making it so.

By charles on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

If I ask Siri if it is going to rain or something that is weather related, I believe it checks the built-in weather app for that info, and gives it. I wonder if your idea would cause a conflict with what already exists? I would like for your source to override Apple's, because I think that yours is more accurate, and is updated more often.

By Jeff on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

I could be wrong about this, but I think if you say something like: "Hey Siri. What is today's forecast?" You will get the forecast from Apple's weather app. To get the forecast (or anything else) from Weather Gods, you'd have to say something like: "Hey Siri. Ask Weather Gods for today's forecast."

My understanding of the new Siri Shortcuts feature is that you can define your own phrase(such as "What's my personal forecast?") and assign one or more actions to that phrase, such as getting the forecast from Weather Gods. What I don't know is the restrictions on those self-defined phrases. In other words, if your self-defined phrase conflicts with a phrase Siri already understands as something that's not a shortcut, which takes priority? I'm not a beta tester, so I have no idea how the new shortcuts feature will work.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

Thanks, everybody, been at work all day (main job) so not able to feedback.

I'm still finding my way around the shortcut stuff but I believe Jeff is correct. You record any voice command you like and use that to launch it, so, hopefully, no conflicts.

I think Kelly is on the right track, rather than just a general shortcut to open the app, we use it as a means of querying the app and getting back results.

So, for example, Weather Gods would offer a bunch of shortcuts. I'm hoping that we can give context to the shortcut e.g. do I need a coat tomorrow? do I need a coat today? will it rain on Wednesday? etc

Now, I don't know if this is possible, but I will start investigating this approach.

Keep the suggestions coming please, this is really useful.

Thanks

By Jimmy V on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

thanks Scott for a great weather app! It's the only weather app I use.. Keep up the wonderful work!

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

More good stuff in the pipeline.

We have been re-mastering the weather sounds and so far they have had a positive response.

By Holger Fiallo on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

Since the app came out I do not use the weather app that comes with iPhone. I put the weather app from apple in folder that I do not use. If I use siri to check weather will use the apple app. This why we need short cut for the app. I know that we get notification but what if we do not want to use it? Choices are great.

By Weather Gods (Scott) on Monday, August 27, 2018 - 12:22

Hi Holger, it's good to know that you are a Siri user.

Currently I have rain, snow and sunscreen in play. Looking to add more - they are more difficult than I imagined though. The Siri interface can be a bit challenging.

Just getting your current location when you start to speak to Siri for example :)