How To Create Your Own Extensions For Your iPhone & iPad

For years, iOS was so tightly locked down that apps couldn’t communicate with each other. Simple actions such as uploading a picture to Instagram or sharing it to WhatsApp were not possible from the Photos app. Thanks to iOS 8, those days are now gone.
You can now share content between apps with just two taps. The only problem? Developers have to create extensions and these aren’t always top priority for them. The aforementioned WhatsApp and Instagram still don’t have share extensions, which is a major inconvenience.
Fortunately there exists a new app that allows you to finally create your own extensions. Meet Workflow ($1.99), a productivity app that opens many of the platform’s previously closed doors.

What Does Workflow Do?

Workflow is an automation app that focuses on speeding up complex tasks on iOS. It lets you make GIF images, create PDF files, resize images and perform many other tasks quickly. Each of these tasks is called a workflow.

You can use the app to create normal workflows and action extensions. Normal workflows are almost like an app because you can pin them to the home screen for easy access. This is just like adding a webpage to the home screen of your iOS device.
On the other hand, action extensions can be accessed by tapping the Share button in other apps and then tapping Run Workflow. This reveals a list of action extensions available thanks to Workflow, allowing you to tap the one you need. It adds an extra tap to the process of accessing extensions, but it keeps Workflow from cluttering your share sheets across the entire operating system.

Creating iOS Extensions

Workflow features a long list of actions that you can link in order to create a workflow. To start, open the app and tap the big tile named Create Workflow. This will show you a blank workspace with two tabs at the top – Normal and Action Extension. Tap Normal to create ‘apps’ or Action Extensions to make your workflow accessible via share sheets (the more menu).

Creating a workflow is easy – first swipe left to see the list of actions Workflow supports. You’ll see things like Quick Look, Get Component of URL and so on. Tapping any of these actions will reveal what it does. When you’ve found the action you need, drag it to the workspace on the right. Drag all the actions you need and arrange them in the correct order. Now you can tap the Play icon at the top to see if your workflow works. If it does, tap Done to save this workflow.
It can be hard to picture this without an example. Let’s create a simple extension that allows us to post pictures to Instagram. These instructions will help you understand how to create a workflow.

1. Open Workflow and tap Create Workflow.
2. Tap the tab labelled Action Extension at the top.
3. Since we only want to post photos to Instagram using this workflow, it’s best to stop this workflow from showing up unless we’re sharing photos. To do this tap the text: “This workflow accepts“ and uncheck everything except Images. Tap Done.
4. Tap the wand icon called Actions in the bottom left corner. This will take you to a list of actions sorted by type.
5. In the search bar, type “Instagram”. This will bring up the Post to Instagram action.
6. Drag Post to Instagram to the workspace on the right. You’ll notice that it has a field called Caption. Whatever you type here will automatically appear in the caption field in Instagram. If you regularly use the same hashtags, you can type them here to avoid keying them in each time you post a photo.
7. Tap the tiny gear icon on the top right corner. This is where you can name your workflow and pick an icon for it. I named my workflow “Post Photos To Instagram” and picked a nice camera icon.
8. Tap Done to finalise the name and icon for the workflow. Tap Done again in the workspace to finish making your first workflow.

Congratulations! You just created a simple, yet incredibly useful workflow. To run this workflow, open the Photos app, select any photo and tap the Share icon followed by Run Workflow. Select Post Photos To Instagram (or whatever you called the workflow) and your device will open the image on the filters screen in Instagram. On the next screen, you’ll find your pre-defined caption as well.
While you’re at it, don’t forget to check our guide to creating your own Instagram filters as well. More complex workflows allow you to convert five photos into a GIF or even cross-post photos across social networks.

Can’t Create Workflows? Download Them Instead

If you find creating workflows tedious you’ll be relieved to know you can opt to download them instead. All you need to do is open the app and tap the Gallery button at the top. This opens a curated list of the best workflows arranged in neat tiles under helpful sub-heads.

To download any of these, select it and then tap Get Workflow. Earlier I linked to a couple of workflows – open these on any device that has Workflow installed and tap Download to start using them.
Select a workflow and hit the Share icon to share it with your friends, who will receive a link to the workflow that they can use to download it. This Share icon also lets you add workflows to the home screen, which turns them into mini-apps. I’ve used Workflow to create several speed dial shortcuts on my home screen and I’m sure you’ll find some workflows useful enough to add them to your home screen.
This ability to share and easily download workflows adds another dimension to the app. It ensures that those who don’t have the time to fiddle with the app’s exhaustive list of actions can hit the ground running.

Save Time & Taps

For an app with such emphasis on sharing, I’d have loved to have the ability to sync workflows across my iOS devices. If you own multiple devices linked to the same Apple ID, you’ll still have to manually add your favourite workflows to each device.

It’s hard to find another app that lets you do so much more with iOS without jailbreaking. Launch Center Pro is one of our favourite automation apps for iOS and its geofencing feature will let you get even more out of Workflow. You’ll be able to trigger certain workflows when you reach the office or when you leave home. Between these two apps, many iOS limitations seem fairly minor. You still can’t access certain system functions such as enabling or disabling Touch ID through these apps, but you can do things like change the device’s brightness level or send a custom notification.
If this sort of thing appeals, you should definitely bookmark the Workflow Subreddit. It is a great place to find new workflows, get help creating workflows or for posting a request for a specific workflow.
Mihir recently wondered whether the Internet is falling out of love with Apple. While his argument about a drop in Apple’s software quality is valid, the other side of the coin is that the Cupertino-based company has added several previously restricted features to iOS. Apps such as Workflow make the platform even more appealing to power users.

Download: Workflow ($4.99) for iPhone & iPad

Which Apple Products Do You Currently Own?

Despite what some of my colleagues believe, Apple fanboyism is alive and well. In fact, it may be stronger than ever, with more people under Apple’s spell now than at any time in its history. The only difference is Apple fanboys (and fangirls) are so numerous, and their mentality so commonplace, that we just don’t notice it any more.
With all of that in mind, we want to find out which Apple products our readers actually own. If any. Welcome to this week’s MakeUseOf Poll.

Love is Complicated

To answer this week’s question please scroll down the page until you see the poll staring back at you. But first, we need to look at the results from two weeks ago, when we asked, “Which Technology Company Do You Love The Most?”
Out of a total of 412 votes, 26.9% chose Google, 25.2% chose Microsoft, 13.8% chose Apple, 6.3% chose Mozilla, 4.1% chose Amazon, 1.2% chose Samsung, 1% chose Sony, 0% chose Facebook, 3.4% chose Other, and 18% chose I Don’t ‘Love’ Any Tech Companies.
It was no surprise to see Google top this Poll, as this is a company with a range of products and services, many of which are offered entirely for free. However, I must admit to being a little surprised to see Microsoft beating Apple, and by such a significant margin.
It’s also interesting, and admittedly quite satisfying, to see Facebook come last with a total of zero votes. And yet we all still carry on using Facebook regardless. Why? Because we’re all addicted. Probably.

Comment of the Week

We received a lot of great comments, including those from EgoAnt, Hildy J, and Callum. Comment Of The Week goes to likefunbutnot, who earns our admiration and affection for this comment:

voted for Mozilla. Mozilla is a testament to the open Internet, something that no one else is really supporting these days. Supporting the things that Mozilla wants to do really means being able to build an internet that will function without Microsoft, Google, Facebook and/or Apple, which is as it should be.
I didn’t like its choice of CEO in 2014, but I suspect there aren’t many CEOs whom I would like.
Microsoft’s business seems to be trying to hammer everything into the shape of a desktop computing platform that it can sell Windows and Office on that platform. Microsoft really doesn’t understand the interest of consumer-level computing, mobile devices or entertainment platforms. It just knows business really, really well. It’s where IBM was thirty years ago.
Google, Apple and Facebook all create walled gardens of exclusionary content to no benefit but their own. Samsung wants to be be a lifestyle brand in the mode of Apple and Sony and does indeed make decent, inexpensive hardware. But it has a tin ear building anything (or at least, anything anyone outside of Korea) actually wants and its successes all too often have been due to its willingness to ship dozens or hundreds of products so that a few can find some success.
I do like Amazon. I like what Amazon offers, my Amazon tablet, my prime membership and its ability to be my one stop shop for almost everything that involves shopping. I like that it plays well with others and works with everything. It’s the way a digital services company should be. But I don’t love it because to my mind, it’s just doing the thing that everyone who wants to sell products should be doing.
Sony is so far off the tech radar at this point that I can’t believe it’s being discussed in this context (“Guys! We still make a game box! And TVs? You guys like TVs, right?”). Its decline suggests the course I suspect Apple and Facebook will ultimately follow.

We chose this comment because it offers an extremely valid argument as to why Mozilla should be loved by more people. The commenter also aired his opinions on all of the other technology companies mentioned, which offers us valuable insights into the mindset of MakeUseOf readers.

The Apple of my iDevice

Apple recently announced it had sold 1 billion iDevices. Atypically for the company, this rather impressive factoid was hidden away in its latest earnings call. But then that was the same earnings call during which Apple announced it had just enjoyed the most profitable quarter of all time. By any company. Ever.
Selling 1 billion of anything is impressive, but it’s even more impressive when the things you are shifting are premium products which sell for hundreds of dollars apiece. Which got us wondering which specific Apple products our readers currently own…

Which Apple Products Do You Currently Own?

iPodiPadMacOther (Which?)iPhoneMacBookNone Of The Above (Why?)Apple TV

VoteView ResultsPolldaddy.com

Please vote in the Poll above, and then explain in the comments section below why you voted that way.
You can make multiple selections in this Poll, up to a maximum of four. If you own more than four of the Apple products named then please choose the most recent and/or relevant ones.
We want to know details: what specific models of iPhone or iPad you own, what year you bought them, and why you still own them to this day. Voting in the Poll tells us something, but adding detail in the comments section below tells us a whole lot more.

The best Comment Of The Week will win our everlasting admiration and affection. Well, at least until we meet back here again this time next week.

Owners of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus use their iPads less

Users of Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus spend significantly less time with their iPads than owners of older iPhone models. The data that confirms the new state of affairs comes courtesy of the developers behind Pocket. The latter is a popular award-winning app, which allows users to save articles, videos, and other web content for later viewing. As it turns out, iPhone 6 owner spend 72% of their time viewing Pocket content on their handset versus 28% on their iPad. The figure jumps even more in the case of the iPhone 6 Plus - 80% on the phablet versus 20% on the iPad. For comparison, iPhone 5s users spend 55% of their time on the Pocket app on their handset and 45% on their Apple slate. The iPhone 6 Plus Pocket usage time distribution matches exactly the consumption pattern of Android users. This should hardly catch anyone by surprise as large-screen Android smartphones have been the norm for quite some time now. Pocket developers’ data also reveals that 2.5x more users of the app prefer iPhone 6 over its bigger brother. The data falls right in line with a recent report.

iPhone 6 Plus review

The big iPhone is here, with a stunning design and sizeable body A 5.5-inch iPhone. It's something which will send a shudder down the spines of a collective of die-hard Apple fans, a handset some thought we'd never see from the Cupertino-based outfit. Yet here I am, staring down the barrel of the biggest iPhone in history - the iPhone 6 Plus. It arrived alongside the iPhone 6 - Apple's new flagship smartphone - which measures 4.7 inches, making it more welcoming to a wider array of palms than the supersized iPhone 6 Plus. Many of you, especially those of an Android persuasion, may be wondering what all the fuss is about. After all the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 turned up with a 5.5-inch display over two years ago. Take a moment to glance at the history of the iPhone though, and you'll see why the iPhone 6 Plus is such a big deal. Previously Apple has only dealt in two screen sizes - a 3.5-inch display graced the first five generations of iPhone, and just three have had the pleasure of a larger 4-inch display. 5.5 inches then is a huge leap forward for Apple, moving its iPhone range into the uncharted waters of the phablet market currently dominated by Samsung and other Android devices. Apple is looking to reach a previously untapped audience of smartphone users - those who demand a large screen, with 'productivity' the main buzzword being thrown around. A key market for the iPhone 6 Plus is Asia, where general consensus seems to be bigger = better when it comes to smartphone screens. In terms of specs and design there isn't a huge amount of difference between the iPhone 6 Plus and the iPhone 6 - apart from the obvious size. The iPhone 6 Plus does boast a couple of unique features however. It's the first iPhone to pack a full HD display, plus its bigger body means it houses a larger battery than its 4.7-inch brother. Both sport A8 64-bit processors, 1GB of RAM, M8 motion coprocessors and 8MP rear facing cameras - but the snapper on the iPhone 6 Plus benefits from OIS (optical image stabilisation) while the iPhone 6 makes do with EIS (electronic image stabilisation). As with all Apple products the iPhone 6 Plus doesn't come cheap, and you may want to brace yourself because it's one of the most expensive handsets around. SIM-free the 16GB iPhone 6 Plus carries a lofty price tag of $749, £619, AU$999 - and that's just the start. Apple has ditched the 32GB variant for both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with the next storage level coming in at 64GB, and for the 5.5-inch iPhone that equals $849, £699, AU$1129. The good news for storage fans is that Apple has finally introduced a 128GB model - which may quieten those whining about the lack of a microSD slot - but it will cost you a small fortune. $949, £789, AU$1249 to be exact. That makes the iPhone 6 Plus comfortably more expensive than rival phablets including the LG G3, OnePlus One, Nokia Lumia 1520 and I suspect the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 when it goes on sale too, if not on a par. It's big, it's expensive and it's likely to play second fiddle to the iPhone 6 - so is the iPhone 6 Plus worth considering? Read on to find out.