WhatsApp Buddy
If you use an iPhone but you text with someone on Android, you’re probably going to want to use WhatsApp for that to make sure no texts are getting lost in the Android/iPhone No Mans Land. And if you’re using WhatsApp to text, you know that sending something to someone using the Share menu* takes several steps:
No items found.
WhatsApp Buddy
- I want to share this (click the “Share” icon)
- (wait a second for the share menu to come up)
- I want to send it to someone on WhatsApp
- (wait a second for the list of recipients to come up)
- I want to send it to this person (next)
- (wait a second for the Compose box to come up)
- This is where I can write a message to go along with it if I want
- “Send”
With my shortcut, once you select the person’s contact info when you download it, you can send a link to that person with one tap.
*If you would like more information about the Share Menu, this is an informative article: https://mashable.com/2016/03/04/how-to-use-iphone-share-button-pro/
How to use
How to use
When you download the app onto your phone, it will ask you to pick a contact from your list of contacts. This is will be the person who receives the message. The shortcut will only let you choose 1 person. (You can change the name of the shortcut on your phone and download it again to get around this.)
Once you have downloaded it and set up your contact, here's how to use it:
- You see something you would like to send to that person. Click the Share icon.
- Scroll down until you see “WhatsApp Buddy” in the list of options and give it a tap
- (The shortcut will open up WhatsApp and the item you selected to share will be visible in the compose box.)
- Tap “Send”
How it works
How it works
- When you have selected the thing you want to share, the shortcut gets the URL of that thing.
- Then it creates a new WhatsApp message and addresses it to the person you select during set up.
- Then it inserts the URL into that WhatsApp message.
- Then it gives you the chance to add a message, and press Send.
How to get started with Shortcuts
If you have iOS 13, you already have the Shortcuts app. That means that if you're on your iPhone or iPad right now, you can just click the Download button to download a shortcut. If you're not on your phone, you can email the link to yourself to download it later.
You can can start using most shortcuts right away, unless they work with another app that you need to have installed. That will be indicated on the in the post above. Once you have downloaded a shortcut, it belongs to you and you can make any changes you like. The shortcuts I make and publish here don't send any data back to me and I don't make any money from publishing them.
Once you have download a shortcut you can choose how to run it. These are your options:
- When you want to run a shortcut, open your Shortcuts app and all the shortcuts in your library will be there to choose from. Just tap on it.
- To save the step of navigating to your Shortcuts app you can add a shortcut to your iPhone’s home screen so it’s easily accessible.
- Some shortcuts will automatically show up in your phone’s Share menu under “Shortcuts”.
- In the shortcut’s settings you can “Add to Siri” by recording a phrase that will trigger it. Later you can say “Hey Siri” followed by that phrase and Siri will run that shortcut for you.
- You can also set up shortcuts to run automatically in the Automations tab in the Shortcuts app. You can select from a good variety of triggers such as "When my wake up alarm stops" or "When I arrive at work".