iOS 12 introduced Apple’s new Shortcuts app to the world and the tool has been gaining in popularity ever since. Folks have been coming up with ingenious ways to take advantage of the functionality, with one particularly creative user coming up with a ‘Police’ shortcut to deal with aggressive law enforcement.
As a quick reminder, Shortcuts is basically an automation app in iOS 12 which lets people create their own shortcuts with multiple steps. The workflow can be simple like sending an email to certain contacts or complex like activating smart home products. They can be triggered with a tap or a customized voice command to Siri.
Police Shortcut App
iPhone owners have started taking to Reddit to share some of their creations and help others simplify their life as well. One of those users is Robert Petersen, an Arizona resident who thought it would be a good idea to automate the process of opening the camera and switching on Do No Disturb in case he gets pulled over by the police.
To get started, you’ll have to download the ‘Police’ shortcut here. Peterson’s command is “Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over,” but this can be customized. Once the workflow is triggered, the iPhone will automatically stop playing music, lower the brightness, switch on Do Not Disturb, and send a message to a chosen contact letting them know about the situation and what your current location is.
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The iPhone then opens up the front camera to video mode. You can alternatively modify the shortcut so it activates the rear camera instead. You’ll have to manually start recording at this point since there’s no option to automatically begin. When you stop, the footage is sent to a contact you specify, the brightness goes back to normal, and Do Not Disturb is deactivated.
Peterson has been making changes to Police ever since he first posted it based on feedback from other Redditors. Version 1.4 of the shortcut now attaches latitude + longitude and address, plus the option to upload the captured video to Dropbox or iCloud Drive.
He’s also open to adding a live streaming app to the process. You can download Shortcuts via the App Store.