Reef nutrition

Show off your Siri Shortcuts to control Apex

JVU

JVU

President
BOD
BARcard
I was initially excited by Alexa voice control of Apex, but it turned out to be too cumbersome and unreliable for real use.

When Siri Shortcuts were announced I thought that would be a cool way to automate or streamline Apex controls, but I didn’t see Apex compatibility at first.

Now I just updated my Apex app and AOS and the major improvement in this version is support for Siri Shortcuts, which I’m interested to try out.

I tried searching for Apex Siri shortcuts in the Siri Shortcut app and didn’t come up with any. Quick Google search on it and nothing popped up right away.

So, I was wondering if anyone out there is using them or wanting to, and if so, please show them off to give us ideas!

(Edit: I corrected the first line to say Alexa)
 
Last edited:
I don’t use Siri but use Alexa and she’s my personal lab assistant. Logs all of my tests by voice command which is nice when you have gloves on and test tubes everywhere.
 
Yeah sorry, I meant I initially tried Alexa voice commands for the Apex but found it to be cumbersome and unreliable. Just too tortuously long of a command required, needed to be said exactly perfectly, and even then doesn’t work all the time. I was hoping Siri Shortcuts would allow more intuitive and reliable access.
 
There have been so many times I have had my arms in the tank and realized it would be really nice to have Google assistant shut something off.

Someday....

Reef Geek 3D Printing
 
grizfyrfyter said:
There have been so many times I have had my arms in the tank and realized it would be really nice to have Google assistant shut something off.

Someday....

Reef Geek 3D Printing
Click to expand...
Isn’t that what kids are for? I’ve got 4 now, so I’m almost guaranteed one of them is within ear shot.
 
And I thought using Alexa was sketchy...

I don’t even ask my wife or my adult children to help me turns things off and on in Apex
 
John: I use the Alex to turn on and off my skimmer, return pump. Since my wife is not a techie like me and everything is connected to the Apex Fusion, I configure them so it was easy for her to turn these off and on during feeding. Randomly it will not understand the short cuts and she has say " Alex tell apex fusion to turn off skimmer" versus just "Alex turn off skimmer"
 
JVU said:
I was initially excited by Siri voice control of Apex, but it turned out to be too cumbersome and unreliable for real use.

When Siri Shortcuts were announced I thought that would be a cool way to automate or streamline Apex controls, but I didn’t see Apex compatibility at first.

Now I just updated my Apex app and AOS and the major improvement in this version is support for Siri Shortcuts, which I’m interested to try out.

I tried searching for Apex Siri shortcuts in the Siri Shortcut app and didn’t come up with any. Quick Google search on it and nothing popped up right away.

So, I was wondering if anyone out there is using them or wanting to, and if so, please show them off to give us ideas!
Click to expand...


Siri support is still a work in progress, but here's how it currently works:

Every time you load your dashboard, the app tells Siri so she can take note of the time and place you did so. Any time you start a feed mode (or cancel a feed mode), Siri is notified as well. The actions for loading your dashboard or starting a feed mode won't be available in Shortcuts until you've opened your dashboard or started a feed mode while using the new app at least once.

Make sure you have the newest version of the app from the App Store (version 1.5), load a dashboard, start a feed cycle, and then hop back into the Shortcuts app gallery to start automating things. (I've noticed the Shortcuts app being pretty buggy recently, so you might need to restart the app or even your phone in order for Shortcuts to start showing you Apex Fusion abilities.
 
Joe Carioti said:
Siri support is still a work in progress, but here's how it currently works:

Every time you load your dashboard, the app tells Siri so she can take note of the time and place you did so. Any time you start a feed mode (or cancel a feed mode), Siri is notified as well. The actions for loading your dashboard or starting a feed mode won't be available in Shortcuts until you've opened your dashboard or started a feed mode while using the new app at least once.

Make sure you have the newest version of the app from the App Store (version 1.5), load a dashboard, start a feed cycle, and then hop back into the Shortcuts app gallery to start automating things. (I've noticed the Shortcuts app being pretty buggy recently, so you might need to restart the app or even your phone in order for Shortcuts to start showing you Apex Fusion abilities.
Click to expand...
Thanks Joe, I’ll try it out!

Anything other than feed modes currently working? Starting/stoping various pumps would be useful during maintenance, as well as more complicated stuff like stopping then restarting after a delay. Especially if we could give them intuitive names.
 
JVU said:
Thanks Joe, I’ll try it out!

Anything other than feed modes currently working? Starting/stoping various pumps would be useful during maintenance, as well as more complicated stuff like stopping then restarting after a delay. Especially if we could give them intuitive names.
Click to expand...


Not at the moment. That is the plan to include more than just feed modes. Like others mentioned, if you have an Alexa compatible device, you can do everything you’ve just said via Alexa voice commands, including giving your outlets and feed modes aliases so they’re easier to speak.

Also, if you have feed modes that you don’t use currently, you can use them as a way to start a maintenance mode or photo mode and that would work with Siri at the moment.

I have a shortcut called “feed the fish” and one called “feed the coral” that start feed A and feed B. For C and D, I have “photo mode” and “all blues” that just change my light spectrum for 30m at a time. All with feed modes and Siri Shortcuts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top