iPhone shortcut for Bluetooth, Siri and location services

I think my question may not be soo unusual, but I can't find any solution in the net:


Normally, in our family we have Bluetooth, Siri and location services de-activated for privacy and battery purposes.


But these functions one does need for using CarPlay. Therefore I am searching for two shortcuts or "actions" for the homescreen of iOS 16.x in order to toggle between these two states: Bluetooth, Siri for "side button" and Location Services activated – and de-activated.


It seems easy to find an action for "Bluetooth on/of". But I do not find any element in the iPhone control to toggle Siri and Location Services via shortcuts.


Johannes

Posted on Aug 4, 2023 10:04 AM

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10 replies

Aug 22, 2023 12:53 PM in response to johannes251

Hello johannes251,


I'll only answer the feasibility of using Shortcuts for your request : this is possible but not practical. Shortcuts only allows you to view the settings, not change them. So one could create a shortcut to view the Bluetooth settings on the screen but the shortcut itself could not change the settings : you would need to activate/deactivate those yourself.


So you would need to create a shortcut for each of those things you want to activate/deactivate (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc.). Then, you would need to run each one individually to bring you to the Settings screen (Wi-Fi etc.) and activate or deactivate it.


You'd find this solution cumbersome, methinks.

Aug 4, 2023 11:18 AM in response to johannes251

shortcut provides a quick way to get things done with your apps, with just a tap or by asking Siri. Shortcuts can automate a wide variety of things — for ...


Intro to Shortcuts on iPhone and iPad



shortcut is a quick way to get one or more tasks done with your apps. The Shortcuts app lets you create your own shortcuts with multiple steps. For example, ...


Shortcuts User Guide




Aug 4, 2023 11:49 AM in response to johannes251

Many thanks to both of you!


@ Lawrence: Thank you for your hints to battery consumption and "find my iPhone". Here, I'm searching help for

my problem, but sorry, I didn't want to discuss the usefulness of "on" and"off".


@SvaranKrA: Would you please guide me to the item in the "all actions"-list in the iPhone app "shortcuts" in order to toggle location services on and off, resp. to toggle Siri itself on and off? (I think, that Siri will never be able, to toggle *itself* on and off. That may be systemical impossible - like

any so called "AI"). That would be very helpful.


In former times I did a lot in Apple OSX with the help of AppleScript and Automator ("tell application "finder"...). By that tools it was (more or less 😵‍💫) easy, to arrange such functions.


Best wishes

Johannes

Aug 22, 2023 8:03 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thank you very much for your answer, which I will now take up again.


Very often, people who are not closely connected to Apple and its products criticize Apple for paternalizing its followers and wanting to know better and better what people want and need to do. Unfortunately, I would put your response - in stark contrast to the help! I had asked for - in exactly this corner: There is someone who is "drowning", and someone is standing on the bank who says: You should have put on different swimming trunks . So your answers don't help.


Many people (not only) in Germany don't want to walk around "like an open book" with their electronic devices, but pay strict attention to privacy. I don't want to be walking around with my phone while WiFi and Bluetooth are just banging around. The location services, too. I attach absolutely no value to Siri, but press my buttons myself. Apart from the fact that Siri is often slow-witted and prevents me from progressing with misunderstandings.

Finally, I like to turn off as many antennas as possible out of the iPhone's 11 antennas to conserve power. After all, when I'm out in the open (which an American might not imagine), there's no Bluetooth or Wifi, even LTE either. They are then useless power guzzlers.


In short: I'm looking for shortcuts to switch the three functions: Bluetooth, WLAN and Siri on or off!


Kind regards from Johannes!

Aug 22, 2023 8:15 AM in response to johannes251

Pretty much everything in your post is based on misinformation. If there is no Wi-Fi connected Wi-Fi uses ZERO power, and it turns off when the phone is locked anyway. Likewise, if you have no BT devices connected then Bluetooth uses ZERO power. So Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are not “just banging around”. LTE also uses no power if there is no network to connect to; it goes to sleep 5 minutes after losing a connection. And privacy protection is built in to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; if your phone encounters a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi network it “lies” about your device electronic address (MAC address), with a different lie to each network it encounters.


So what you want is a solution for what is not a problem.


However, if you want to create such a solution study the Shortcuts manual→Shortcuts User Guide - Apple Support. I’ll also ask a resident shortcuts expert to visit this thread.

Aug 22, 2023 10:47 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Well,

I think I've figured out myself the key approach in the meantime: It would be the use of URL schemes in the actions to set specifical parameters in the "Settings" app. URL schemes seem to be *analogous* to working with Applescript/Automator on the OSX level.


To do this, however, you have to familiarize yourself with the rather complex and unfamiliar prematrization of the URL schemes. Huhh. Currently I haven't found out whether the individual aspects of the Settings app (Bluetooth, WiFi, Siri, Location services) support URL schemes, just as not every app on the OSX level contains/supports scripting.

As I have also seen, there are a few predefined URL schemes for calling/downloading on the web, but so far I have not found any that suit the actual asked needs.


Ideally, you would have a shortcut that works like a focus: The environment "driving" activates/deactivates the corresponding functions and thus enables CarPlay to be used only if I'm sitting in the car.


So here we are.


Johannes

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iPhone shortcut for Bluetooth, Siri and location services

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