TouchControl Works With Siri!
TouchControl is integrated with Siri on your iOS device, allowing you to create shortcuts for your favorite buttons and execute them with your voice. TouchControl buttons available for Siri Shortcuts are also exposed through Search results, allowing you to search for buttons by name outside of TouchControl and easily execute them.
Siri/Search integration is available on devices running iOS 12 or later, and requires TouchControl 10 or later, as well as TouchControl Server version 10 for Windows, or version 2 for macOS. All primary button types, as well as macros and script buttons can be enabled for Siri and Search.
To enable a button for Siri, add the button to an activity layout in the TouchControl Server designer, then right-click the button and choose the Shortcut menu option. This will display three configuration options:
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Enable - this enables/disables Siri for the button.
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Require confirmation - when enabled, this requires that you respond to a confirmation prompt before the button is executed.
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Alert on success - when enabled, this triggers the display of a success message on the screen that you must manually dismiss.
Once you have configured the desired buttons for Siri in the server designer, simply refresh the configuration to TouchControl on your device and the buttons are immediately available from Siri/Search. To disable a button from being available for Siri, disable the Shortcut option for the button in the server designer and refresh your config to your device.
Performing these actions makes your buttons available as actions for Siri Shortcuts. To create a Siri Shortcut using a TouchControl button, you'll need to use the Shortcuts app on your device to create the shortcut, set the TouchControl button action, and provide a phrase to trigger the shortcut when talking to Siri. You'll also use the Shortcuts app to delete any shortcuts that you have created that you no longer need.
A Shortcuts option also exists in the Tools section of TouchControl settings on your device that will display all buttons currently enabled for Siri. You may disable buttons from being available as Siri actions by removing them from this location. This is useful if the activity that you enabled a button in no longer exists and you want to remove the button as a Siri action. Be aware that if you remove a button in this location but it is still enabled for Siri in an existing activity, it will be re-added the next time you refresh your config.
When a button is triggered via Siri or Search results, TouchControl will be activated on your device to execute the button. The activity that you enabled the button in will be loaded into memory in the background (not visible) and the button will be executed within the context of that activity. Make sure that any other buttons required for execution of the desired button exist on that layout as well - just as if you were executing the button normally from a remote screen in TouchControl.
Any activity can contain buttons enabled for Siri, but you may wish to create a separate activity dedicated to all of your Siri-enabled buttons. This could be more efficient, as loading a large activity in the background to execute a single button via Siri could require more background memory resources than potentially required for that single button. Again, just make sure that any other buttons/elements required to execute the button exist on that activity as well. A dedicated shortcuts activity can also be hidden in your config if you wish.