RoutineHub • Smart Send

Smart Send

Schedule messages to be sent later

Description

Smart Send Banner

Apple Watch

This shortcut allows you to queue messages to be sent at a later time. The method used by the shortcut entails saving a text file to iCloud Drive in the Smart Send folder.

When the shortcut is called from an automation or another shortcut with the text "Send" passed to the Run Shortcut action, it will scan the stored / queued messages to see if their send time is in the past, if so, it will send the message.

Note: To use on Apple Watch, this shortcut must first be ran on iPhone to setup the iCloud Folder!

Instructions

Add new messages and select contact(s)

iPhone Entry Also works on Apple Watch! Apple Watch Entry

If a selected contact has more than one phone number, you'll be prompted to select the number to send to. Next is the prompt for the date and time to be the earliest time the message should send.

As of 1.11 you can schedule messages to someone that isn't in your contacts

Phone Number Select and Date/Time Entry

Apple Watch Phone Number Select and Date/Time Entry

As of 1.13, you can now include a brief greeting with each message when sending to multiple people and choosing the "Individual" option. It would look like this: "Hey {first name}, {your message content}"

Note: You can also share text to the shortcut directly, then select the contact and time to send

Manage Queued Messages

If there are messages in the queue to be sent at some point in the future you can use this menu item to remove any messages you no longer want to be scheduled for sending. Manage Existing Messages

Send All Queued Messages Now

This menu option will send all of the queued messages regardless of their scheduled time to be sent.

Example of Automation Setup

You can setup automations to run the shortcut in a "hands-free" mode and have it check for messages to send (messages that their send date is in the past) For example, I use the following:

Connected to Power Automation
Time of Day Automation with multiple trigger times (07:00, 12:00, 17:00, 21:00)

Setup Example

Example of Sent Message

Sent Message Example

Credits to

D3W10 for Swing Updater E used in the shortcut
ROP for MediaKit shortcuts used to generate the banner and badge images on this page
Gluebyte for Screenshot Framer used to generate the screenshots in this page
AndyVRD for the Apple Watch screenshot framer shortcut, iOS Frames

Latest Release Notes

1.14 - Nov. 21, 2023, 2:41 a.m.

Version 1.14 Release Notes
- fix broken references

- Total Actions: #223
- Created on iOS 17.2
- Released at Nov 20, 2023

Version history

Feedback

@[email protected]

Firstly thanks so much for making this! It is super helpful. :) One issue I ran into that I should report is based on the trigger being sent multiple times before the delete action happens. I was wondering what if any fix there would be for this. I have just changed my triggers to try and slow them down as a fix. But wanted to report it anyway. Thanks Thorraa :)
Reply · 1 year, 2 months ago

@mvan231 Author

Hi! I'm curious what you mean by "trigger being sent multiple times before delete action happens". How would that happen? You mean that the "send" command is input to the shortcut multiple times before the file is deleted?
Reply · 1 year, 2 months ago

@MatthewMatthew

Whenever I Q a message, to be sent at a later time, the messages always failed to send. I end up needing to manually send the messages from the queue. Am I doing something wrong?
Reply · 9 months ago

@mvan231 Author

Sometimes that happens if you haven't messaged the person recently
Reply · 8 months, 2 weeks ago

@queerdude

Hi creator, mind giving more details on how to setup properly? As I'm a newbie for using shortcuts, and I did try setting up from above pictures illustration, but in vain...thank you
Reply · 5 months, 2 weeks ago

@mvan231 Author

Which part are you stuck on / not quite understanding?
Reply · 5 months, 2 weeks ago

@bellboy13

Hello, when I go to run this shortcut, I get the update pop-up but can’t scroll down or move past it. Any ideas?
Reply · 4 months, 3 weeks ago

@mvan231 Author

You could try installing the update directly from this page instead
Reply · 4 months, 3 weeks ago

@bellboy13

Sounds good, I’m getting a message about “can’t connect to gallery” but that is unrelated to you. Thank you
Reply · 4 months, 3 weeks ago

@mvan231 Author

It's fixed now
Reply · 4 months, 3 weeks ago

@aaSchcol

Hi! So i tried using this for whatsapp bussines and it didnt send the message automatically plus when i tried running it manually it just says the recipient doesnt have iMessage. Like i said, i selected Whatsapp business and I even had deleted the iMessage option, any clue on how to fix it?
Reply · 4 months ago

@mvan231 Author

Can you check to make sure the if statement hasn't changed where the WhatsApp action is? It may have been due to that
Reply · 4 months ago

@aaSchcol

I redownloaded the shortcut, didnt change anything, and the same error happens, which if am I supposed to check?
Reply · 4 months ago

@mvan231 Author

Do you have discord? This would be a lot easier to resolve there
Reply · 3 months, 3 weeks ago

@spankym

Thanks for making and sharing this. I have not been able to get a message to send without manually sending it from queue so far. iOS 16.6, iPhone 14 Pro Max and using Messages only. I have tried a few different contacts and different times. Any things I can try to troubleshoot?
Reply · 2 months, 4 weeks ago

@mvan231 Author

You're welcome! Did you setup the automation? The shortcut can't work without setting an automation trigger to run it in automation mode
Reply · 2 months, 3 weeks ago

@spankym

That makes sense and I may have glossed over the last part of your instructions, but I still can’t figure it out even after reading through a long thread on r/shortcuts. I looked around and tried playing with automations, but can’t replicate your screenshot and just don’t understand the first step, “Connected to Power Automation”. Is this an app or script I need and should know about? Thanks again.
Reply · 2 months, 3 weeks ago

@mvan231 Author

Those are just two types of automation triggers I use to run the shortcut. You can set it up to trigger with whatever you choose. Most people use time of day automations at various points in the day and then if the time of the automation is beyond or at the same time as the scheduled message, then it'll send it when the automation runs the shortcut.
Reply · 2 months, 3 weeks ago

@rogerdue

Hello. I try to send it but just does anything. This automation needed, how i do that? If discord Its easy how i find you? Telegram?
Reply · 2 months, 3 weeks ago

@mvan231 Author

The automation instructions are above. I'm mvan231 on discord. I'm also in the r/shortcuts server and RoutineHub server
Reply · 2 months, 3 weeks ago

@rogerdue

OK. I already did it but just open the main shortcut smart send menú but do nothing...
Reply · 2 months, 3 weeks ago

@mvan231 Author

Did what? You must not have done what is shown in the automation example because the menu won't show when running in automated mode
Reply · 2 months, 3 weeks ago

@ProCreations Member

Hi! I made a blogging shortcut for developers to post news about there shortcuts! If you want, you can become a member by clicking on my profile picture and downloading the pinned shortcut.
Reply · 2 months, 1 week ago

@mvan231 Author

Nice!
Reply · 2 months, 1 week ago

@ProCreations Member

Thanks (: it means a lot!
Reply · 2 months, 1 week ago

@hunterhurst01

Hey how do I send a message to a new phone number, a customer. I dont necessarily want to add them to my contacts.
Reply · 3 weeks ago

@mvan231 Author

This would be a good addition. I will add it to the next update
Reply · 2 weeks, 6 days ago

@hunterhurst01

Yeah that would be great! How often do you do updates?
Reply · 2 weeks, 6 days ago

@mvan231 Author

Not often but this one wasn't bad to do. I'll probably have it out soon
Reply · 2 weeks, 6 days ago

@mvan231 Author

New version is out now
Reply · 2 weeks, 5 days ago

@hunterhurst01

https://routinehub.co/shortcut/7896/ Here is a link to a message shortcut with the “type phone number” option that I’m trying to integrate into this how can I add that?
Reply · 3 weeks ago

@hunterhurst01

Best developer ever bro. You changed the game.
Reply · 2 weeks, 4 days ago

@Nonohacks

Very cool, thank you for the hard work. I’m a novice and wondered if it would be possible to send the same message to the same person each day at a designated time ? Thank you very much
Reply · 6 days, 17 hours ago

@mvan231 Author

Thanks! I'm glad you like it! For doing something like that, you would be better off creating an automation to only send that message since it is always the same and always same time
Reply · 6 days, 15 hours ago

@yanov10

trying to run the shortcut and just when i start i get this error (ios 17.1.1) https://imgur.com/a/WyQfDyg
Reply · 3 days, 9 hours ago

@mvan231 Author

Hit show to see which one.
Reply · 2 days, 16 hours ago