iPhone and iPad users have gotten more and more in tune with the native Shortcuts app since it can be incredibly useful for running advanced actions with a tap.
Still, the Shortcuts app isn’t without its limitations as set by Apple, so iOS developer AnthoPak decided to do something about that with the release of a new and free jailbreak extension dubbed Powercuts.
While you can set up a lot of different workflows and automations from the native Shortcuts app right out of the box, Apple artificially limits the possibilities with respect to what you can actually do by preventing the Shortcuts app from interacting directly with the system or with other apps.
Sometimes when you download apps from the App Store, you’ll find new options for the Shortcuts app, but they’re ultimately limited by what’s allowed in the sandbox as apps hosted in the App Store can’t exceed those bounds to interact with other apps.
With a jailbreak, you have more control over your device, and that’s where Powercuts comes into play. With it, you can make and run Shortcuts that interact directly with the system or with other apps, effectively freeing you of Apple’s native limitations.
Powercuts itself is just a library, which means other jailbreak tweaks and add-ons can utilize it to offer more actions for the Shortcuts app. The possibilities are now endless, so anything you may have wanted to do in the Shortcuts app previously, but couldn’t, may now actually be possible.
AnthoPak is including two separate packages that work alongside Powercuts including Powercuts Actions Pack and Powercuts Activator Actions.
These extensions let you do more with the Shortcuts app. For example, the Powercuts Actions Pack add-on lets you:
• Unlock your device
• Get all installed applications
• Set/get/delete a global variable
• Run a shell command
• Run a LUA file with AutoTouch
• Respring/Safe Mode/UICache/LDRestart
The Powercuts Activator Actions add-on, on the other hand, lets you use any of your favorite Activator actions from the comfort of your Shortcuts app.
Developers of other jailbreak tweaks can, of course, develop their own add-ons or update their tweaks to support Powercuts. In any case, either option would expand what the end user can accomplish from the Shortcuts app.
As of now, Powercuts only supports jailbroken iOS & iPadOS 14 devices, and those interested in giving the add-ons a try for themselves can download them for free from AnthoPak’s personal repository via their favorite package manager app.
If you’re not already using AnthoPak’s personal repository, then you can add it to your package manager app of choice by using the URL provided below:
https://repo.anthopak.dev
Do you plan to expand your Shortcuts app capabilities with Powercuts? Be sure to tell us all about what you expect to do with it in the comments section down below.