Deep dive into automating sports schedules and weather reports

Go beyond simple commands by turning any website into a personal data source with Apple Intelligence in Shortcuts. This new capability allows you to build powerful automations that fetch, parse, and deliver specific information—like your favorite team's next game or today's high temperature—directly to you. It eliminates the need for manual website checking by transforming raw web data into clean, actionable insights.

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What's new

With iOS 18, Shortcuts can now intelligently process the contents of any webpage. By combining the Get Contents of URL action with the new Apple Intelligence Use Model action, you can create a custom prompt that tells AI exactly what information to extract from a website's raw HTML. This means you no longer need a formal API or RSS feed; you can simply point your shortcut to a webpage and ask Apple Intelligence to find the data you need, such as game schedules, weather forecasts, or other timely information.

How to use this feature

You can create a custom report for almost any data available on a public website. The following steps outline how to build an automation that fetches a sports schedule:

1. Start a new shortcut and use a Text action to list the URLs of the sports team schedule pages you want to track.
2. Use a Repeat with Each action to loop through the URLs. Inside the loop, use the Get Contents of URL and Make Rich Text from HTML actions to retrieve the webpage data.
3. Add another Text action to create a detailed prompt. Instruct the AI to find specific information from the HTML, such as games happening today or the date and time of the next scheduled game.
4. Use the Use Model action to process the webpage text with your prompt. This action will output just the information you requested.
5. Finish the shortcut by combining the results from each team and displaying them in a Show Result action.

Key capabilities

• Automated Sports Schedules: Create a single shortcut that checks the schedules for multiple favorite teams and tells you if any are playing today or when their next game is.
• Custom Weather Notifications: Build a shortcut that uses your current location to fetch data from a weather API, like weather.gov, and sends you a notification with the day's high temperature and the time it will occur.
• Intelligent Data Parsing: Let Apple Intelligence handle the complex task of sifting through messy HTML to find exactly what you need, whether it's a date, time, team name, or temperature.
• Set and Forget Automation: Set your shortcut to run automatically at a specific time each day, so you get your custom report without ever having to lift a finger.

Tips for getting the most out of this feature

When creating your AI prompt, be as specific as possible. Mention the current date (using the Current Date variable) and clearly state what you want the AI to find and how to format the output. For faster performance on tasks that don't require complex reasoning, try using the on-device model instead of the cloud model in the Use Model action.

Summary

Automating web-based information with Apple Intelligence opens up a new world of possibilities in Shortcuts. By intelligently parsing data from sources like sports websites and weather APIs, you can build personalized, automated reports that deliver the exact information you care about, right when you need it. This feature transforms your iPhone from a passive information consumer into a proactive, personalized data assistant.

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