Tricks With Your

Your Phone
Hello!
o!
I am Marc.
Marc. I’m a magician and app developer in London, England. I’ve
developed
loped a few iPhone apps for magicians including one called
“WikiTest”
iTest”
and one called “Earworm”.
Thank
k you for buying this PDF. Over the next few virtual pages, I’ll
be
teaching
hing you a few new tricks that you’ll be able to do with your
iPhone.
ne.
 And more
more importantly,
important
importantly,
ly, I’ll even teach
teach you how to
to make
make your own.

Intro
ro
Every
y year
year since
since
since the
the release
relea
release
se of
of the
the App
App Store
Store
Store in 2008,
2 , Apple
Apple
Apple has
has
allowed
 wed     m
developers
lopers to join the iPhone Beta Software program.
pro r m. Developers who     o
sign     c
 .
up can
lets
an download
downlo
download
ad pre-release
pre-re
pre-relea
lease
se versions
versio
versions
ns of iOS
OS (or,
r, “be
“betas”).
“betas
tas”).
”). Eac
Each
h bet
beta
    e
    r
developers
lopers test and develop their apps on  the next version of iOS
before
re      t
    o
    s
it gets
any
ets released
rele
re lea
ase
sedd for
for all
all users,
user
use rs, ggiving
v them
the
hem
m some
some
som e extra
extr
extra time
time
time to
to catch
to catc
catc
    c
     i
issues
es with
with their
wi their software
th software that
so tha may
th a have
ave appeared.
appeared. As
ap As with
with all
wi all beta
al beta
be     g
software,
 ware, bugs and glitches often t plague the early
early versions, sometimes
early someti
someti     a
 making
ng phones unusable
unusable for a fewfe
 w
w months. As Apple
App
Apple
le themselves write
write on
    m
the
    e
beta program’s FAQ page:
pag
    s
“Install
tal
alll the
the beta
beta software
so e only
only on
on on non-production
non-
non-p
pro
rodu
duc
cti
tio
on devices
devic
devices
es that
tha
th at are
are not
are
    a
business
ness critical.
critical. We e strongly
rongly
rongl y recommend
recommend installing
installin
inst allingg on a secondary
secondary
    n
     d
system 
em 
or device.”
evice.”
    r
Betas
s have given
being mpoo
gi en my phone a number of issues over the years, including
g temporarily
te
temp y unable
unabl
una ble
e to
to make
make
mak e or
or receive
recei
receiv
ve phone
phone
pho ne calls,
cal
calls
ls,
includi
, having
havin
hav ingg apps
apps
ap
    e
and
folders
ers randomly disappear from the home screen, being generally
laggy,
y,
randomly
omly freezing or restarting itself, and even totally unreadable
text
across
ss the entire iOS (which made upgrading to the next beta where the
issue
e was fixed incredibly difficult!)
Each year
year I promise myself not to install the beta of the next versi version
of
iOS on my personal
pers
person
onal
al phone,
phon
ph one,
e, but,
but,
bu t, perhaps
perh
perhap
aps
s stupidly,
stupi
stupidl
dly,
y, I always
alway
alwayss end
end up doing
doi
doi
so.

 However, every once in a while, the beta includes a new feature which
turns out to be incredibly useful, making many of the inevitable

www.magicdownload.site
 

prerelease
software woes a little more tolerable.
n this
I think t s is s one
one of
o those
t ose years.
years. Over
Over the
t e past
past 3 months,
mont s, I’ve
I’ve been
ee
beta testing
testing early versions of iOS 12 in anticipation of its release
release.
With it,
it, comes a new app called “Shortcuts”.
Shortcuts
tcuts is Apple’s automation app for iOS 12. It can work with Siri, Si
Safari,
ri, its own widget and more, and lets the user build and run
automated
 mated workflows.
workflows. As a simple example:
example: with just
example: just a tap of a widget,
just widge
widge
you can quickly download a YouTube video, convert part of it to an
animated
ated gif, and send it to a friend. Or, say you’re late to a par party.
You can simply tell Siri “I’m late” and have Shortcuts automatically:
automaticall
1. Determine
etermine where you are.
2. Look
ook up where your scheduled event is.
3. Calculate
alculate
alcu late the
the travel
travel time between
between the
between the two (12 minutes,
the minute , for
minute or
example).
ple).
4. Look
ook
oo k up
up the
the organiser
orga
organi
nise
ser
r of
of the
the event
even
event
t (let’s
(let’
(let’s
s say
say this
t person
pers
person
on is
“Ryan”).
n”).     m
5. Get
et Ryan’s phone number.     o
6. Compose
ompose
ompo se and
and automatically
automatic
autom atically
ally send the message
message to Ryan’s
yan’s
yan’ s phone
phone number:
numbe
numb e     c
 .
    e
“Hi Ryan - I’m running behind by 12 minutes.
minutes. I’ll
’ l see
see you
you there!”
there
there!”
!”
Here’s
’s a little peek at how this shortcut
shortcu  mightt appear in the     r
Shortcuts
:tcuts
app:
     t
    o
    s
    c
     i
    g
    a
    m
    e
    s
    a
    n
     d
    r
    e

www.magicdownload.site
 

    m
    o
    c
 .
    e
    r
     t
    o
    s
    c
     i
    g
    a
    m
    e
    s
    a
    n
     d
    r
    e

www.magicdownload.site
 

    m
    o
    c
 .
    e
    r
     t
    o
    s
    c
     i
    g
    a
take some
 Do take some time
time
time to look
loo
loo through
t ou
ough
gh the
the above
the above
above workflow.
workf
workflo
low.
w. Even
Even
Even this
this
this     m
relatively
tiv
ive
ely si
simp
simple
mple
le ta
tas
task
sk takes
a up a large
large
large am
amount
amou
oun
nt of
of screen
scree
screen
n space.
spac
space. It
It     e
first
t     s
obtains
ins
ins the
the required
requi
require
red
d information
orma
ormati
tion
on (with
(wit
(with
h actions
actio
actions
ns ti
titled
titl
tled
ed “Find
“Fin
“Findd Calendar
Calen
Calenda
da     a
Events
ts Where”,
Wher
Where”
e”,, “Find
“Fi
“Fi Contacts
onta
ontact
cts
s Where”,
Where
Where”,
”, “Get
“Get Travel
Trav
Travel
el Time”),
Time
Time”)
”),
, sets
sets
sets     n
ything
everything      d
    r
required
ired for
for the
t e reveal
reveal as variables (with the “Set Variable”
actions),
ons),
    e
and then
then finally
fin
fin y composes
compose
comp oses
s a message
messag
message
e with
with the information
with inform
informati
ation
on populated.
popula
populated
ted.
.
Don’t
’t worry if you don’t fully understand all of this just yet -
that’s
’s
 what this
this PDF is
is for!
I hope
pe it’s obvious by now that this could all be used for the benefit
bene
of
 magic.
c. With the ever increasing popularity of digital
digital magic, apps
digital apps a
apps are
enabling
ling magicians to perform pretty great effects using just their
phones.
es. We also exploit little iOS quirks or even mathematical
principles
ciples
(such
h as “TOXIC”) for tricks, too. However, with iOS 12 and the
Shortcuts
tcuts
app, we
we now have the ability
abilit to create custom scripts
scri ts on our phones
hones to
automatically send messages, we can program different responses for
Siri

www.magicdownload.site
 

to dictate based on what we ask, we can have our phone automatically

download photos or create images and instantly send them to a
tator.
spectator.
We can
an even override standard Siri commands so they apparently do one
o
thing
g but secretly do something else, and much more. All of this
allows
 ws
us to
o create and perform a huge number of new effects that take
advantage
ntage
of Apple’s
pple’s new, free app.

Over the
the course of this PDF, I’ll be detailing some tricks that use
the
Shortcuts
tcuts app that I think are noteworthy. I’ll give you thet e actual
tcu
shortcuts
tcuts
ts tha
thatt are use
used
d in eac
eachh cas
case,
e, so you
ou don’t
don’t have
have to build
build them 
the
yourselves,
selv
selves
es,
, though
thoug
though
h I hope
hope
hope I’ll
I’ll
I’ll also
also
also be
be giving
givi
giving
ng you
you the
the knowledge
owle
owledg
dge
e and
and
inspiration
iration to create your own. For those who are interested
erested in doing
doi
such things,
things, I’ve created a Facebook Group     m
(https://www.facebook.com/group
(https://www.fa
ps://www.facebook.com/groups/73
ps://www.faceb
cebook.com/groups/73291890705540
ook.com/groups/73291890705540
s/732918907055403/)
2918907055403/)
/ for all to share     o
their
r     c
 .
    e
 magic-related
c-related shortcuts,
shortcuts, the best
best of which w
which w
will be featured (and
(and of
course,
se, credited) on my Shortcuts site ( (https://marc.ph/shortcuts).
(https://marc.ph
tt :/
://m
/mar
arc.
c.ph
ph/s
/shortcuts).
/sho
hort
rtcu
cuts
ts).
).     r
 Anyway.
ay. Downl
Download
Downloa
oad
d the Short
Shortcuts
cuts app fro
from the foll
following
following
owing link and let’s
let’s
get
     t
    o
    s
    c
started.
ted.
https://marc.ph/shortcuts
s://marc.ph/shortcuts      i
    g
 
    a
Website Tricks     m
    e
Shortcuts
tcut
tc uts
s ca
can
n be called
call
calle
e from
r webpages,
webp
webpag
ages
es,
, where
where
where they
they can
can re
read
ad or modify
modi
modiff
    s
their
r content,
cont
conten
ent
t, which
whi
hich
ch is incredibly
ncre
nc redi
dib
bly useful.
usef
usefuul. (Any
(Any modifications
mod
modif
ific
ica
ati
tio
ons to the
the
    a
    n
site

     d
tem
are temporary
emppor
orar
ary
y until
u i closing
los
lo sin
ing
g that
that
that tab,
tab,
tab, and
and are
an are on
are only
ly local
loca
lo cal
l to
to your
your
your own
ow
ow
device.
ce.
ce . Don’t
Don’t
Don’t expect
e t to
to be
be able
able
able to
to modify
modif
mod ify
y the
the news
news for
for the
the entire
enti
entire
re
    r
planet,
et,
or something,
omethin for
for example).
example).
ex
    e
When perf
 perform
performing
orm g magic
magic with
with phones,
phones,
phones, I tend
tend to
to favour
favour
favour effects
effects
effec ts that
that use
use
the
spectator’s
tator’s phone where possible, and the apps I sell pretty much al all
adhere
re to that philosophy. However, if you have a note, photo or a
phone
e
number
er on your phone that the spectator obviously wouldn’t have on
theirs,
rs, then using your own phone makes sense. And so long as it fee feels
casual
al and there’s no implication that the phone is doing the work, I
think
k it’s reasonable to use your own phone if it offers the path o of
least
t resistance
resistance to the content
content your
your trick requires.
requires.
requires . Navigating
Navigating to a
 website
ite from your bookmarks
from your bookmarks
bookmark s to show someone photo
someone a photo
phot text is
o or some text
far
 more straightforward
straightforward than finding
finding out the web address
address on your own
own
phone

www.magicdownload.site
 
 
 

and then dictating it to your spectator. It’s probably worth thinking

about these things when creating your own shortcuts, too.
p
Setup
To setup
etup the ability to call a shortcut from Safari, do the followi
following:
1. Tap
ap Safari’s “action button” (the bottom middle icon, as shown
below).
 w).
Two or three rows of icons will appear.

 .
2. Scroll
croll across the bottom row of icons all al the he way
way toto the
the right
right to
t     r
reveal
al the option “More”.
3. In
n the list that appears, find “Shortcuts”
“S ort tsts”
” and
and make
make sure
sure the
the switch
swi
swi
    o
 
    s
    c
is
ed on.
turned on. If “Shortcuts”
“Sho
“Short
rtccut
uts
s” doesn’t
doesn
doesn’’t appear,
ar,
ar, double
doubl
double e check
chec
che ck that
that
tha t you
you
you      i
all
installed
alled
ed the
the app
app on your
your phone
phone ( (as
s per
er the previous page).     g
 4. Use
Use the
tcuts
Shortcuts
the drag
drag handle
hand
handle
le on the
the right
ht of the
the switch
switc
swi tch
h to
to drag
to drag
drag the
the
the     a
option
on to
to the
the top
top of
of the
the list.
s .     m
5. Press
ress “Done”.     e
6. Swipe
 wipe the bottom
bottom row of icons back to
bottom to the
the beginning. The The Shortcuts
Shortcu     s
on should
option should now
now be
be first.
st.     a
To use
se the Shortcuts
Shortc t Safari action, tap the same middle icon from any a     n
ag
 webpage.
age.
e. Then
Then
Then ttap
ap “
“Shortcuts”
hort
hortcu
cuts
ts”” and
an
and
d you’
yo
you’ll
u’ll
ll see
see the
t
th
hee list
list
lis t of shortcuts
shortc
short
shortcu
cuts
uts
ts      d
    r
    e
that
are compatible
compati with
ith Safari.
Safari.

Impromptu
romptu Book Test With Any Website
The Effect:
Have your
your friend take your phone, open Safari, and navigate to any
 website
ite - perhaps
perhaps one where they
they usually read the
the news.
You explain how you can read and remember things really fast. To
demonstrate,
nstrate, you take the phone for a few seconds and start
scrolling
lling through the page, murmuring to yourself as you do.
“Done!”
e!” you proudly say. “Here - just think of any one of the words
on the
he page,
page
page,
, and
and lock
lock
lock the
the phone
phone
phone as soon
soon as
as you
as ou have
have
have one.
one.
one . Make
Make
Make it
it a
longer
er word so it’s harder for me to get.”
They do
do so. You ask “Roughly where on the page was the word?” They

tell
yoursyou. “Hmm…
start there
with?” were
Let’s quite
say they asay
few“P”.
words there. What letter did

www.magicdownload.site
 

“I see. That section was definitely something about politics.

That’s not the word, though. I think your word is ‘Presidential’.
No, it’s
t’s ‘President!’”
‘Pres ent ’”
Naturally,
rally, your spectator collapses with amazement as you are
indeed
ed correct.
The Method:
“JavaScript”,
aScript”, for those who don’t know, is a programming language
that’s
’s often used on the web. Wikipedia describes it as “one of the
 three
ee core technologies of the World Wide Web”. Almost all websites
use it to add or modify content or functionality. Luckily for us,
one can also execute JavaScript code on a webpage locally to change
things
gs as we see fit.
Shortcuts
tcut
tc uts
s lets
lets us
us run
run JavaScript
JavaSc
JavaScri
ript
pt very
very
very easily.
easily
easi ly.
. To prepare,
prepa
pre pare
re grab
rab
rab the
the
“Book
k test” shortcut from my Shortcuts site
(https://marc.ph/shortcuts).
ps://marc.ph/shortcuts).
The shortcut
shor
sh ortc
tcut
ut uses
uses
uses JavaScript
JavaSc
JavaScri
ript
pt to
to replace
replac
replace
e all
all 6 or
or longer-letter
l er-l
er-let
ette
ter
r
 words
s on the pag
page
page
e with
with one
one of
of 26
26 for
force
ce words,
words,
words, depe
d
depending
epending
epen
n ng onon the
the     m
letter
er it originally started with. Therefore, if if you
ou know the first     o
letter
er of your spectator’s thought-of word, yo y
you’ll
ou’ know
know the
the word
word     c
 .
    e
they’re
’re
’r e thinking
think
thinkin
ing
g of
of (with
(with
(with thanks
than
thanks
ks to U.F.
U.F.
U.F. Gr
Grant and
and Ted
Ted Karmilovich
Karm
Karmil
ilov
ovic
ich
h
for this principle).     r

In performance,
erformanc
erformance,
e, proceed
proceed with
with the effect
effect as
as written.
as written.
written. When
When taking
When taking the
taking
phone
e from
from your spectator,
spectator, begin scrolling
scrolling up and
and down
and down as if
down if you’re
if you’re
apparently
rently learning the page. As soon as the screen is out of your
spectator’s sight, tap Safari’s “action button” (as shown a couple
of pages back) and then tap “Shortcuts”, followed by the “Book

www.magicdownload.site
 

test” shortcut.

 When
n doing
o ng this
s the
e first
rs time,
me, you
you may
may receive
rece ve a prompt.
promp . If so,
so,
tap “Yes” or “OK”. The webpage will then have all of its long words
replaced
aced with one of the following 26 words:
(Almost
ost all of these words were generated by statistical analysis
of recent
ecent news articles to see which words came up most regularly
for each letter of the alphabet.)
You’ll
’ll need to learn these 26 words for the trick. I tried to make
a phrase
rase out of them to help you, but it’s awful, so if you happen
to figure one out, let me know and I’ll include it on the site. You
could
d also make a crib in your notes app and multitask to that,
though
gh learning the words would still probably be best.
 Anyway.
ay.
ay . At
At a qu
quic
quick
ick
k glance,
glanc
glance,
e, th
the
e webpage
webpa
web page
ge sh
shou
should
ould
ld st
stil
still
still
ill
l look
loo fairly
loo irly
irly
normal,
al,
al , though
thoug
though
h this
this
this will
will
will of
of course
cours
coursee depend
depen
dependd on
on the
the site
site that
at you’re
you’
you’re
re
on. Either
Eith
Ei ther
er way,
way, when
when having
havi
having
ng the
the spectator
spect
spectat
ator
or th
thin
think
ink
k of
of a word,
w rd
rd,
, don’t
don’t
don’t
let them
them linger
ling
linger
er and
and put
put time
time pressure
pres
pressu
sure
re on them
them so that
th they
they don’t
don’
don’t
t     m
read too
too much of the text. The specific instruction
instruc i n to “just think     o
word”
 of a word”
word” will
wil
will help
help
hel p - you
you want
want
want to
to rush
rush
rush them
the
them a little
ttl
ttle bit,
bit,
bit, but
but no
not
t     c
 .
    e
to the
he point that it feels suspicious.
Don’t
’t worry too much here though; since the he short
ort words are not
    r
ac
replaced,
aced
ed,
t, many
many
many words
words
wor
nds ton
he the
th
pae
gepage
pstill
pag
age
e will
will
wil
al
p still
sar regular
relate
rela
relate
teat
toathe
the article
artic
article
le
in question,
ues
est
glance.
ce.
ion,
ion, making
maki
making the page stil
still
l appear
ap brief
     t
    o
    s
    c
     i
Word
    g
Assignment
Behind
nd
nment
    a
Controversial
roversial     m
Desperate
erate     e
Eventually
tually     s
Foundation
dation
    a
Growthth
    n
     d
Happiness
iness
Inside
e
    r
Jurisdiction
diction
Kingdom
dom
    e
Livingg
Millionn
Word
Nightmare
tmare
Original
nal
President
ident
Quantumtum
Revealed
aled
Surprising
rising
Travels ls
Understanding
rstanding
Vacancies
ncies
Weatherher
Xenophobic
Yourself
Zombie

www.magicdownload.site
 

 As in the effect,

effect, you ask where on the page the word was. This
serves
es only
on y t
the
e premise
prem se - the
t e word
wor will
w be
e one
one of
o the
t e 26 force
orce
 words
s regardless,
regardless, but it makes sense for you to ask this in order
order
to tell
ell them the word, as you apparently memorised the page.
The rest is easy. You get the first letter, and as each word starts
 with a
a different
different letter of the alphabet, you’ll therefore know the
thought-of
ght-of word.

Notes:
s:
- Some
ome webpages use JavaScript to load content on their pages as yo
you
scroll
ll them, giving the illusion that they load faster than they do
(a design
es gn pattern
patte
pat ter
rn called
calle
called
d “lazy
“laz
“lazy loading”).
load
loadin
ing”
g”)
). The
The shortcut,
shor
short
tcu
cut,
t, however,
eve
ever,
only affec
 affects
affects
ts content
content that’s
that’s already
already been loaded
loaded on
on the
the page.
the a e. So,
 when scrolling
scrolling up and down as you’re
you’re “learning” the pa p
page,
a , make sure
to actually
ctua
ctuall
lly
y scroll
scrol
scroll
l as
as far
far do
down
wn the
the page
page
page as
as you
you can
can first
st before
befo
be fore
re
running
ing the shortcut
shortcut
shortcut to ensure
ensure that it does
does change every word
word on     m
the page.     o
- Instead
nstead of performing this as a memory feat, you could present it     c
 .
as a mind
 mind-rea
mind-reading
simply
-reading
ding effect.
effect. Once
Once you learn
learn th
ly asking or otherwise), you can reve
the
e first
irst letter (by
reveal the word in any manner
    e
    r
you like.
- To
o clean
clean
clea n up,
up, just
just refresh
refre
refresh
sh the
the page,
the pa e, and
pa nd all
all text
text
text will
will revert
will rever
revert
t back
back      t
    o
    s
ormal.
to normal.     c
     i
- Do
o be aware that whilst all loaded
a e  text
text on the page will change,
    g
text th
 that
that
at is rendered
rend
render
ered
ed in
in im
images
imag
age
e won’t
n’t
n’t be
be modified
modif
modifie
ied
d by
by this
this
this shortcut.
short
shortcu
cut.
t.
    a
 - If you
you prefer,
prefe
prefer
r, you
you could
you coul
coul secretly
ret
etly
ly ru
run
n the
the shortcut
sho
short
rtcu
cut
t on
on the
the page
the page
page w
when
n

    e
apparently
rently navigating the site. e. Then, open a new tab in Safari and

    s
load the same site again.
agai . You’ll
u’ll now have two tabs open;open; one with

    a
of its
all of its text
its text
te xt re
replaced
repl
pl e (thethe
the non-active
non-
non-ac
act
tiv
ivee tab)
tab)
tab ) and
and the
an the other
oth
the
er with
with
with
the normal
norm
no rmal
al text
text (the
(the current
rent
rent tab).
tab)
ta b).. Show
Show
Sho w the
the normal
norm
normal
al text
text version
vers
ve rsio
ion
n to
to
the spectator asa described
crib
ribed
ed and
and then,
then,
then , when
when apparently
apparen
apparent
t y memorising
memorisi
memor ising
ng the     n
page, tap and
, tap and hold
h the
the bottom
botto
bottom
m right
right
rig ht “tabs”
“tab
“t abs”
s” button
butt
button
on and
and then
then
then tap
tap
tap      d
    r
“Close
se This
Thi
This
 word select
s Tab”,
T ”, ca
selected.
caus
causing
. Again,
usin
ing
g it to switch
switc
switch
h to th
thee force
force
force page
gain, to clean up, just refresh the page.
page to
to have
have
have a
    e
-  And
nd lastly, this
this is essentially
essentially a “lite” version
version of my WikiTest
WikiTest
app.. WikiTest lets you perform an extensive version of this type of
trickk with a few extra bits of method. It has extra features and
subtleties,
leties, it uses Wikipedia and the spectator’s phone rather than
your own.
own. If you like the idea of this kind of trick, I reckon
you’ll
’ll like WikiTest. It’s good, I think.
(Download
nload WikiTest here: https://marc.ph/apps/wikitest).
https://marc.ph/apps/wikitest).
https://marc.ph/apps/wikitest).

 Bonus Tricks & Making Your Own

Whilst
st the above book test effect uses JavaScript, I don’t expect y
you
to
start learning and writing JavaScript code for effects like this.

www.magicdownload.site
 

(Though
if you do, you could create a great deal of awesome tricks!)
ver, as
However, as described
escr e earlier,
ear er, the
t e Shortcuts
S ortcuts app
app makes
ma es it
t easy
easy to
to drag
and drop modular actions into a list to do various other tasks that
don’t
’t
require
ire any coding knowledge.
 Apple
e have published
published an incredibly
incredibly thorough guide
guide on how to make
make yo
your

own
shortcuts.
tcuts. The guide is available here:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb
https://support
s://support.apple.com/en-gb/gui
s://support.ap.apple.com/en-gb/guide/shortcuts
ple.com/en-gb/guide/shortcuts/wel
/guide/shortcuts/welcome/ios
de/shortcuts/welcome/ios
/welcome/ios
come/ios
I’d thoroughly recommend reading through it, or at the very least,
familiarising
liarising yourself with the “Shortcuts at a glance” section as
 well
as the
he “How
“How do
do shortcuts
shor
shortc
tcut
uts
s work?”
work?
work?”
” page
page
page to
to understand
under
underst
stan
and
d exactly
exac
exac how
how the
the
Shortcuts
tcut
tc uts
s app
app works
work
works
s and
and what
what actions
acti
action
ons
s are
are av
available
avai
aila
labl
ble
e to
to use.
e.
Over the
the rest
rest
rest of
of this
this
thi s PDF,
PDF, I’ll
I’ll
I’ll talk
talk about
about
abo ut different
diffe
differe
re ways
ways shortcuts
short
shortcu
cuts
ts
can     m
be invoked
nvok
nv oked
ed (rather
(rat
(rathe
her
r than
than
than just
just
just from
from
fro m Safari)
Safar
Safari)
i) and
and show
s you
you a couple
coupl
couplee of
of
of     o
effects
cts
ct s that
that are
are possible
possi
pos sibl
ble
e as a result.
result
result.
. In ea
eac
each
c case
c se I’ll
I’ll
I’ll show
show you
you how
h     c
 .
    e
I’ve built
built the shortcuts technically, and g give you ideas and methods
for     r
you to use when building your own.
 11
     t
    o
    s
 Siri     c
     i
In some
ome tricks
tricks involving
tr involving Siri,
in Siri, Siri
Si r will
ill take
take the
ta the credit
th credit for
cr for the
fo the
th     g
ct.
effect.     a
Of course,
ourse, I don’t expect your
yo  spectator
yo spectator to believe that Siri can
    m
al
actually
ally
ly read
read minds,
mind
minds,
s, but
but given
en the
the tricks
tric
tricks
ks remain
rema
remain
in me
methodologically
methodological
meth
thod
odol
olog
ogic
ical
ally
ly
    e
strong,
ng,
    s
your spectator
spectator will still be fooled.
fooled. (These
(These are there
therefore
fore somew
somewhat
hat
    a
    n
“Jerxonian”
xonian” in
in nature,
nat e as
na as it’ll
it’ll often
it often still
of still be
st be you
be you who
who gets
wh gets the
the credit
th cre
cr

     d
for the
the trick.
trick. More
r  info
nfo from
from The
The Jerx
Jerx at
at
http://www.thejerx.com/blog/201
http://www.thej
://www.thejerx.com/blog/2018/8/9/gardyloo-6
.com/blog/2018/8/9/gardyloo-69).
8/8/9/gardyloo-69). 9).
    r
 Alongside
12
gside the Shortcuts
Shortcuts app, Apple
Apple are providing
providin
providing g new settings in in iOS
    e
that modify
modify Siri.
r . Third party apps can now also bring more
functionality
tionality
and personalisation
personalisation to Siri, meaning that everyone’s Siri will soon be
capable
ble of different things, too… so hey, maybe a demonstration of
 mindreading
reading
is one
ne of them.
(It’s
’s at least worth bearing in mind that it’s now certainly
reasonable
onable
for your Siri to respond differently to someone else’s!)

Siri
i Knows Your Card
The Effect:
Have your spectator (let’s call him “George”) take a face-up deck

www.magicdownload.site
 

of cards and openly select one he feels drawn to.

You then take out your phone as you tell George that Siri has been
n ng to
learning to figure
gure out
out what
w at card
car ssomeone’s
omeone’s likely
e y to
to choose.
c oose. You
You
have George
George ask Siri “What card did I pick?”
Siri responds:
responds:
“Is that George? Hmm… Let me think… Based on your interaction with
Marc over
over the last year, I’d imagine you’d select a black card.

I’ll finish
finish
thinking.
king. analysing
Check your messages
your phone shortly.”and I’ll send you what I’m 
 A few
 w seconds later,
late
later,
r, George receives
receiv
receives
es a message on his phone which
which
reads:
s:
 “Hey
y George, it’s Marc’s Siri here. I’m not completely sure, but
it’s ei
 eith
either
ther
er th
the
e two
two of clubs
club
clubs
s or
or the
the two
two of
of spades.
spade
spades.
s. Probably
Prob
Proba
a the
the two
two
of clubs.”
lubs.”

The Method:
Firstly,
tly,
tly, go and
and grab
grab my WebFX
WebFX app
app if you don’t
don’t
don’t already
alre y have
alre have it by
by     m
tapping
ing here: (https://marc.ph/apps/webfx)
(https://marc.ph/apps/webfx) or searching
s a c in
ing
g for
for “WebFX”
for “Web
“WebFX
FX”
”     o
on the
he App Store. I’ve temporarily made it free,
fre
fre , so no
no excuses.
excu
ex cuse
ses.
s.     c
 .
    e
Put simply,
sim
imp
ply
ly,
, the
the app
app allows
allow
allows
s you
you to
yo to secretly
secr
secre
etl
tly
y inputt a
a playing
play
playi
ing card
card
card
into your
your phone which appears in a photo onon thee spectator’s phone.     r
You’re
’re going to repurpose that method f for  this
t is effect.
effec
effectt.
Set up an account
acco
ac coun
untt within
withi
withinn the
the app,
app, and
an take
ta e a note of your chosen
     t
    o
    s
    c
username.
nam
amee. You’ll
You’l
You’ll
l also
also
also need
need
need toto download
down
down a the he “Siri
“Sir
“Sirii Card
Card
Car d Message”
Mess
Messag
age
e”
shortcut
tcut
tc ut from
from my sisite
te over
over at hthttps://marc.ph/shortcuts.
https://marc.p
httt : /m
/mar
arc.
c.ph
ph/s
h/shortcuts.
/sho
hort
rtcu
cuts
ts..      i
When im
 imp
importing
por
orti
tinng the
the shortcut,
shor
shortc
tcu
ut, you’ll
yo ’ initially
nit
ni tia
iall
lly
y be
be asked
aske
ask ed for
for your
for your
your     g
WebFX
X username,
you’ll
’ll
user
userna
’ll be
name
me,
, your
your first
be performing
perfo
per for
rmi
ming
first
fir
ng this
thi
th
st name,
is to.
t
name
name andnd then
(You’ll
You
ou’l
’ll
then
then the
l need
the contact
need them
ne them
th
contac
contactt of the
em in your
the person
your contacts
con
conta
perso
per
tact
ctss
son
n     a
anyway
ay as you’ll
you’
yo u’ll
ll be messaging
mess
me ssa
a n them,
them
th em,
, so
so do
do make
make
make sure
sure
sure you
you ha
you have
ve their
thei
th eir
r     m
number
er saved
saved
saved first.
firs
firstt. Be
Be sure
u also
als
lsoo to
to change
chan
cha nge this
this contact
cont
contaact to
to your
your
your ne
new
w     e
spectator
tator each time you perform.
rform. More on that soon).     s
You’ll
’ll also need to record rd a Siri phrase to trigger the shortcut.     a
You can
can do this
this by tapping
pp ng the
the top
top right
r gh
ghtt icon
icon
icon in
in the
in the shortcut,
the sho
sh ort
rtcu
cut
t, and
and     n
then t
 ta
tapping
apping “Siri
“S Phrase”:
hrase”:      d
    r
    e

www.magicdownload.site
 

 .

www.magicdownload.site
 www.magicdownload.site
 

 .

 Here,
e, you can record the phrase that will cause this shortcut to be
called.
ed. In this case we’re using “What card did I pick”.
Now you’re ready to perform the effect. Have WebFX opened to the
“Perform”
form” screen with the basic input open (or if you paid for the
upgrade,
ade, any of the built in inputs. My favourite is “Card Swipe”).
Have your
your iPhone in your pocket with the screen facing outwards.
Proceed
eed with the effect as described above and input the selected
card into
into the app by placing your finger in your pocket and tapping
the screen.
(WebFX’s
FX’s instructions explain the basic input method in more
detail, but in short: you’ll first input the value into the screen
by tapping the screen, followed by a swipe, and then input the suit
 www.magicdownload.site
 
 

by tapping. The seven of diamonds, for instance, would be 7 taps

for the value, a swipe across the screen for “of”, and then 4 taps
“ amon s”. The
for “diamonds”. T e “card
“car swipe”
sw pe” input
nput is
s a little
tt e more
more efficient
e c ent
for higher cards, but all input methods essentially do the same
job).
).

 And that’s pretty

pretty much all of the
the method taken care of. The

shortcut
nametcut
 of deals
of its with
mate, theautomatically
then rest: it stores the card’s
messages your colour and the
spectator. You
can now proceed with the effect as described: Take out your phone
and hold down the Siri button as you have your spectator ask “What
card did
did I pick?”. Siri will then respond and send the necessary
 message.
age.

Notes:
s:
- Do
o not have the spectator name the card out loud. we’re     m
loud. Even though we’
not using voice recognition for the method, the fact
ct that Siri is     o
involved
lved
lved in the
the presentation
presentat
presentation
ion will
will give
give the
the spectator
the sp tat
tator
or a plausible
plausibl
plausiblee     c
 .
 method
od for
Siri in
for the effect.
dig
effect. (Thi
in a digital
digit
ital
al trick
tric
trick
(This
s is even
k - it’s
even the
it’s best
the case
ca  when
 when
when you’re not using
best to anticipate
an pate
pate and
and avoid
avoid
avo
using
id any
any
    e
    r
feasible
ible methods where possible).
     t
    o
    s
 - If you
you have
form th
perform
form
have
hav
the
e a card
card selected
e effect
effe
effect
selec
selecte
ted
ct seemingly
seem
seemin
ingl
gly
d from
from a marked
y without
wit
wit
mark
marked
ed deck
knowing
know
knowin
ing
deck
deck of cards,
g the
cards
car
the card
ds,
card and
, you
you can
and just
just
ju
can
st have
have
    c
     i
Siri re
 rev
reveal
vea
eal
l it.
it. I suspect
suspe
suspect
ct this
thi
this would
u be stronger.
str
stron
onge
ger
r. Or
Or use
use a stacked
use stac
stack
ked     g
deck,
, if you prefer.     a
- If
f you like,
like, you
you could
could sk
could skip Siri’s
Siri’s response
respons
response
e and just
just have
have your
your
your     m
spectator
tator say “Send me my playing
aying card”. Siri will simply respond,     e
“Done!”
e!” or sometimes, “Okay!”,
O y!”, and your
your spectator
spectator
spectator will receive
receive
receive a     s
 message
age ssaying,
ay ng, “
“Probably
Pro ly t
the
he t
two
wo
wo o
of
f hhearts”
earts” (
(o
(or
or whatever
whatever you’d
ou’d     a
like the
the response too be).
).
    n
- If
f you
you ask
ask Siri
S to
t “pick
“pi
pic
ck a card,”
card,
card,”
” it’ll
it’l
it’ll
l respond
resp
respon
ond
d with
with
with a random 
rand
random 
om       d
    r
playing
ing c
card y ur spectator
ard - your pectator
pectator can try it on their
their phone
phone too. You
could
d create
creat
create
e your
r own
own shortcut
shor
shortc
tcut
ut and
and override
overr
overrid
ide
e the
the ph
the phrase
phra
rase
se “pick
“pic
“pick
k a
card”
” to have
ha e Siri
ri instead name a pre-determined force card, or     e
even whichever
whichever card you last input into WebFX.
- To
o hide the superfluous text that appears on screen when running a
shortcut,
tcut, touch and hold the screen and drag your finger up
slightly
htly to keep Siri scrolled up a little bit. Or, use the phone
 with the
the screen facing downwards
downwards when talking to
to Siri.
to
- Note
ote that you should press and hold the Siri button to begin
talking
ing to Siri. Using “Hey Siri” to invoke Siri sometimes causes
it to
o say “Running your shortcut” first.
- Similarly,
imilarly, Siri may say “Shortcuts says” or similar before the
output.
ut. (The presence of this has fluctuated in the betas, and so
it might
ight disappear in future iOS 12 updates too). If it comes up,
don’t worry - here’s a workaround I’ve been using. It is a little
known fact that iPhones have three different volume levels; one for
 www.magicdownload.site
 
 

the ringtone and alert volume, one for Siri, and one for all other
sounds (including music). Before performing, ask Siri a question.
S r responds,
When Siri respon s, turn
turn the
t e Siri
S r volume
vo ume down
own to
to minimum
m n mum using
us ng the
t e
volume
 me button on the
the side. In
the In performance,
performance, when speaking
speaking to Siri,
 wait a
a second and
and turn the volume
volume back up, silencing
silencing the first few
 words
s from the response. If you find it difficult
difficult to get the timing
timing
right
t here, it may be useful to add extra words at the beginning of

Siri’s
’s response to give yourself a little more time to do so.
 -  Also, you can press
press the home or side button to cut off the “Done
“Done”
“Done”
ne
or “Okay!” that Siri says at the end, unless it makes sense for her
to doo so. You can also add a “Wait” command at the end to have Siri
pausee here - I do this in the next trick.
- Finally,
inally, to quickly set up the shortcut for a new spectator,
spe t tor, you
can tap
tap “Customise
“Cus
“Cust
tom
omi
ise Shortcut…”
Shor
Shortc
tcu
ut…
t…”
” in
in the
the same
same
same shortcut
sho
short
rtcu
cut
t menu
me
me that
at you
you
used to
to setup the Siri command in the first place.

 .

Technical
nical detail:
- This
his shortcut begins by retrieving the first name and phone numbe
number
from your contact of choice. It then looks at what card you last
set in WebFX (action: “Get Contents of URL”) and then sets this to
 www.magicdownload.site
 
 
 

a variable “longCard” which gets used in the reveals.

- There are two reveals; one in the “Text” action and one in the
“Send
d Message” action. In both of these, the variables set over the
course
se of the effect are used for either Siri to dictate or for the
 message
age that gets
gets sent to the spectator.
spectator.
- To
o get your last set card from WebFX in your own effects, you can
replicate
icate the “URL”, “Get Contents of URL”, “Set Variable” and “Get
Dictionary
ionary Value” actions to your own shortcuts. You could then
have Siri
Siri read the card aloud in your own tricks, or perhaps have
it messaged,
essaged, emailed or tweeted to your spectator. Or maybe your
 phone
ne does a Google Image search with this information, or uploads
an image
 mage to Instagram,
Instagram, or whatever
Instagram, whatever else you can think
think of.
think

 Siri
ri Knows Your Coin Tosses
I sure
re am proud of my imaginative titles.
    m
The Effect:
    o
You explain
exp
xpl
se,
lai
please,”
e,”
ain
” a
n that
and
that
tha
nd wi
t Siri
will
Siri
Sir
ll gi
i can
giv
give
can respond
can
ve you
res
respo
pond
nd to
to th
you a random
ran
rando
dom
the
e command,
m result
resu
res
comm
comm “flip
“fl
flip
ult of a coin
coi
co
ip a coin,
in toss.
tos
to
coin,
coi
ss. You
n,
You
    c
 .
demonstrate
nstrate this a couple of times.     e
    r
“However,”
ever,”
eve r,” you say
say,
, “computers
“compu
“computer
ters
s are really
real
real bad
d at pic
picking
pickin
kingg ran
random 
dom 
numbers.”
ers.”
Perhaps
aps you bring up this article
     t
    o
    s
(https://marckerstein.com/r/sho
(https://marcke
ps://m
ps: //marc
arcker
kerste
rstein.com/r/shortcuts/article),
stein.
in.com
com/r/
/r/sho
short
rtcuts/article),
rt t /ar
/artic
ticle)
le),, as you explain:
explai
explain:
n:     c
     i
“The ti
 tin
tiny
ny variations
variations of
va of conditions
condition in a real
co real coin
re coin toss
co toss are
to are
ar
    g
practically
tica
ticall
figured
lly
y impossible
impos
impossi
sibl
ble
e for
for a computer
red out what they’ve done:
c ter
ter to
to emulate.
emula
emulate
te.
. And
And so
so I’ve
do e our phones already know so much
I’ve
I’ve
    a
about
t us that
tha
hat
t it’s
it’
t’s
s in
in f
fact
ac easier
ea ier for Siri to gather information     m
from its environment
environme
envi ronment
nt than it is to generate
generate a truly
truly random
random coin
coin     e
toss.
. He
Here
Here,
re,
, le
lett me show
sho
sho you.”
u.”
u.”     s
You ask
ask your
your
your spectator
spect
spectat
at to ta
take
ke out
out a coin,
coin
coin,, and
and to toss
toss it three
thre
threee     a
s. Let’s
times. Let’
Let’s
s say
say it
i lands
a ds on
on ta
tails,
tail
ils,
s, then
then tails
tail
tailss again,
agai
again,
n, and
and then
then     n
s.
heads.
You ask
ask Siri:
Siri: “Toss
T three
three coins.”
coins.”
     d
    r
Siri rep
replies:
 re pli
lies
es “Sure.
ure.
ure. It’s
It’
It’s tails,
tails
tails,
, tails
tail
tails
s again,
agai
again, and
and then
then
then heads.”
head
heads.
s.”
”
The Method:
The method
method here uses
uses multiple outs
uses outs depending on
on how
how you phrase the
the
the
    e
command
and that you ask Siri.
Somewhat
 what annoyingly,
annoyingly, the Shortcuts app currently allows
allows only one
phrase
se per shortcut, and the shortcut can’t change depending on
 what words
words were spoken. Perhaps this will change
change in the future. Who
knows?
s? After all, iOS 12 is still very new.
 With
h this in mind, I’m using 8 shortcuts with 8 different phrases
to generate
enerate the result.
 www.magicdownload.site
 

 .

I like
ke the idea of using 3 coin tosses; whilst it’s quite simple
for someone to calculate there are only 8 permutations of flipping
3 coins
ins in order, conceptually I’ve always thought that it feels
like there
there should be more. So it’s a good premise to demonstrate
the idea of setting up multiple shortcuts for a single effect, but
 without
out having to create an unwieldily
unwieldily number of
of outs.
My 8 phrases are in the format:
(Flip/Toss)
p/Toss) (some/three) coins (, please).
(H/T)
) (H/T) (T)

The “please” is either said or is omitted depending on the outcome

of the final toss. For example you might say: “Toss some coins.”
 www.magicdownload.site
 
 

Or, maybe “Flip three coins, please.”

 All 8 phrases feel
feel quite natural,
natural, I think. Download
Download the 8 shortcuts
shortcuts
from m
 my
my
y Shortcuts
S ortcuts page
page (https://marc.ph
(https://marc.ph/shortcuts),
( ttps: marc.p /shortcuts),
s ortcuts), a
and
n set
set up
up the
t e
Siri phrases
phrases as before.

Here’s
’s a handy way of remembering these:
 For the
the first two tosses, if you use the word beginning with “T”,

you
The get
lastaone
tail.
tailis a little different, but I remember it like this:
the phrases “please” and “thank you” are examples of good manners,
and “thank you” also begins with a “T”, therefore adding “please”
results
lts in a tail, and omitting it results in a heads.
So, your spectator flips the coin three times. You note thatt the
result
lt is HHT,
HHT, for
for example,
example, and
and so you ask
ask Siri:
Siri:
“Flip
p some
some coins,
coins,
coins, please.”
please
please.”
.”
 And Siri responds:
responds:
“Sure.
e. It’s heads, heads again, and then tails.”     m
    o
Notes:
s:     c
 .
-  As
s before,
using
before, you could
g Siri’s
could use this
Siri’s seemingly
seeming
seemingly
this as
ly random
random
rando
as a force
m coin
force rather
coin tosses
rathe
tosses for
ther
r than a revelation
or another
another
anoth
revelation,
revelation,
er effect.
effect.
effect.
    e
    r
- I intentionally
intentionally say “please” when fi
first
s demonstrating with one coin
co
to help
elp normalise
normalise t
the
he word
word i
if
f I say
sa it again
gain when
when we
we use
use three.
three.      t
    o
    s
- I wou
 wouldn’
wouldn’t
ldn’t
t repeat
repeat this immediately,
immediat
immediat l , but if you want to, take a     c
     i
little time
le time
time to say
say the
the words
words
words you’re
you’
you’ going
goin
going
g to use
use when
when speaking
speak
speakin
ing
g to
    g
Siri b
 be
“toss
before
efore actually
actually doing
doing so.
s some coins, please” and
so. If you’ve
a  the
u’ve r
recently
ecently said
said to
to Siri
Siri
he spectator has now flipped tails,     a
tails,
s, heads,
heads
heads,
, you
you might
might
might start
sta
sta saying
sayi
saying
ng how
how impressive
how impre
impress
ssiv
ivee it is
is that
that Siri
Sir
Sir     m
can get
get all
all three
thre
three coins,
coin
coin , before
ore yo
you
u then
then
then say
say “toss
sa “toss
“toss three
thre
three
e coins.”
coin
coins.
s.”
”     e
- In
n the
the same
same way
way tha
way that
t marked
rked
rked cards
cards
cards could
could
could strengthen
strengt
strengthen
hen the “Siri
“Siri knows
know
know     s
your c
 car
card”
ard”
d” trick,
tric
trick,
k, Hugo
Hu Shelley’s
hell
he lley
ey’s
’s wonderful
wond
wonder
erfu
ful
l “Sixth
“Six
“Sixth
th Sense”
Sens
Sense”
e” could
coul
could
d help
help     a
 mask the
the method ev e  more
even more - you’d
you’d know
know the phrase
phrase to say to Siri
Siri     n
ite ap
despite appa
apparently
par
ren never
eve
ver
r knowing
know
knowin
ing
g the
the orientation
ori
orien
enta
tat
tio
ion
n of
of the
the coins.
coin
coins.
s.      d
    r
Technical
nical detail:
det l
 - Th
These
Thes
ese
e shortcuts
sh c ts aren’t
aren
aren’t
’t too
too technical,
tech
techni
nica
cal,
l, each
each consisting
cons
consis
isti
ting
ng of only
only 3
actions.
ons. No real
al logic is applied; the text that’s set in the     e
shortcut
tcut gets spoken, and a 10 second delay action is set at the
end to prevent Siri from immediately saying “Done” (giving you time
to exit
xit Siri).
- Please
lease do take this example and run with it. You can use multiple
outs with
with Siri for as many voice commands you’re willing to set.
Playing
ing cards is an obvious choice (perhaps using their stack
numbers
ers in the Siri phrases), but a choice of cities, movies,
songs,
s, food, animals and more could benefit from this kind of
shortcut.
tcut. And instead of having Siri verbally respond, perhaps Sir
Siri
could
d save a particular photo to your library depending on what you
say.
. More on that in the following trick.
 www.magicdownload.site
 

 The Shortcuts Widget

So far, we’ve covered using the action button in Safari to activate a
shortcut,
tcut, as well as using Siri. In this section, we’ll use a third
 way -
the Shortcuts widget.
Setup
p
To set
et up your Shortcuts widget:
1. From
rom the lock screen, swipe the clock to the right to get to your you
 widgets.
ets.
2. Scroll
croll all the way to the bottom and tap the “Edit” button.
3. Again,
gain, scroll to the bottom, and tap the green “+” icon next to
“Shortcuts”.
rtcuts”.
4. Scroll
croll up
up to
to find
find “Shortcuts”
fi “Shortcuts” higher
“S higher in
hi in the
the list,
th list, and drag
li rag it
it to
to
the

    m
very top.
top. Tap “Done”.
5. Find
ind the
the widget
widget at the top.
top. At the
the top
top right
top right of the widget,
widget, tap
widget, tap
tap
    o
    c
“Show
 w
More”.
”.  .
6. At
t the
7. From
rom
ro
the bottom
bottom of the
m this
this screen,
scree
screen,
the widget,
n, you
widget, tap “Customise
you can
you can choose
choos
choose
“Cus om 
“Cus
e the
is in Shortcuts”.
the shortcuts
s tcut
tcuts
Shor
Shortc
s that
tcut
uts”
that will
s”.
will
wil
.
l be
    e
    r
be visible
visi
visi  
in
the Shortcuts widget.      t
    o
    s
    c
     i
    g
    a
    m
    e
    s
    a
    n
     d
    r
    e
 www.magicdownload.site
 
 

 .

It’s pe
 perh
perhaps
rhap
aps
s worth
wort
wort removing
movi
moving
ng any
any shortcuts
short
shortcu
cuts
ts that
that you
you don’t
don’t
don’t want
want
want to call
cal
cal     n
from the widget to avoid
oid clutter.      d
    r
 To use
use the
the Shortcuts
tcut
tcuts
s widget,
widge
widget
t, swipe
swipe
swipe do
dow
down
wn from
from
from the
the very
very to
top
p of
of your
your
your
screen
en
in any
ny app to bring up the lock screen’s Notification Centre (if
    e
you’re
’re
already
ady on the lock screen, skip this step). Swipe the clock to the
right
t
to bring
ring up the widgets, and your chosen shortcuts will appear on the
t
Shortcuts
tcuts widget. To change which shortcuts appear in this widget at
a
any
time,
, follow
follow steps
steps 5-7 on
on the
on the prev
previous
ious page
page.
.
Now you’ll be able to run these shortcuts with just one tap.

Initialed
itialed Card Prediction
The Effect:
 As in the Siri card effect, you begin by having your spectator
 www.magicdownload.site
 

openly select a playing card.

You tell her that earlier today, you predicted she’d take exactly
that card.
car . You
You were
were so
so sure,
sure, in
n fact,
act, that
t at you
you wrote
wrote her
er initials
n t a s
on it
t ahead of time and took a photo of that card.
You take out your phone and open the Photos app. The last picture
taken
n is of her selected card with their initials drawn on in
Sharpie:
pie:

 .

The Method:
 Again,
n, we’re using
using my free WebFX
using WebFX app
WebFX (https://marc.ph/apps/webfx)
(https://marc.ph/apps/
(https://marc.ph/apps/webfx)
(https://marc.ph/apps/webf
webfx)
x)
as we
e did in “Siri Knows Your Card”. Go ahead and read that one if
 you haven’t
haven’t already, since this one shares multiple similarities in
its method.
You’ll need the “Card Initial Image” shortcut from my Shortcuts
 www.magicdownload.site
 
 

(https://marc.ph/shortcuts). As before, when setting up the

site (https://marc.ph/shortcuts).
shortcut, you’ll automatically be asked some questions. Tell the
tcut your
shortcut your WebFX
We FX username,
username, as
as well
we as
as t
the
e initials
n t a s of
o the
t e
spectator
tator you’ll be performing to. (This can be changed at any time
by tapping
apping the “Customise Shortcut…” button as described in the
notes
s in the “Siri Knows Your Card” trick.)
When the
the card is selected and revealed, the phone remains in your

pocket
et withWhen
as before.
efore. the WebFX
you takeappyour
open, allowing
phone you to input
out, instead the selection
of invoking Siri,
you’ll
’ll swipe down from the very top of the screen to bring back
your lock
lock screen’s Notification Centre. You’ll then swipe the clock
at the
he top to the right, revealing the Shortcuts Widget. (If you
don’t
’t see
see the
the widget,
widge
widget,
t, follow
follo
followw the
the instructions
instru
inst ruct
ctio
ions
ns on
on the
the previous
pre
pre us
couple
le of pages under “Setup”.)
It’s fr
 from
from
om this
this wi
widg
widget
dget
et that
that yo
you
u open
open
open your
your
your Photos
Photo
Photos
s app
app by
b tapping
appi
ap ping
ng on
the shortcut.
shor
sh ortc
tcut
ut.. It’ll
It’ll
It’l l take
take a a second
seco
second
nd and
and then
and then
the n open
open the
th Photos
th hoto
hotos
s app
app
 where
e the
the last
last image
image will
will be a photo
photo of the sel
select
selected
ected
ectee car
card
d with
with     m
their
r initials written on.     o
In terms
erms
er ms of
of technical
of techni
technica
cal
l method:
metho
method:
d: the
the widget
the widge
wid get
t takes
take the
take t e image
image
image for
for     c
 .
    e
 whatever
ever card you
you last input intointo WebFX anand stores
stores it. It then
tells
s the
th
the server
serve
server
r to
to create
creat
cre ate
e aa tr
transparent
tran
ansp
spar
aren
ent
t imagee with
with
with the
the entered
ent
en ter
ered
ed     r
initials
ial
als
s in
in the
the correct
corr
correect perspective.
pers
persp
pec
ecti
tiv
ve. Finally,
Fi , it
it overlays
over
overla
lay
ys one
one on
on
top of the
the other
othe
other
r and
and saves
save
saves
s it to your
your photos.
ph os
os.
.      t
    o
    s
s:
Notes:     c
     i
- Do
o not
not make
make reference
refe
re fer
ren
enc
ce to
to the
the colour
th o r of
of the
the Sharpie
th Shar
Sha rpi
pie
e that
that
that will
will
wil l be
be     g
used. If a black
. If blac
bl ack
k card
card
car d is
is chosen,
cho n the
cho the shortcut
short
sho rtcu
cut
t automatically
autom
aut omat
atic
ical
ally
ly uses
uses     a
red Sharpie ink to make suresure the e initials are visible. Conversely,
    m
    e
should
ld a red card be choschosen,
n the ink will be black.
 - Wh
Whilst
Whil
ils
st I think
thi
hink
nk I’d
I’d preferer to ask
ask Siri
Siri
Sir i to
to open
open
open my
my photos
photo
pho tos
s instead
inst
instea
ead
d of
    s
tapping
ing
in g th
the
e screen,
screen
scre en,
, calling
a l ng this
this action
action via a
action a Siri shortcut
shortcut
    a
currently
ent
ntlly do
doe
doesn’t
esn
sn’
’t produce
o ce ththe
e image.
imag
imagee. It’s
It’
It ’s unclear
unc
uncle
lea
ar as to
to wh
why at
at this
thi
his
s
    n
stage,
e, but shoul
 will!),
!), I’ll
should this
I’ll update
I’ up
u date y
s be fixed in future (which I assume it
y’all
’all in
in th
t
the
he Facebook
Facebook Group
Fa Group (https://
Gr (https://
(h
     d
    r
 www.facebook.co
 www.facebook.com/groups/7329189
.facebook. om/groups/732918907055403/).
/groups/732918907055403/).
/groups/7329189007055403/).
p7055403/). But
idgestill, I
hecertainly
certain
effectly
don’t
’t m
mind
it only
ind opening
ng t
the
he P
Photos
hotos aapp
p v
via
ia t
the
he w
widget
t f
for
or tthe effect
nly takes a second and tapping your phone’s screen is still a
-
    e
reasonable
onable way to open Photos.
Technical
nica
nical
l detail:
deta
detail
il:
:
-  Again,
gain, we’re grabbing
grabbing the WebFX
WebFX card like we did
did before. We’re al
also
using
g an “overlay” image created depending on the initials given to
the app, and using the “Overlay Image” shortcut to put one image
over the
the other. You can use this same set of actions to put an
overlay
lay over any image at all - just make sure the perspective
 matches!
hes!
- Saving
aving the output image to the Photos app makes for a great revea
reveal.
However,
ver, I quite like the idea
idea of the photo
photo appearing
appearing earlier
earlier in
n
your photos instead of being the most recent one. The Shortcuts app
sadly can’t save a photo with an earlier date than the time it gets
 www.magicdownload.site
 

saved. However, you could perhaps have the shortcut first save the
card photo, then copy the last 20 photos before it, and save those
up cates to
as duplicates to your
your photos
p otos again
aga n afterwards.
a terwar s. The
T e clean
c ean up
up iss a
little
le bit of extra work as you’ll have a duplicate set of 20
photos,
os, but it will look like you took the prediction photo earlier
in the
he day. This would work especially well if you’ve taken photos
over the
the day with your spectator. The prediction photo would appear

in your
our Photos before you took any of those, making it really feel
like it
it was taken in advance.

 Finally
You now have a few new neat tricks that you can do at a moment’s
ent’s
notice
ce
using
g your phone. I sure hope you like them.
With magic
magic that
that uses digital
digital stuff,
stuff, I find it
it very useful
useful to stay     m
somewhat
 what ahead of the curve. With the
the recent re
release
se of iOS 12 and
and the     o
accompanying
 mpanying Shortcuts
Shortcuts app, we’re only scratching
scratc ng the surface of what
wh     c
 .
new
effects
cts are possible.
    e
    r
 As well
ell
ell as de
desc
describing
scri
ribing
ribi
bing
ng these
these
these tricks,
tri
trick
cks,
s, I h
hope th
that
at over
over
over this
this PD
PDF
F I’ve
I’
I’ve
ve
inspired
ired you to use the extraordinar
extraordinarily powerful
powerful Shortcuts app to      t
    o
    s
create
te
your own shortcuts for whatever you can imagine.
    c
     i
Food for
for thought:     g
- Have
ave a spectator name any colour,o ur, and when asking Siri what colourcolou     a
they cho
 chose
chose,
se,
, your
your room
room
room changes
chang
chang to the
the selected
sele
select
cted
ed colour
colou
colourr (using
(using
(using the
the
    m
Philips
ips Hue bulbs and the “Run “ un a Home Scene” action).
    e
- Similarly,
imil
imilar
arly
ly,, have
have a really
re
re y easy
easy method
metho
met hod
d to
to The
The Jerx’s
Jerx’
Jer x’s
s “The
“The Light
Light
Light House”
Hou ”
Hou
effect.
ct.
ct. At
At one
one point,
poin
pointt pretend
eten
et end
d to
to ask
ask Siri
Siri “How’s
“How
“How’s
’s the
the weather?”
weath
weather
er?”
?” to     a
quickly
kly change
change the
ch the lights
th ts to
to the
the selections.
th selections. (https://
se (https://
(h     n
 www.thejerx.com/blog/2015/8/20/
 www.thejerx.com
.thejerx.com b
.thejerx.com  /blog/2015/8/20/field-report-the
b o 2012015/8
5/8/20
/20/fi
/field
field-report-the-light-house)
eld-re
-repor
port-t
t-the-
he-lig
-light-house)
light-
ht-hou
house)
se)      d
    r
- Cue
ue an accomplice:
acco
acco l e: Create
Crea
Create
te a shortcut
shor
shortc
tcut
ut that
that messages
mess
messag
ages
es an
an accomplice
acco
accomp
mpli
lice
ce by
setting
ing t
the
he shortcut’s
s o tcut’
tcut’s
s Siri phrase
phrase to something
something
something innocuous
innocuous
innocuous like,
like,
“Remind
ind
ind me
me to
t take
take out
out the
the trash.”
tras
trash.
h.”
”     e
-  Always
lways know what
what Siri will say when you roll a dice (the last dig
digit
of the
he current time when you ask, perhaps).
- Create
reate a digital version of a colour prediction. Tell Siri to “Sh
“Show
 me my
y last photo”
photo” to reveal a photo
photo of a person wearing the same
same
clothes
hes as your spectator.
I’ve linked
linked to them a bunch of times, but my Shortcuts site is here:
https://marc.ph/shortcuts
https://marc.ph
s://marc.ph/shortcuts
s://marc.ph/sh
/shortcuts
ortcuts and the Facebook group is here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups
https://www.fac
s://www.facebook.com/groups/732
s://www.facebo
ebook.com/groups/732918907055403
ok.com/groups/732918907055403/
/732918907055403/
918907055403/
/

 A
 A big
ig thank you goes to the following
following people:
 And if you liked
liked this PDF, you may enjoy some of
of my apps. They’re
They’re al
all

available from https://marc.ph/

https://marc.ph/apps
apps
 www.magicdownload.site
 

- UF Grant & Ted Karmilovich

For the incredible long word
c p e in
principle n the
t e book
oo test.
test.
- Ryan
an Tricks
For the inspiration to write
this PDF
PDF in the first place.
- Stephen
ephen Long

For his meticulous proof

reading
ing and notes.
- Andy
dy @ http://thejerx.com 
http://thejerx.com 
For his help and support
 with this
this PDF.
- George
orge Hage
For helping and being a good
test subject
subject for the tricks.

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Earworm 
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Predict
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WikiTest
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WebFX
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Predict
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