Siri, Shortcuts, Action button and links

The two actions

The app gives Siri and the Shortcuts app two actions. Each takes one parameter, Decade; if you don't say one, Siri asks "Which decade?"

What to say to Siri

The app name in these phrases is the one on your home screen, "Time Travel Camera".

• "Record a 1990 clip with Time Travel Camera"
• "Record a 1990 clip in Time Travel Camera"
• "Take a 1960 photo with Time Travel Camera"
• "Take a 1960 photo in Time Travel Camera"

Any of the 15 decades works in place of the year. Siri recognizes a decade by its exact year ("1990" or "1990s") or by a word from its caption, such as "VHS" for the 1980s. A year that isn't a decade, such as 1962, matches nothing: the camera won't round it to the nearest decade. An unknown decade gets the answer "The Time Travel Camera doesn't have that decade."

When the camera starts by itself

The app always opens on the decade you asked for. iOS asks you to unlock first, so it never shoots from the lock screen. Recording or the photo then starts on its own only when all of these are true:

• you have finished the first-launch intro and the phone is unlocked;
• the camera and the microphone are already allowed. This applies to "Take a photo" too: a photo from Siri also needs the microphone permission;
• the viewfinder is live;
• for a clip, the tape is not full.

Otherwise the camera simply opens on the decade and waits for you. Siri and Shortcuts never trigger a permission prompt. A request that can't start within 10 seconds expires.

• Your self-timer still applies.
• A photo from Siri switches the camera to STILL, takes the shot, then switches back to CINE, unless you touch the mode lever in the meantime.
• A recording started by Siri stops like any other: tap REC to pause, then DONE.

Shortcuts and the Action button

Both actions appear in the Shortcuts app under Time Travel Camera, ready to use in your own shortcuts. On an iPhone with an Action button, make a shortcut in the Shortcuts app with "Record a clip" and set its decade, for example to 1980. Then open iOS Settings › Action Button, choose Shortcut, and pick that shortcut. One press opens the camera in the 1980s and starts rolling. The app has no Action button setting of its own: it works through these shortcuts.

Opening a decade with a link

A link of this form opens the camera on a decade:

Only the 15 decade years are accepted. A link doesn't start recording: it only turns the wheel. If a take is open, the link is refused with "Finish this take first". In the EDITOR it is refused with "Link not opened: finish editing first". Siri requests follow the same rule.