iPhone user adds ‘hilarious’ customization that makes sure their phone completes important step before sudden death
Privacy is everything, even if you're not around to care anymore.
Ever had a sudden worry that someone might take a peek at your browsing history after you kick the bucket?
It's a common enough fear, whether you've been looking at something private or shopping for some secret goodies, but one Reddit user has come up with a hilarious way around the problem.
They shared a screenshot of the Shortcuts app on their iPhone this week, pointing out one custom automation they've created.
It mandates that any time the Health app finds that their Apple Watch has detected a heart rate under 5 beats per minute (which basically means the heart is stopped) then it'll automatically clear the browsing history on Safari.
This workaround ensures that even in a medical emergency, their secrets will go to the grave with them - at least where Safari is concerned.
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The idea has unsurprisingly set tongues wagging on Reddit, with loads of admiring comments under the post.
Most people seem to find the concept funny, with the top comment (which has over 3,000 upvotes of its own) simply reading: "Lmao".
Another person used the idea as a real spark for their own inventiveness, writing: "I never thought to have fun with these. I’m going to take my wife’s phone and secretly automate it so every time she goes to Amazon it reroutes her to the banking app."
That's a little nefarious, but it gets into the spirit of things nicely, although some people are pointing out that the original poster could perhaps think of more practical uses for his automations.
For one thing, someone asked whether the automation could "call a mortician while you’re at it".
All of this highlights how powerful the Shortcuts app really is - it was added to iOS a good few years ago, but there's a solid chance that most people have never really used it.
It lets you set up all sorts of automations and quick actions, letting you basically tell your iPhone that 'if XYZ happens' you want certain outcomes.
This could be ambitious, like this Reddit poster's idea, but it can also be really simple things like turning on a smart plug connected to your air conditioner when you get within a few miles of your home after work.
There are countless more options and some of them can be really detailed - like making your phone automatically change the brightness on your screen when you open certain apps, if you know they're really bright.
Once you start to set these up, it's pretty easy to get sucked in and find yourself automating a whole host of processes that you normally do manually each day, so be sure to experiment and try it out for yourself.