AI routines and automations: Automate tasks on iPhone with Nia
Two ways for Nia to work for you: a routine and your own Shortcuts.
Routines
A trigger and an action. The trigger can be a time and some days, arriving at or leaving a place, or a system event. The action is any of the 59.
"Every weekday at eight, tell me about my day"
Your Shortcuts, in one sentence
Nia runs a Shortcut you already have by name, with text going in and its answer coming back. Writing new Shortcuts to import is not switched on yet.
"Run my arriving home shortcut"
Three triggers, and none of them invented
- Time. A time and the days of the week you choose, with its Monday to Sunday picker.
- Place. On arriving at or leaving a place, with an iOS geofence. The "always" permission is asked for here, not before.
- System event. Things iOS genuinely notifies an app about, without faking the ones it does not.
iOS decides when to give an app background time, so a timed routine leans on a local notification at that time, and the action runs when you tap it. Nia does not promise execution to the exact second with the phone asleep, because nobody can.
And whatever you want to add yourself
A skill is a phrase of yours that fires something of yours. Nia declares it to the model as one more tool, so it works exactly like the built in ones.
- An HTTPS webhook of yours. With the method, the JSON body and your secret headers if you need them. 15 seconds of timeout.
- A Shortcut you already have. By name, with input text, and the answer comes back to Nia.
- The card shows the HTTP status, so when your server fails you see it, instead of a generic "I could not do that".
Routines people actually set up
The morning briefing
At 8:00 Monday to Friday: the day's diary, the weather, how long it takes to reach the first thing, birthdays and what is in the inbox.
Leaving the office
On leaving a place: sends a message home to say so, and puts the route in the navigation app.
Good night
At 23:00: turns the lights off with HomeKit and sets tomorrow's alarm.
The Saturday errand
On Saturday at 10 it alerts you and, when you tap the alert, finds places open nearby and shows you the list.
About routines
Can Nia create iOS Shortcuts?
Not yet. Nia can compile the steps of a Shortcut, but Apple only imports signed files and signing is not switched on yet; if you ask, the card tells you before you tap. What it does do, on the Plus plan, is run the Shortcuts you already have by name.
Can Nia do things on its own, without me there?
Partly, on the Plus plan. A routine fires at a given time or when you arrive somewhere: an alert reaches you and the action runs when you tap it. What would run on its own on the server, the jobs, is not switched on yet.
Shall we begin?
Download Nia, tell it the first thing and see what happens. The free plan asks for no card.
Free to start. Requires iOS 18. In 19 languages.
Last reviewed