Popular Launch Center Pro App Gets An IFTTT Channel And More In 2.3 Update

Launch Center Pro has become a staple app for our iPhones and iPads for many of us here at AppAdvice, and today, the app just got even better. Who knew that when Launch Center first launched in 2011, it would change how we use our iOS devices? I’ve been using LCP ever since it first came out in 2012, and it has just gotten better and better with every update. For those who have never used the app before, LCP is an app that uses a grid-based interface for quick access to your most-used apps and even actions with native and third-party apps. You can launch apps, of course, but the real power of LCP lies behind the use of URL schemes of other apps, which allow you to start an action in LCP and then carry it into the app you want. You can send a canned message to someone, start a phone call, or search for music in Rdio, all from LCP. The possibilities are endless with the app. Today, LCP receives a major update that brings even more goodies to power users, making the app better than ever before. First off, there is now a full LCP channel on IFTTT. With this brand new IFTTT channel, the Launch Center app can be used as both a Trigger as well as Action endpoint. So it is entirely possible now to setup an action in Launch Center to trigger a recipe on IFTTT. Any other IFTTT channel can also send a push notification with a URL, which can be executed in Launch Center with a swipe or tap. An example would be:

launch://ifttt/trigger?name=HueLights&value1=Red&value2=Pink&value3=Yellow uh oh, your room just got interesting

There is now also Launch Center Connect. This service will help with connecting actions with online services, such as the IFTTT integration mentioned above. You can create an account within LCP, or at the website. LCP now makes use of geofences and iBeacons. These are basically actionable prompts that you can create to execute an action or URL when you are in a specific location, or somewhere with iBeacons. These actions can also be filtered by time range, days of the week, and no more than once per [x] minutes. For fans of lists, there is now a full List Builder option. In previous versions, users had to create lists manually if they needed a list. With this update, List is a direct option when the prompt button comes up as you edit a URL. If you love animated GIFs, then you will enjoy the full Giphy support. This can be used in any action that uses photo attachments. Here are some examples:

launch://messaging?attach=photo:gif # browser starting with trending gifs launch://messaging?attach=photo:gif&gif-search=excited # browser with predefined search launch://messaging?attach=photo:gif&gif-id=5GoVLqeAOo6PK # direct link to GIF [gif] # browser [gif:search term] # browser with search term [gif-id:5GoVLqeAOo6PK] # direct link to GIF Sample Action: tweetbot:///post?text=[gif] # Tweet a direct link to a GIF

A huge change for power users is the brand new support for nested encoding helpers. This allows you to wrap whatever you want to be encoded in double curly braces {{}}. Any nested tags will then be encoded from the inside-out. And any input tags, such as [clipboard], will be properly expanded at the correct time.

launch://email?lc-callback={{ launch://speak?text=Hellow&lc-callback={{ http://google.com?lc-callback={{ http://bing.com}}}}}}

Nested input tags are now supported too. These are used in lists, prompts with Dropbox paths, Dropbox text in list values, and more.

Choose a predefined address, use the picker, or type in an email address launch://email?to=[list:To|Justin=justin@me.com|David=david@me.com|Picker=[[contact]]|Other=[[prompt-email:Email Address]]]

With LCP 2.3, there is now the Action ID label, also known as the [action] tag. This will show up at the bottom of every actions Edit screen. The [action] tag expands runtime and corresponding URLs will be inserted. This is very useful for those times when you have a common follow-up action with an x-callback-url, as it eliminates the need to go through each action one-by-one. While the x-callback-url is used by many apps (and makes life easier), some apps don’t support it (yet). Fortunately, there is now the LC Callback feature, which serves as an alternative when an app does not have a proper x-callback-url yet. All you need to do is add the lc-callback parameter to the end of any URL in LCP.

foursquare://venues/518aab26498ed82f5a9d36a8?lc-callback=[action:37]

If you’re a bit confused as to how this works, the developers have explained this particular example:

How does this work? Well… Launch Center Pro sent me to Foursquare where I checked into my favorite coffee shop. When I was done, I toggled back to Launch Center Pro via the multitasking menu. Launch center then executed the url of action #37, which coincidently is my Square payment app.

Personally, I use my LCP for faster access to specific contacts, and that has now been improved as well, thanks to the [contact] tag. This can bring up the picker inside an action. For WhatsApp users, there’s even the abid tag: [contact-abid].

launch://email?to=[contact]&subject={{Status Report}}&body=[dropbox:My Documents] whatsapp://send?text={{Howdy!}}&abid=[contact-abid]

Those are the big new additions in LCP’s 2.3 update. Additionally, there are now custom notification sounds for your scheduled actions, location triggers, and remote push notifications, which is quite nice. And if you prefer no sounds, you can choose to disable sounds on a per-action basis. While the brand new features in LCP may be a bit confusing, there is now a Featured Actions section to help you get started. This is a great way to discover new uses of the app due to the growing list of actions, complete with descriptions and tips. Dropbox users will now be able to directly link to any file in Dropbox, rather than the Share page. LCP 2.3 brings QR/Barcode scanning too, so you can instantly get the value of an item or QR code.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_box_?k=[scan] launch://qr

Unfortunately, LCP 2.3 eliminates Fleksy, due to the fact that the Fleksy SDK no longer supports enabling and disabling the Fleksy keyboard programmatically. If there is enough demand, however, Contrast will evaluate future Fleksy releases, and possibly bring it back one day, if able to. The list of changes in Launch Center Pro 2.3 for iPhone and iPad is quite vast, and you may not even need all of the new features (they’re mostly geared for power users). However, it’s fantastic to see a little app and action launcher be able to be so powerful, and continue to get better and better over time. Launch Center Pro 2.3 should be available as a free update to existing customers. New users can grab Launch Center Pro for the iPhone for $4.99, or the separate iPad version for $4.99. [gallery link="file"]

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