Circle provides its Keep Up actions to Siri and the Shortcuts app, so you can record a catch-up or see who is due without opening Circle.
Asking Siri
Say what you want done, naming Circle. “Who should I catch up with in Circle”, “I caught up with someone in Circle”, “Snooze someone in Circle” and “How am I doing in Circle” all work. Siri shows the answer as a card, with the people it found.
Circle’s actions require local-device authentication, so they run on an unlocked device and not from a locked one.
The actions
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| People to Catch Up With | Finds the people who are due a catch-up |
| Get Keep Up Status | When you last caught up with someone, how often you would like to, and when they are next due |
| Caught Up | Records that you caught up with someone |
| Set How Often | Chooses how often you would like to catch up with someone, or stops Keep Up |
| Snooze Keep Up | Quiets someone who is due until a later date |
| Open Circle | Opens the app, or a person in it |
Why the picker shows “Person in Circle”
When a shortcut asks you to choose a person, you may see generic entries rather than names. Generic labels protect names before the action is authenticated.
Shortcuts resolves the list of people before it authenticates the action, so Circle publishes an anonymous placeholder at that stage, because names would otherwise be readable by anything that can enumerate the list. Once the action actually runs and the device has authenticated, Circle reads the name live from Apple Contacts and uses it in the result.
It is the same reason Circle never puts names into Spotlight. See What Circle syncs.
Automations worth building
- People to Catch Up With on a Sunday-evening trigger, so the week starts with a short list.
- Caught Up when a Personal Focus ends, if that Focus is when you call people.
- Get Keep Up Status before a call, so you arrive knowing how long it has been.