List of Apps

Per request here on Automators Forum and here on Reddit, there are users interested in an list of apps installed on their devices. Shortcuts doesn't have a native way of displaying all installed apps on the device. I am unsure of the use case for this, but this morning I saw the latest request on Automators posted above and figured I'd play around with this to see what I can come up with. Well, I was able to achieve the ability of listing apps, but it surely is cumbersome to achieve, but it is achievable. It involves taking screenshots of the app list you see when you scroll down in the Settings app. Also requires the premium version of Toolbox Pro as it utilizes the Get Text From Images action, which is a paid feature. Sure you can replace it with other OCR techniques, but this one is my preferred way. The shortcut will allow you to... Generate list of apps: Scans and crops screenshots of app listing and add as a Global Variable inside of Toolbox Pro. Add App To List: Search AppStore for app and adds name to the AppList Global Variable. App added to the TOP of the list for easy removal if app is uninstalled. View App List: View the list of apps stored in the Global Variable When viewing the list under either process, it is automatically sorted in Alphabetical order. Create initial list: Take screenshots of your apps listed in the settings app, take as many as needed, mine took 19. If the same apps are displayed in the final two screenshots, don't worry. The shortcut will remove the duplicate names Run shortcut and choose Generate List of Apps Select all screenshots you had just taken of your list of apps Done Limitations This shortcut was created on iPhone 11 Pro Max so the cropping is based off its dimensions. You'd have to send me a screenshot of your App list and I can recommend the crop measurements or you can do this yourself. You must remember to add/remove any newly installed apps to the list. Shortcuts can't determine this on its own. You will need to create separate Global Variables if wanting an separate list of apps between devices. Don't forget to modify the shortcut to point to the different variable. Maybe I can implement an auto detection at some point.