Time Saved With Overcast shortcut

Use Apple Shortcuts to help track the hours that Overcast’s Smart Speed has saved you over time.

This shortcut opens the Overcast app and waits for you to find your time saved with Smart Speed (Overcast → Settings → Scroll to the bottom) and take a screenshot of that page. 

After you return to the Shortcuts app (tap the notification), it automatically finds the number of hours saved from the screenshot, then adds that new total and today’s date to a Numbers spreadsheet with the running results. A blank compatible Numbers spreadsheet can be downloaded here.

After you review the results and return to the Shortcuts app (again, tap the notification), it finishes by jumping to your task manager to complete the task and delete the screenshot.

I find it’s best to run from a URL in a reoccurring task by using this URL: shortcuts://run-shortcut?name=Time%20Saved%20With%20Overcast

The origin and methodology of this shortcut are documented in this blog post.

Download the shortcut ↓

Required Apps

Run This Shortcut

You can run this shortcut from its URL (such as from within a note, calendar event, or to-do item):

shortcuts://run-shortcut?name=Time%20Saved%20With%20Overcast

Latest Release Notes

Version 1.3 - Jul 22, 2023 at 8:37 PM

  • Updated comments to be in line with my new Library style guide.
  • Added setup flow to choose a task manager for running shortcut reminders.
  • Confirmed compatibility with the latest OSes.
  • Download version 1.3
Version History

Version 1.2.1 - Feb. 3, 2022, 12:37 AM

  • 1.2.1 fixes a small typo in addition to the rest of the new features below.
  • Changed the flow to use a screenshot and text extraction action to get the number of hours to be more automated and less error-prone.
  • Updated comments and added notifications to be more clear about what is happening and what is needed from the user at critical steps.
  • Download version 1.2.1

Version 1.2

  • Changed the flow to use a screenshot and text extraction action to get the number of hours with the goal of being more automated and less error-prone.
  • Updated comments and added notifications to be more clear about what is happening and is needed from the user at critical steps.
  • Download version 1.2

Version 1.1

  • Added a comment explaining that the spreadsheet file may need to be located in the user’s file system after downloading it from heydingus.net.
  • Download version 1.1

Version 1.0

Thanks for checking out this shortcut! It’s part of the HeyDingus Shortcuts Library. If you’re sharing my shortcuts or modifying them (or see a bug or have a feature request), I’d love to hear from you — please give me a shout! And maybe consider a donation if you find this shortcut fun or useful. Thank you. ✌️