Toolbox Pro receives the first update from its new development team

Toolbox Pro received an update last week, the first in two years. This is an important release in this regard, as it is the first to be distributed by the new owners of the application.

Alex Hay, who was a huge shortcut enthusiast, appreciated by the community and the original developer of Toolbox Pro, unfortunately passed away earlier this year and his three apps, all dedicated to improving Apple shortcuts, were acquired by Snailed It, an independent British development studio. They took some time to get familiar with the source code of the apps and start working on them, so this version of Toolbox Pro simply fixes actions that no longer worked.

If you have never used Toolbox Pro, you should know that the app adds actions to Shortcuts. It currently contains over 130 actions, including some that work in Apple Music that were no longer working due to invalid access. The update restores its correct functioning and also fixes an action related to scanning documents and some other items.

Unfortunately, the transition has not preserved the global variables that were one of the strengths of Toolbox Pro. This feature allows you to store information outside of Shortcuts and access it from automations, which has many utilities when you have advanced use of the Shortcuts application. If you have a Mac, you can retrieve the old global variables through the macOS Access Keychain, otherwise they will be lost forever. The functionality itself is not gone, it's just the unfortunate consequence of the transition from one developer to another.

Toolbox Pro is free to download and you can discover the app with some of the actions. To unlock all of its content, you have to pay an in-app purchase of $5.99 USD. iOS 14.5+ is required. This is great news for all of us who are part of the Shortcuts community, as the new developers are committed to keep giving updates and implementing new actions to continue Alex’s legacy.