jessie charJul 30, 2024
Is there a manual, immediate, reliable way to make a phone vibrate remotely? This would be in the context of theatre, being able to cue the illusion of a text coming through. Actually texting it might work sometimes but the lag would be an issue.
Show threadJoshua Jung

@Jessiechar Any kind of stock feature or even custom app that comes to my mind feels too unreliable for a stage setting. Given sufficient resources, I’d probably go with some kind of custom prop.

How will the scene look like? Is the phone on a table? In the hand of an actor?

Jul 30, 2024 at 7:57pmWeb
Show threadjessie charJul 30, 2024
@joshua it would have to be on a table or some sort of hard surface for the vibration to be audible :-/
Show threadMonty Hayter 🇨🇦Jul 30, 2024

@Jessiechar @joshua I think a custom prop would be the most reliable, shortest-latency — assuming "remote” means within the range of a small RF transmitter, like a key fob.

Otherwise it's tradeoffs: any app using a push notification would be reliable enough, but the latency is a little unpredictable. A Bluetooth-based solution would be immediate, but questionable for reliability unless the range was quite short. Worth a try, though.

Show threadjessie charJul 30, 2024
@montyhayter @joshua a small Bluetooth remote might be a feasible way for an actor to subtly cue a vibration without ever touching the phone. Do you know of any that could work to trigger a vibration?
Show threadMonty Hayter 🇨🇦Jul 30, 2024

@Jessiechar @joshua In theory, any bluetooth remote shutter could be used, with a Shortcut that watched for a volume up event (what the remotes send). I believe there's a “vibrate device" action that you could have it trigger, and then loop back around to waiting for another volume up.

The shortcut would have to be opened and running, of course, and once you'd had enough presses to reach max volume it would stop triggering.

1/

Show threadMonty Hayter 🇨🇦Jul 30, 2024

@Jessiechar @joshua But if you needed more times than that in a given scene, you could have the actor discretely lower the volume when they checked the phone, or picked it up to talk.

I haven’t tested this, but this might be helpful: https://shortcutsgallery.com/shortcuts/volume-button-trigger/

Sadly, there doesn't appear to be a direct trigger, so you have to loop and check the volume level.

/fin

Volume button trigger - Siri Shortcuts

This shortcut is meant to be run within other shortcuts and basically waits to execute the next block until you press the up volume button. (Like the wait to return block but with the volume button) For example, this can be utilized to start or stop a stopwatch with the volume button, or to trigger […]

ShortcutsGallery.com
Show threadMonty Hayter 🇨🇦Jul 30, 2024
@Jessiechar Addendum: I totally forgot there's a Shortcuts action to set the volume, so you could have the shortcut play the vibration, and then automatically lower the volume again so it would never max out and be ready to go for the next press on the remote.
Show threadMonty Hayter 🇨🇦Jul 30, 2024
@Jessiechar Example remote shutter: https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Bluetooth-Shutter-Android-Wireless/dp/B084VTFS4X
Amazon.com