Devices and the Cloud Butler app

What's available today

Mail, Calendar and Contacts don't need the app: they work today from the cloud.

Why an app is needed

Apple runs Home (HomeKit), Shortcuts and Mac automation only on your own devices. No cloud service can reach them directly, by Apple's design. The Cloud Butler app runs on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, uses Apple's own on-device frameworks, and does the action there when your agent asks. Your Apple ID password is never involved.

Pairing a device

1. Install the Cloud Butler app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac and sign in with your Cloud Butler account.
2. In your AI app, ask: "Pair my iPad with Cloud Butler." Your agent runs device_pair_start and shows you a code like 7KQ4-MZ2P.
3. In the Cloud Butler app, choose Connect to AI and type the code. It works once and expires after 10 minutes.
4. Ask "Which of my devices are paired?" to check (device_list_paired).

The device keeps its own key in its Keychain. Cloud Butler stores only a fingerprint (a one-way hash) of that key, so a leak of Cloud Butler's storage can't be used to pretend to be your device. You can pair up to 5 devices.

The home hub

Each action goes to exactly one device, so nothing runs twice. Cloud Butler sends it to your home hub if that device is online, otherwise to the device you used most recently. Pick a device that stays at home and stays on, such as a Mac or an iPad on a stand: "Make my living room iPad the home hub." (device_set_hub).

If the device that took an action goes offline, the action waits for it to come back for up to 10 minutes, then expires. It is never handed to a second device.

Approving on your device

These always wait for your tap on one of your own devices, whatever your agent says:

• unlocking or locking a lock, opening or closing a garage door, and changing a security system;
• every Home scene (a scene can unlock a door);
• every Shortcut run, unless you chose "always allow" for that one shortcut on your device.

The app shows the action in plain words and asks you to unlock and confirm with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. A "yes" typed into the chat never counts, and no tool lets an agent approve its own request. "Always allow" can only be set on your device, only for shortcuts, and never for anything that unlocks or opens.

Approve from the device in your hand. Your personal iPhone can approve an action that runs on your Mac or home hub. A Mac, an iPad or the home hub can approve only after you turn on Can approve actions in the app on that device, because shared screens at home prove who knows the passcode, not who you are. Each approval is tied to that exact action and can be used once.

While your agent waits, it says the action needs your approval on your device. When you decline, it is told "The user declined." Every action, approved or not, appears in the activity log: "What did my devices do today?" (device_list_activity).

Unpairing a device

Unpair it in the Cloud Butler app, or ask your agent "Remove my old iPad from Cloud Butler" (device_remove, which your agent confirms with you first). An unpaired device can't receive actions, and its key stops working at once. To stop everything, see revoke access.

Planned for the Cloud Butler apps

• iCloud Drive, Reminders, Notes and Photos through your device's own iCloud, without your Apple ID password.
• Mac control with Cloud Butler for Mac: AppleScript, JavaScript for Automation and Shortcuts on your Mac, with the same approvals.
• Safari automation through a Safari extension in the app.
• Siri: Cloud Butler actions as App Shortcuts, so you can say them to Siri, including on one device to control another.

These pages will list each one when it ships.