The iPhone Duo's Shortcuts app has a new automation trigger that fires when the device is opened or closed.
YouTuber Stephen Robles highlighted the trigger, which is called "Opened or Closed" and sits under the Display category of automations. The code is not new, though. A code sleuth who goes by pdfu first spotted it in September, inside the iPhone Duo simulator. Federico Viticci of MacStories has said he plans to start "brainstorming hinge automations."
The trigger is small, but it fits a pattern. Shortcuts already lets people run actions when they plug in a charger, arrive somewhere or open an app. Those are all changes the phone notices on its own, with no tap required. Opening or closing a hinge is a physical version of the same idea: a gesture that happens many times a day and currently does nothing beyond changing the screen.
The placement is the more telling detail. Filing the trigger under Display suggests the fold is treated as a change in the screen's state, not as a separate feature with its own rules. That keeps it simple for users, who will find it next to other display-related options.
The early material does not describe what actions people have actually paired with it, or any limits on what it can do. The open question is whether it runs silently, as a charger trigger can, or asks for a confirmation each time. A trigger that fires dozens of times a day only earns its place if it stays out of the way.