Download the shortcut here: https://techheroesinc.blogspot.com/2019/01/siri-shortcut-text-your-eta-to-contact.html
This Siri Shortcut will send the driving travel time from your current location to an address in a contact or to a place. All you have to do is say something like:
“Hey Siri, send my ETA”
The shortcut will ask you who you want to send your ETA to, and you’ll say their name:
“John Doe”
The shortcut will then send a text to your contact similar to:
“John, I should be there in about 15 min.”
The shortcut’s search ability is not as sophisticated as Siri’s search ability, so your phrasing needs to be rather specific. For example, after activating the shortcut by saying something like, “Hey Siri, Send My ETA,” you will need to tell the shortcut who you want to send the ETA to. Just say their name or nickname. For example, “Mary Jo Smith.” The more specific, the better. You can search for people with up to 3 names. It’s probably best to search by first and last name, however if the contact has a unique name or nickname not found anywhere else in your contacts, the shortcut will find them quickly.
The shortcut will then search your contacts and find the contact(s) that match the search names you spoke. It will list off the possible contacts and ask you to say the contact you want. If the shortcut only found one contact matching the name you spoke, it will skip this last step. It’s best, but not absolutely necessary, to search for a contact with a unique name that is dissimilar to any other contact.
Siri Shortcuts can not currently distinguish between multiple addresses within a single contact and doesn’t know which address is “home,” “work,” etc. If there are multiple addresses in a contact, a pop-up will appear on your iPhone for you to select the correct address. If there is only one address in the contact, it will automatically select that address and skip this last step.
This shortcut selects every telephone number in the contact and attempts to send a text to each one. One of those numbers will be the mobile number you want, and the other numbers will not be able to send texts so no harm and no foul. It’s not ideal, but as with addresses, Siri Shortcuts can not distinguish between the tags associated with each telephone number such as “home,” “work,” “iPhone,” etc.
The easiest, fastest and best situation is if the contact you are sending your ETA to has a unique name with only one address and only one telephone number in it. In this case, the entire process will be completely automatic and hands free. Unfortunately, the search function in Siri Shortcuts is case sensitive. This shortcut capitalizes every search word, so if any of the names or words in your contact are not capitalized, the shortcut will not find them. Personally, I ended up editing some contacts to change the case of some names I had typed in all caps, to remove old addresses and telephone numbers, and to add a unique nickname. I also removed duplicates in my contacts.
ETA to a Place:
If you want to send the travel time from your current location to a place, simply add “at” and the name of the place after you speak your recipient’s name. For example:
“Mary Joe Smith at Starbucks on Alameda Ave.”
Unfortunately, the search function for places is much more general than for contacts. It will find a business or place name or address that matches any word after “at” within a 30 km (about 18 mile) radius. If the shortcut finds multiple addresses for the place, it will pop-up a list of addresses for you to select the one you want. 30 km is my best guess for a reasonable range, but you can make the radius smaller or larger if you like by scrolling down near the bottom of the shortcut and typing in the radius you prefer into the “Search Local Businesses” action. If the shortcut finds only one place or business with the search name, it will automatically calculate the travel time and send it without a pop-up. You may search for business or organization names as well as place names such as parks, landmarks, etc.
After the ETA has been sent, an alert will appear on the iPhone with the address of the destination the shortcut used to calculate your ETA, just in case you want to double check that it sent the correct travel time.
This Siri Shortcut will send the driving travel time from your current location to an address in a contact or to a place. All you have to do is say something like:
“Hey Siri, send my ETA”
The shortcut will ask you who you want to send your ETA to, and you’ll say their name:
“John Doe”
The shortcut will then send a text to your contact similar to:
“John, I should be there in about 15 min.”
The shortcut’s search ability is not as sophisticated as Siri’s search ability, so your phrasing needs to be rather specific. For example, after activating the shortcut by saying something like, “Hey Siri, Send My ETA,” you will need to tell the shortcut who you want to send the ETA to. Just say their name or nickname. For example, “Mary Jo Smith.” The more specific, the better. You can search for people with up to 3 names. It’s probably best to search by first and last name, however if the contact has a unique name or nickname not found anywhere else in your contacts, the shortcut will find them quickly.
The shortcut will then search your contacts and find the contact(s) that match the search names you spoke. It will list off the possible contacts and ask you to say the contact you want. If the shortcut only found one contact matching the name you spoke, it will skip this last step. It’s best, but not absolutely necessary, to search for a contact with a unique name that is dissimilar to any other contact.
Siri Shortcuts can not currently distinguish between multiple addresses within a single contact and doesn’t know which address is “home,” “work,” etc. If there are multiple addresses in a contact, a pop-up will appear on your iPhone for you to select the correct address. If there is only one address in the contact, it will automatically select that address and skip this last step.
This shortcut selects every telephone number in the contact and attempts to send a text to each one. One of those numbers will be the mobile number you want, and the other numbers will not be able to send texts so no harm and no foul. It’s not ideal, but as with addresses, Siri Shortcuts can not distinguish between the tags associated with each telephone number such as “home,” “work,” “iPhone,” etc.
The easiest, fastest and best situation is if the contact you are sending your ETA to has a unique name with only one address and only one telephone number in it. In this case, the entire process will be completely automatic and hands free. Unfortunately, the search function in Siri Shortcuts is case sensitive. This shortcut capitalizes every search word, so if any of the names or words in your contact are not capitalized, the shortcut will not find them. Personally, I ended up editing some contacts to change the case of some names I had typed in all caps, to remove old addresses and telephone numbers, and to add a unique nickname. I also removed duplicates in my contacts.
ETA to a Place:
If you want to send the travel time from your current location to a place, simply add “at” and the name of the place after you speak your recipient’s name. For example:
“Mary Joe Smith at Starbucks on Alameda Ave.”
Unfortunately, the search function for places is much more general than for contacts. It will find a business or place name or address that matches any word after “at” within a 30 km (about 18 mile) radius. If the shortcut finds multiple addresses for the place, it will pop-up a list of addresses for you to select the one you want. 30 km is my best guess for a reasonable range, but you can make the radius smaller or larger if you like by scrolling down near the bottom of the shortcut and typing in the radius you prefer into the “Search Local Businesses” action. If the shortcut finds only one place or business with the search name, it will automatically calculate the travel time and send it without a pop-up. You may search for business or organization names as well as place names such as parks, landmarks, etc.
After the ETA has been sent, an alert will appear on the iPhone with the address of the destination the shortcut used to calculate your ETA, just in case you want to double check that it sent the correct travel time.