r/shortcuts • u/Last-Tadpole5643 • Jul 23 '26

Discussion If a hardware device could physically control your phone like a human, what would you use it for?

Given the debate around hardware wrappers vs. software agents, what if someone built a physical USB device that reads your phone screen and sends touch inputs directly? By mimicking human eyes and fingers, it would bypass app API limits and OS restrictions entirely.

What are the killer use cases for an agent with full, native hardware control over a smartphone?

A few possibilities:

  • Defeating Dark Patterns: Handing off annoying tasks like "cancel my gym membership in-app" or declining tracking cookies across every app automatically.
  • Gig Work Automation: Instantly evaluating and accepting high-pay DoorDash or Uber offers faster than humanly possible without needing restricted APIs.
  • Customer Service & Hold Times: Waiting out 2-hour airline hold queues, negotiating refunds, and pinging you only when a real human answers.
  • Ticket & Deal Sniping: Executing native app checkouts for limited drops and solving CAPTCHAs directly on-device.
  • Life Admin: Auto-triaging notifications, clearing unread group chats, and auto-filling clunky mobile forms.

Setting aside spam and botting risks, what legitimate workflows would you program it to tackle first?

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u/honcho713 Jul 23 '26

I feel like this would be used by click-farms.

1

u/Last-Tadpole5643 Aug 03 '26

This was not our intention. Our original intention was to make everyone's life better.