Automate Vylos

Run Vylos hands-free with Siri voice commands, build automated workflows in the Shortcuts app, and jump to a tunnel from Spotlight on every supported platform.

Platform Requirements

Spotlight indexing works one floor lower than the App Intents catalog: iOS 15+, macOS 12+, and visionOS 1+.

Available Actions

Vylos provides four shortcut actions for user-created tunnels. Managed tunnels are excluded from the Shortcuts catalog and remain manually controlled through Apple Settings.

Toggle Tunnel

Switches a tunnel on if it's off, or off if it's on.

• "Toggle [tunnel] in Vylos"
• "Toggle [tunnel] with Vylos"

Connect Tunnel

Connects a specific tunnel.

• "Connect to [tunnel] in Vylos"
• "Connect [tunnel] with Vylos"

Disconnect Tunnel

Disconnects a specific tunnel.

• "Disconnect [tunnel] in Vylos"
• "Disconnect from [tunnel] with Vylos"

Edit Tunnel

Opens the editor for a specific tunnel. iOS surfaces the tunnel form in a sheet over the Home view; macOS 14 and later opens the dedicated multi-window editor; macOS 13 opens the editor as a modal sheet; visionOS opens the dedicated Edit Tunnel window scene alongside the main scene.

• "Edit [tunnel] in Vylos"
• "Edit [tunnel] with Vylos"

All four actions target user-created tunnels only. Managed tunnels installed through MDM or directly from a .mobileconfig file cannot be connected, disconnected, toggled, or edited from Shortcuts.

App Lock and Shortcuts

Siri Shortcuts are gated by the app lock. If app lock is set to Local Authentication (Face ID / Touch ID / Optic ID), the system attempts biometric verification inline when a shortcut runs.

If app lock is set to TOTP (authenticator app), shortcut actions are denied and you'll need to open Vylos and enter your code to unlock.

When a managed configuration is present from your organization's MDM system, the app lock does not require authentication for shortcut actions that managed policy otherwise permits. This lock bypass does not override the allowManualTunnels restriction.

If allowManualTunnels is false, user-created tunnels disappear from the Shortcuts tunnel picker and Vylos refuses any previously saved shortcut that still references one. Managed tunnels are also unavailable to Shortcuts, so no tunnel action can run until manual tunnels are allowed again.

Home Screen Quick Actions (iOS Only)

On iOS, long-pressing the Vylos app icon on the Home Screen reveals quick actions for your most recently used tunnels. Up to four tunnels appear in the list, each showing the tunnel name with a "Toggle tunnel" subtitle.

Tapping a quick action toggles that tunnel on or off.

Home Screen quick actions are blocked when the app is locked. They become available again after you authenticate.

Spotlight Search

Vylos publishes user-created tunnels to the system Spotlight index so searching for a tunnel name on iOS, macOS, or visionOS surfaces the matching tunnel. Tapping a result opens Vylos and selects the tunnel in the navigation surface.

The Spotlight index is automatically scrubbed while App Lock is engaged, so tunnel names do not leak through Spotlight before authentication. The index is rebuilt on the next bootstrap after the app is unlocked, and refreshed automatically when tunnels are created, updated, or deleted.