This iPhone Automation Runs a Chess Club (Without the Organizer)

Overview

A chess club organizer was manually writing and sending daily WhatsApp messages to coordinate meeting times, locations, and attendance. The messages needed to be personalized based on the day’s schedule. This automation eliminated all manual effort using only native Apple tools — no subscriptions, no third-party apps.

The Challenge

• Daily manual message writing and sending
• Messages needed to vary based on the day’s schedule
• Organizer unavailability caused missed communications
• No budget for third-party automation tools

What We Built

• Apple Shortcut that reads a schedule spreadsheet to determine the day’s event details
• Dynamic message composition with personalized content based on schedule data
• Automated posting to WhatsApp group — no manual intervention required
• Runs daily whether the organizer is at their desk, on vacation, or asleep

Technologies Used