I still have a private build of Fast Text on my phone, but I only typically use it for one reason: to tell my wife Erin that I’m on my way home. Since Fast Text is dead, and Workflow is the new hotness, I created a workflow that largely replaces Fast Text for me.

The workflow is as follows:

1. Street Address, set to my home
2. Get Travel Time, driving
3. Set Variable “Time”
4. If (the travel time) contains “minutes”
   1. Set text: “Leaving now; home in {Time}.”
5. Otherwise:
   1. Set text: “Leaving now.”
6. Send Message to Erin

Should you download the workflow, I’ve scrubbed our home address & Erin’s phone number, and I’ve changed its name to be a little more generic.

I use the if because I wanted to make sure that the time I send to Erin is at least semi-intelligible. When I tested while in the house, I’d often get no result, or a result such as “6 seconds”.

Additionally, I also created a link to this workflow on my homescreen. When I want to let Erin know I’m on my way home, the process is:

• Unlock my phone
• Tap the ETA to Erin icon on my homescreen
• Tap Send

Honestly, this is an improvement over what Fast Text made possible. Progress is great.

UPDATED 2015-01-06 3:30 PM: As pointed out to me on Twitter, the variable I’m creating in step #3 above isn’t necessary. I can remove it, and change the text in 4.1 to Leaving now; home in {Input}.