Questions and Answers

Since tumblr will no longer let me view you posts…

…do you use any other platform? I know you had some listed but I can’t see anything on you blog anymore to know what they are :((

(submitted by: @Anonymous)

The web version of this blog is here. All my new posts are automatically sent there, and from there, they filter out to both my Twitter and Telegram accounts.

Also, I’m reblogging my new posts to my sideblog: @bedtimestories4brokengirls …you can check it if you think you’ve missed something recent.

With that said, I’ve built a general-purpose workaround for Tumblr’s little problem. It’s far from perfect, but I’ve found it makes Tumblr functional again.

It’s a shortcut called TumblrApp2Web. With it, you can open a blocked blog/post in Safari with a maximum of three taps. Here’s how it works once you’ve installed and configured it:

When viewing a post from a blocked blog, hit Tumblr’s share button.

Then tap the “More” button to bring up the native iOS share sheet:

Then tap TumblrApp2Web. Safari will launch and open that post in the browser without any of the “This Tumblr may contain sensitive material” redirect bullshit you normally see when opening a link from the app in Safari. From there you can follow the blog, check the notes on the post, and so on, before returning to the app. It’s still annoying, but it makes it possible to continue to use the app and only jump out to Safari when necessary.

(It doesn’t currently work on macOS because I’m using a hack to keep Safari from instantly throwing you back into the app on iOS/iPadOS, but macOS doesn’t like it and Shortcuts doesn’t give me an easy way to sniff the platform and “if” out the hack. I’ll make a macOS-specific version later.)

(Also note that it won’t work on blogs that use a custom domain. But is anyone with a NSFW blog still bothering to use custom domains on Tumblr at this point?)

To install the Shortcut: TumblrApp2Web

Config: As with any new Shortcut, the first time you use it you’ll need to do two things…

  1. Scroll to the bottom of the iOS share sheet, tap “Edit Actions”, find TumblrApp2Web in the list, tap “+”, and then “Done”. That will put the Shortcut at the top of your action list in the Tumblr app from now on.
  2. On first run, it’ll ask for permission to access tumblr.com. Tell it “Always Allow”.