Take a Shortcut

Apple’s Shortcuts app will let you automate common actions in iOS, such as sending messages to friends, calculating tips, and sharing photos. Shortcuts lets you extend iOS’s functionality in numerous ways, and integrates with apps from Apple and participating third parties. Since it’s based on the Workflow app, which Apple purchased in 2017, it integrates with several apps from day one, such as Instagram, OmniFocus, Twitter, and Ulysses.

Creating your own shortcuts can be a complex process and I don’t have enough room to cover it in this book. But anyone can find, install, and take advantage of pre-made shortcuts.

Install Shortcuts

Shortcuts is split into two screens: Library, which contains your installed shortcuts, and Gallery, which features pre-made shortcuts you can install.

Here’s how to install shortcuts from the Gallery:

  1. Tap Gallery at the bottom of the screen to enter Gallery view.

  2. Scroll through the screen to find an interesting shortcut. Tap See All near a category to see more shortcuts in the category. Use the Search field at the top of the screen if you’re looking for something specific (Figure 72).

    Figure 72: The Gallery offers a plethora of pre-made shortcuts to install.
    Figure 72: The Gallery offers a plethora of pre-made shortcuts to install.

  3. Tap on a shortcut you’re interested in. A description screen explains what the shortcut does, suggests ways to use it, and tells you which apps it works with.

  4. If you’re interested in what exactly the shortcut does, tap Show Actions to see the details. Studying this might also give you ideas for creating your own shortcuts!

  5. Tap Get Shortcut to install the shortcut.

  6. Finally, you may be asked to configure the shortcut. For instance, the Speed Dial shortcut prompts you to input a number to call.

  7. Tap Done when you’re finished configuring the shortcut.

Shortcuts live in the Library screen of the Shortcuts app.

Delete Shortcuts

It’s easy to accumulate more shortcuts than you can use. Here’s how to get rid of the ones you don’t want.:

  1. Enter the Library screen.

  2. Tap Edit in the upper-left corner. The shortcut icons shake.

  3. Tap a shortcut you want to delete. A blue checkmark appears on it.

  4. Tap any other shortcuts you want to delete.

  5. Tap the Trash icon in the upper-right corner.

  6. Tap Delete Shortcut (or Delete Number Shortcuts).

You can instead make duplicates of the selected shortcuts by tapping the duplicate button in the upper-right corner.

Use Shortcuts

There are all kinds of ways to use shortcuts, and each one is a little different based on its purpose. You can often simply tap the shortcut in the Library view of the Shortcuts app to launch it.

Some shortcuts, like Guitar Chord Finder (which you can find in the Gallery), prompt you to enter information (in this case, a chord) when you launch the shortcut. Others, like Identify Emoji, require you to have something copied to your clipboard to operate correctly.

To know for sure, you can view the shortcut’s actions by tapping the ellipsis button on the shortcut’s icon in the Library screen.

You don’t have to return to the Shortcuts app every time you want to use a shortcut—there are many other ways to use shortcuts in iOS.

Use the Shortcuts Widget

The Shortcuts widget gives you quick access to your shortcuts from the Lock screen or Home screen (Figure 73). See Wrangle Widgets to learn how to add it.

Figure 73: The Shortcuts widget offers quick access to shortcuts.
Figure 73: The Shortcuts widget offers quick access to shortcuts.

By default, the widget only shows four shortcuts, but you can expose many more by tapping Show More. To narrow down the list, tap Customize in Shortcuts, which takes you to a screen that lets you deselect and rearrange the shortcuts displayed in the widget.

Put Shortcuts on the Home Screen

You can add any shortcut to the Home screen, where it can be launched like any app:

  1. In the Library screen of the Shortcuts app, tap the ellipsis button of the shortcut you want to add to the Home screen.

  2. Tap the settings button.

  3. Tap Add to Home Screen, which takes you to Safari.

  4. Tap the Share icon.

  5. Tap Add to Home Screen.

  6. Tap Add.

An icon for the shortcut appears on your Home screen.

Call Shortcuts from Siri

You can also set up shortcuts so that they can be summoned with Siri:

  1. In the Library screen of the Shortcuts app, tap the ellipsis button of the shortcut you want to add to the Home screen.

  2. Tap the settings button.

  3. Tap Add to Siri.

  4. Tap the red button.

  5. Speak a phrase you want to use to activate the shortcut.

  6. On the final screen, you can tap Edit to re-record the phrase or tap Done to finish.

Now you can call Siri (see Speak to Siri) and speak your phrase to activate the shortcut.

Access Shortcuts from the Share Sheet

Many shortcuts are useful when called from the Share sheet. For example, the Gallery shortcut Where Was This Taken? can be summoned on its own, but it makes more sense to pull up a photo in Photos and call the shortcut from the share sheet.

To call a shortcut from the Share sheet:

  1. Tap the Share icon in an app like Photos or Safari (see Use Share Sheets).

  2. Tap the Shortcut button on the bottom row of the Share sheet (if it’s not there, refer back to Edit Share Sheets to learn how to add it).

  3. Tap the shortcut you want to run.

Not every available shortcut will appear in every context. For example, a shortcut that only accepts Safari webpages and URLs for input won’t appear in Photos.

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