The Shortcuts app has lengthy been one in all Apple’s lesser-used choices, and that’s a disgrace, as a result of it might probably supercharge your iPhone’s capabilities. With a single faucet, you possibly can flip in your smart lights, elevate the temperature in your smart thermostat, and begin an energetic playlist—and that’s only one instance.
Like the macOS version, the cellular Shortcuts app is actually an automation instrument that may mix many duties into one motion that you simply launch with a faucet or a phrase to Siri. Introduced in 2018 alongside iOS 12, the app is constructed into the iPhone’s working system, so that you’ll discover it on one of your home screens or within the App Library. From the app’s Shortcuts tab, you can begin manually constructing your individual shortcut, or set up a prebuilt one from the built-in shortcut gallery or the online.
1. Get your self within the temper to focus
A great way to start out utilizing Shortcuts is to put in one made by another person—you’ll be able to all the time open the instrument as much as see the way it works and adapt it to your wants if crucial. Go to the Gallery tab within the app, search for a shortcut referred to as Reading Mode, and set up it by tapping the plus icon on the shortcut’s thumbnail.
Reading Mode is a good instance of how shortcuts mix a number of actions: It activates Do Not Disturb, switches to dark mode, opens your reading app of choice and even begins the Apple Music playlist you specify. Tap the three dots on the shortcut entry as soon as it’s put in to customise any of those actions.
2. Edit pictures in batches

As you get extra assured with Shortcuts, you can begin constructing your individual—it helps to consider duties and teams of actions you do repeatedly in your telephone. To create a shortcut from the Shortcuts tab, faucet the plus icon within the prime proper nook and hit Add Action to get began.
If you need to, say, automate a collection of picture edits you do time and again, select Apps, Photos, then Select Photos. From the All Actions checklist, choose Resize Image as the subsequent motion, and enter the specified dimension. The ultimate motion is Save to Photo Album. Tap Done to avoid wasting your shortcut.
That’s a fundamental instance, however there are many different picture modifying actions out there, together with the power to remove backgrounds and rotate pictures, so you’ll be able to mix them as you want.
3. Use ChatGPT with Siri

It’s tough to avoid ChatGPT in the mean time, and the AI chatbot can be utilized in tandem with Siri in your iPhone. First, register a free account with ChatGPT developer OpenAI, then grab an API key from its site. API (software programming interface) keys are merely identification codes that allow one program (Shortcuts) work with one other (ChatGPT).
With the important thing in hand, open the SiriGPT shortcut in your iPhone’s net browser and faucet Get Shortcut. In the Shortcuts app, choose Set Up Shortcut, paste or kind in your API key, and select Add Shortcut.
If you’d prefer to launch this shortcut utilizing your voice, you’ll in all probability need to rename it to one thing easier—achieve this by urgent and holding it, then selecting Rename. Launch the shortcut with a faucet or a voice command, and ChatGPT shall be at your disposal.
4. Let somebody know once you’ll be residence

One of the advantages of operating shortcuts in your iPhone quite than your Mac is that it offers a way more exact repair in your location. That can turn out to be useful for all types of automations.
Head to the Gallery tab and search for the Home ETA shortcut. When you put in and run it, it’ll work out how lengthy it ought to take you to drive residence, after which textual content your estimated time of arrival to the contact of your alternative.
[Related: 14 tricks for getting more out of the underrated Apple Maps app]
Open the shortcut from the Shortcuts tab by tapping on the three dots on its entry, and also you’ll be capable of simply change the deal with the shortcut defaults to, in addition to the contact(s) who obtain the message about your ETA.
5. Look again in your day

If you faucet Gallery within the Shortcuts app and use the search operate, it is best to discover a shortcut referred to as Reflect on the Day that does precisely what its title suggests. You’ll be requested to reply questions on how your day has been, and you may also set objectives for tomorrow.
Your responses shall be saved in the Notes app, so you’ll be able to observe your progress over time, and the shortcut will even set reminders for the subsequent day so that you don’t overlook your objectives. To edit the questions the shortcut asks you on the finish of every day, open it up by tapping the three dots on its thumbnail.