10 Apple Shortcuts Life Hacks Every IPhone User Should Know
The Shortcuts app for iOS was introduced back in 2018, and since then, more and more shortcuts have appeared—both added by Apple and contributed by users. If you’ve never used the app, Shortcuts lets you create mini-apps that link a trigger (such as time of day or a button press) to an action (such as opening an app or turning off Wi-Fi). The vast number of triggers and actions available opens up a wealth of potential possibilities.
The best way to explain how Shortcuts works is to give a few examples of what it can do and how these small connectivity tools can help you expand your iPhone’s capabilities. Here are 10 examples demonstrating the power of Shortcuts.
Expand the capabilities of your action button.
If you have an iPhone with an action button, you probably know that its functions can be customized through the “Action Button” section of iOS Settings. However, with the Shortcuts app, you can expand the action button’s capabilities and set up a variety of different shortcuts using other keys.
Add a multi-function shortcut button to the quick settings list, then assign it to this button. Then, press and hold the shortcut button, then press the Volume Up button once, twice, or three times—each combination will create a new shortcut.
Go to the Quick Access Button settings page (tap the three dots in the “Quick Actions” gallery) and you can assign volume key presses to other shortcuts—playing podcasts, sending messages, or anything else. Your iPhone’s Quick Access button now has much more functionality.
Use News Report AI to get breaking news straight into Notes.
With the addition of News Report AI to Apple Shortcuts, you now have a simpler and more convenient way to stay up-to-date on the day’s news without wasting time searching online. Essentially, it converts your selected RSS feeds into individual entries in Apple Notes.
Here you’ll need to set up the RSS feed URLs using the three dots on the shortcut in the gallery (you can duplicate the shortcut if needed), but once you’re up and running, you’ll get the latest news (and AI annotations) right in Notes.
Save X videos with this keyboard shortcut.
There are times when you’re browsing the massive social network X and want to save a video you’ve found. It’s not easy to do this in the X app or on the X mobile website, but with the “Download Video X” shortcut, it’s easy.
Once added to Shortcuts, the easiest way to use Download Video X is to pin it to the Share bar in iOS (simply select “Edit Actions” when it appears next). You can then tap the Share button in the X app to find Download Video X and save your clips.
Expand your song repertoire with MusicBot.
Some of the best shortcuts you can create are related to Apple Music, and MusicBot is a perfect example. It offers a variety of features every time you use the shortcut, from displaying recently added music in your library to controlling playback on AirPlay 2 devices.
You can create smart mixes to rediscover forgotten tunes or listen to your best songs of the year, quickly add songs to playlists, clear your queue with a single tap, and, for example, dive into your favorite albums.
All of this requires some setup so MusicBot knows which playlists you want to use, but it doesn’t take long: you’ll be asked a few questions when you first set up a shortcut, and you can make changes later by tapping the three dots on the shortcut in the gallery.
The Save Current Location feature will record your location.
There are many reasons why you might want to save your current location: you want to remember where you parked your car, where the best fishing spot is, or how far you walked on a certain day, and the Save Current Location shortcut will help you do that.
Run the shortcut, and your current location on the planet will be saved to an Apple Note or copied to the clipboard, depending on your settings. It’s quick and easy, and you can combine it with automatic triggers (such as time of day) to make it even more useful.
Low battery alert will save your phone from running out of power.
Out of the box, your iPhone comes with settings that let you warn you when your battery is low and save power as much as possible, but Low Battery Notification goes further and provides more customizable alerts.
Specifically, it uses ChatGPT to allow you to customize both the battery status message and the voice it’s read out to tell you what’s happening with your battery.
Combined with the battery level triggers in the Automations tab under Shortcuts, you can set your iPhone to display any message you want when your battery level reaches a certain level—you can customize all the charging alerts you need.
Shazam & Save keeps track of what’s currently playing.
This isn’t a shortcut you need to download from the internet: you’ll find it in the Gallery tab of the Shortcuts app. Once added, your iPhone will track the song playing every time it opens and add it to your Apple Music library.
This is a great example of how shortcuts can enhance iOS’s existing capabilities—in this case, music recognition with Shazam. Adding a song to your library means you won’t forget about it.
Customize your daily routine after your morning alarm.
In addition to adding pre-made shortcuts, you can create your own. Click the “+” (plus) button in the “Library” tab to create a shortcut (what you want to happen), and the “+” (plus) button in the “Automation” tab if you want the shortcut to run automatically when a specific trigger occurs. Shortcuts can also be run manually.
Here’s an idea: Instead of just turning off your morning alarm and leaving it at that, why not set it to automatically display your favorite morning playlist and the route to the office (so you can see how bad the traffic is)?
When creating a shortcut, combine the actions “Music > Play Music” and “Maps > Get Commute Time,” filling in the required information as prompted. You can then combine the shortcut with the automation “Alarm > Stop.”
Get a low battery alert when you leave home.
You can set up a shortcut that will alert you when your iPhone’s battery is low when you leave the house—this will give you the opportunity to take a charger with you and avoid the situation where your phone runs out of battery after a few hours.
There are a few ways to do this: for the main shortcut, perhaps the simplest option is to combine the Get Battery Status and Show Alert actions (using the battery status variable as the alert content).
This shortcut can then be linked to the “Away > Home” option in the “Automation” tab and further customized as needed: for example, you can set it to run only at a certain time of day.
Perform certain actions in your car.
Under Automation, you’ll also see a CarPlay option: this allows you to run certain actions whenever you’re in your car and your iPhone is connected to the CarPlay dashboard.
Again, there are many options. One idea is to use the “Podcasts > Play Podcasts” and “Weather > Get Weather Forecast” actions so you can access audio content and know what weather conditions to expect during your trip.