Let's be honest. Most of us use our iPhones for about three things: texting, scrolling through something we’ll forget in ten minutes, and checking the weather. But there’s this app sitting on your home screen—the one with the overlapping pink and blue diamonds—that basically lets you play God with your hardware. If you’ve ever wondered how to make a shortcut on iPhone to automate the annoying parts of your day, you’ve probably opened that app, seen the "Scripting" menu, and closed it immediately. It looks like coding. It feels like homework.
It’s actually not that deep.
Apple’s Shortcuts app is essentially a digital "If This, Then That" machine. You tell the phone, "Hey, when I do this specific thing, I want you to perform these three actions in order so I don't have to." It saves seconds, and over a year, those seconds turn into hours of not staring at a loading screen or digging through settings menus.
The Simple Way to Start: Gallery vs. Scratch
Most people think they need to build something from the ground up. You don't. Apple actually employs people to sit around and dream up useful stuff for you. When you open the app, look at the bottom right. There’s a "Gallery" tab. It’s a goldmine. You want a shortcut that turns your latest photos into a GIF? It's in there. Want a timer for washing your hands that starts when you get home? Also there.
But you're here because you want to know how to make a shortcut on iPhone that is specific to you. Maybe you want a button that texts your spouse "I'm leaving work" and simultaneously pulls up the fastest route home on Google Maps while playing your "Driving" playlist on Spotify. That’s a custom job.
First, hit the plus (+) icon in the top right of the "All Shortcuts" screen. This is your blank canvas. Don't let the white space intimidate you. You're just stacking blocks. Think of it like Lego. Each "Action" is a brick. You search for an action, like "Send Message," and you drag it into the workspace. Then you search for "Get Directions" and slap it underneath.
How to Make a Shortcut on iPhone for Daily Sanity
Let's build a real-world example. A "Deep Work" shortcut is a classic. You want your phone to go into Do Not Disturb, turn on a specific lo-fi playlist, and set a timer for 25 minutes.
First, search for "Set Focus." Tap it. Change it to "Turn Do Not Disturb On until Turned Off."
Next, search for "Play Music." You can tap the "Music" variable to pick a specific album or playlist from your library.
Finally, search for "Start Timer." Set it for 25 minutes.
That’s it. You just automated three separate manual tasks into one tap. Honestly, the hardest part of learning how to make a shortcut on iPhone isn't the technical side; it's remembering that the app exists when you're actually busy.
Why "Automations" Are Different (And Better)
Shortcuts are great, but you still have to trigger them. You have to tap a button or tell Siri to do it. Automations are the real "pro" level. These happen without you touching a single thing.
Go to the "Automation" tab in the middle of the bottom bar. Tap "New Automation." This is where things get weirdly specific and incredibly useful. You can set a trigger based on:
- Time of Day: At 8:00 AM, run my "Morning Briefing."
- Location: When I arrive at the gym, open my workout app.
- Battery Level: When my phone hits 20%, turn on Low Power Mode and dim the screen to 10%.
- NFC Tags: You can buy cheap stickers on Amazon, put one on your nightstand, and make it so that tapping your phone to the sticker turns off all your lights and sets your alarm.
Dealing with the "Ask Before Running" Headache
If you've tried this before, you might have run into a prompt that asks for permission every single time the automation triggers. It ruins the point. Who wants a "hands-free" automation that requires a thumb-tap to confirm?
When you’re setting up a personal automation, there’s a toggle at the bottom that says "Ask Before Running." Turn that off. Seriously. Toggle it off and confirm you're sure. Now, the phone will just do the thing. Note that for certain security-sensitive triggers, like arriving at a location, Apple used to be very strict about this, but in recent iOS versions, they’ve loosened the reins a bit.
Variables: The Part Where People Get Confused
If you want to get fancy, you’ll encounter "Variables." This is just a placeholder for information. For instance, if you want to make a shortcut that calculates a tip, the "Input" (your bill amount) is the variable.
You can use an action called "Ask for Input." Tell it to ask for a number. Then, use the "Calculate" action. You tell the shortcut to take that "Provided Input" and multiply it by 0.20. Then you add another "Calculate" action to add that result back to the original bill. It sounds like math class, but it’s just logic.
Beyond the Basics: Scripting and Third-Party Apps
The real power of knowing how to make a shortcut on iPhone comes when you realize it can talk to other apps. Not just Apple apps.
Apps like Carrot Weather, Drafts, and Fantastical have "Shortcuts Support." This means they expose their internal "guts" to the Shortcuts app. You can create a shortcut that takes a voice memo, transcribes it using an AI tool, and then saves it as a formatted note in your favorite writing app.
Matthew Cassinelli, a former workflow expert who actually worked on the team that Apple acquired to create Shortcuts, often points out that the best shortcuts are the ones that solve a "friction point." If you find yourself doing the same three taps every day, that’s a shortcut waiting to happen.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Don't overcomplicate it. Beginners often try to build a "Life OS" shortcut on day one. It crashes. It's slow. It doesn't work. Start with two-step actions.
Another mistake? Forgetting to name them something Siri can understand. If you name your shortcut "XJ-99-Beta," Siri is going to look at you like you're speaking Martian. Name it "Work Mode" or "Bedtime."
Also, watch out for the "Show When Run" toggle inside individual actions. If you're running a shortcut to send a text, and "Show When Run" is on, the Messages app will pop up and wait for you to hit send. If you turn it off, the message just flies out in the background. Pure magic.
Organizing Your Shortcuts
Once you've mastered how to make a shortcut on iPhone, your library is going to look like a disaster zone. Use folders. You can long-press on any shortcut and move it to a folder.
Better yet, use Widgets. You can put a "Shortcuts" widget on your Home Screen or your Today View (the screen you see when you swipe right from the lock screen). This gives you a literal dashboard of custom buttons.
Technical Limitations and Security
Apple is big on privacy. This means a shortcut can't just go rogue and start deleting your emails or sending your location to strangers without you knowing. The first time a new shortcut tries to access a specific app or website, it will ask for permission. Once you grant it, it won't ask again.
However, there are things Shortcuts cannot do. It cannot change deep system settings like your Apple ID or your face recognition data. It's an automation tool, not a jailbreak.
Sharing Your Creations
You can actually send your shortcuts to friends. Hit the "Share" icon on a shortcut, and it generates an iCloud link. Your friend taps the link, and the shortcut is added to their library. Just be aware that if you have a shortcut that includes your home address or specific contact names, those might be visible in the "actions" if your friend looks closely at the steps.
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Practical Next Steps
Now that you've got the theory, go do it. Don't just read about it.
- Pick one annoyance. Is it logging your water intake? Is it sending a "Home soon" text?
- Open the Shortcuts app and try to build it using only two actions.
- Add it to your Home Screen. Long-press the shortcut in the library, hit "Details" (the 'i' icon or the three dots), and select "Add to Home Screen." It’ll look just like an app icon.
- Test it. If it fails, look at the error message. It usually tells you exactly which "block" is broken.
The "Shortcuts" community on Reddit (r/shortcuts) is also a fantastic resource if you get stuck. People there share complex "recipes" for everything from downloading YouTube videos to tracking complex medical symptoms.
Stop doing manual labor on a $1,000 supercomputer. Start automating.