Apple Shortcuts is one of the best things to happen to Siri and iOS in quite a while. But many people don’t use them — likely because they’re a bit out of the way. Is there a way to setup and access Shortcuts easily on your iPhone? You bet.
In addition to Shortcuts being an App Store download with an inherent learning curve, running shortcuts themselves can seem like a task. By default, you’ll need to open the actual Shortcuts app and tap on a shortcut to run it. That’s a few extra steps that most people aren’t likely to take.
There are several ways to make your shortcuts much easier to access. These options are a bit hidden (and require going into the Shortcuts app), but they’re worth the effort.
One of the easiest and less cluttered ways of getting to your shortcuts is to add the Shortcut widget to the Today View. That way, your shortcuts are within easy reach.
Add the Shortcuts Widget to Today View.
From the Home screen, swipe right to access the Today View.
Scroll to the bottom of the widget list.
Tap Edit.
In the Add Widgets menu, find and tap on the green + icon to the left of Shortcuts.
Tap Done when you’re finished.
You should now see the Shortcuts widget in your widget list. You can tap any of the shortcuts in the widget to activate it, and it’ll run the shortcut. If there are any complicated actions, it will open the Shortcuts app and then run.
Customize which shortcuts you want to see
At first look, the Shortcuts widget seems a bit disorganized. That’s because every shortcut in your library will appear in the widget by default.
You can edit which shortcuts appear in the widget in the Shortcuts app.
Edit the default Shortcut Widget behavior.
Open Shortcuts on your iOS device.
Tap the three-dot icon on the shortcut you’d like to add to the Home screen.
In the new menu that appears, tap the Settings icon in the upper-right corner. It’ll appear as two toggle sliders.
Tap Show in Widget to toggle the slider on or off.
When you’re finished, tap Done.
Add your favorite shortcuts to your iPhone Home Screen
Another easy way of accessing a shortcut is to simply add it to the home screen. It’ll appear as an icon, just like any app. That makes for easier access if you don’t mind the extra bit of app grid clutter.
Open Shortcuts on your iOS device.
Tap on the three-dot icon on the shortcut you’d like to add to the Home screen.
In the new menu that appears, tap on the Settings icon in the upper-right corner. It’ll appear as two toggle sliders.
If you’d like, you can also actually customize the icon that appears on your app grid. If not, skip past this part.
Customize your Shortcut icon.
Tap on the Icon option.
You can now customize the color of the icon and the glyph. There are quite a few options to choose from, so go crazy.
Alternatively, you can tap the Home Screen on the right. This will allow you to upload or take a photo with your iPhone’s camera that will serve as the app icon. Pretty cool.
Once you’ve customized your shortcut’s icon (or skipped customizing it), you can actually add it to the Home Screen.
Adding a Shortcut to the Home screen.
Make sure you are in the shortcut’s Settings menu.
Scroll down and tap on Add to Home Screen.
At this point, Safari should open up and load a new local webpage.
As the page advises, you’ll want to tap the Share Sheet icon.
Once the Share sheet is open, scroll to the right and tap Add to Home Screen.
Choose a name for the Home Screen icon.
When you’re done, click Add.
Now, you should see an actual app icon appear on your Home Screen.
To activate your shortcut, all you need to do is tap on it. It’ll quickly open the Shortcuts app and open your shortcut. If you are new to Shortcuts, you can learn the basics and explore via this quick Apple’s shortcuts user guide.
Access and enable Shortcuts using Siri voice command
Lastly, you can set up a customized voice command to enable your shortcuts. These are activated by invoking Siri and then speaking your phrase.
Here’s how to set it up.
Add a Shortcut to Siri for easy voice access.
Open Shortcuts on your iOS device.
Tap on the three-dot menu icon on the shortcut you’d like to add to Siri.
Tap the Settings icon in the upper-right corner. It’ll appear as two toggle sliders.
Now, select Add to Siri.
At this point, you’ll be asked to record a personalized phrase which will be used to access the shortcut. Once you’re done recording, tap Done.
Now you can activate the shortcut from anywhere in iOS. Just invoke Siri and say your personalized phrase. The shortcut will proceed to run.
We hope that you are going to take full advantage of these easy tips that make your shortcuts more accessible on your iPhone. Please let us know in the comments below if you have any questions or if you would like to share a tip or two.
Mike is a freelance journalist from San Diego, California.
While he primarily covers Apple and consumer technology, he has past experience writing about public safety, local government, and education for a variety of publications.
He’s worn quite a few hats in the journalism field, including writer, editor, and news designer.
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