The Power of Shortcuts: Unlocking Your iPhone's Full Potential

Shortcuts are a feature within the Shortcuts app that allows you to automate the things you do on your phone every day. This powerful tool enables you to visually string together actions offered by the apps you have installed, making it easier to streamline your daily routine and increase productivity.

One of the most basic yet useful shortcuts is setting up a shortcut for repetitive tasks within the Settings app. If you find yourself frequently changing the same settings over and over again, you can automate this process with a shortcut. The Settings app offers a range of accessibility toggles that you can add to your shortcut, including features like orientation lock, screen brightness, volume, and device power on/off options. Furthermore, under the Scripting category in the Device section, you can set things like screen rotation and volume levels to be context aware, depending on whether you are at work or at home, if you have Focus modes set up.

For example, one user has created two shortcuts that they can access from their lock screen. One shortcut turns on Light Mode and adjusts the text size to its default setting, making it easier to take screenshots and create screen recordings for videos. The other shortcut switches to Dark Mode and reduces the text size to a preferred level, ideal for reading in bright sunlight. These simple yet effective shortcuts demonstrate how automation can make everyday tasks more efficient.

Another way to utilize shortcuts is to turbocharge your iPhone's action button. If you have an iPhone with an action button, it was likely set up during the initial setup process and may have been used only a handful of times since then. However, this feature can be leveraged even further by assigning a shortcut to the action button. To do this, create a new shortcut using actions like Ask Google or Open App, and set it to whatever app you prefer. Then, assign that shortcut to the action button, allowing you to simply click it to open your favorite chatbot or other desired application.

This level of customization can be particularly useful for individuals who frequently interact with voice assistants like ChatGPT, Google Assistant, or Amazon Alexa. By assigning a shortcut to the action button, users can quickly access these services without having to navigate through multiple menus or screens. For those who often find themselves saying "Hey Siri," this feature can also be used to assign shortcuts to Siri commands, allowing for even greater automation and convenience.

In addition to these specific examples, there are countless other ways to utilize shortcuts on your iPhone. With the power of automation at their fingertips, users can create shortcuts that cater to their unique needs and preferences. By exploring the various options available within the Shortcuts app, users can unlock a world of possibilities for personalization and productivity.

Whether you're looking to streamline your daily routine, increase efficiency, or simply make your phone more legible in bright sunlight, shortcuts offer an exciting way to harness the full potential of your iPhone.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enShortcuts let you automate the things you do on your phone every day.In the Shortcuts app, you can visually string together actions offered by the apps you have installed.You can run a shortcut just by asking Siri, or by putting a widget on your home screen.Not a lot of people know this powerful feature exists, so as an introduction, I'm going toshow you the eight best shortcuts to show you what's possible.Let's start with one of the more basic shortcuts that you can set up yourself.If you regularly go into the Settings app to change the same few things over and overagain, you might be able to automate it with a shortcut.For example, the Settings app offers a bunch of accessibility toggles for all of thosefeatures that you can add to your shortcut.And under the Scripting category, in the Device section, you can set things like the orientationlock, the screen brightness, the volume, even locking or powering off the device.Using the Get Current Focus action, you can even have these settings be context aware, whether you'reat work or at home, if you have Focus modes set up.For example, I have two shortcuts that I can access from my lock screen.One turns on Light Mode and changes the text size to its default setting.Another one switches to Dark Mode and lowers the text size to where I like to keep it personally.I use these for taking screenshots and making screen recordings for my videos, but anybodycould use these if you want to make your phone more legible on a bright sunny day outside.Next up, you can use shortcuts to turbocharge your iPhone's action button.If your iPhone has an action button, you probably set it up when you first got it, maybe usedit once or twice within the first week, and promptly forgot about it ever since.But you can get more out of it because you can assign the action button to a shortcutthat can do anything.For example, if you use ChatGPT or other voice assistants like Google Assistant or AmazonAlexa, you can assign them to the action button.Create a new shortcut using the Ask Google action or the Open App action and set it towhatever app you want.Then assign that shortcut to the action button, and you can just click it to open your favoritechatbot.If you often say to yourself, \"Ooh, I should add that to my grocery list,\" and you literallynever do, you can solve that problem with the action button.Create a new shortcut using the Add New Reminder action.Tell it to ask for input and assign it to your shopping list, and then assign that shortcutto the action button.With one click, you can instantly add items to your shopping list.Can't decide on just one thing?Well, who said you can only pick one?Make a shortcut with the Choose From Menu action.To make the action button, bring up a quick menu of settings.I made a whole video on more things the action button can do in this video here.Next up, let's talk about images.The iPhone tries to make you not think about image file formats, but they're still important.Photos are taken in either .heic or .jpg formats, or as Apple describes them, \"more efficient\"and \"more compatible.\"The Photos app supports animated GIFs, but it also supports similar-looking Live Photosthat can be turned into looping animations that are actually completely different behindthe scenes.And sometimes the difference matters.With just one shortcut that you can download by tapping here, you can regain control ofyour photo formats.After you've downloaded the shortcut, tap the three dots button on the upper right,and then tap the ⓘ, and make sure Show in Share Sheet is checked.Now when you go back to your photos, you can tap the share sheet on any one, tap ConvertImage, and set it to whatever format you want.Animated GIF, which only works on live photos or videos, .jpg, or .png.These will come in handy if you're trying to upload an image to the web that only accepts.jpeg but not .heic, if you're trying to share a GIF in a third-party app that doesn't supportLive Photos, or if you're trying to download an image from the web that only serves inthat irritating .webp format.Next up, the Apple Frames shortcut by MacStories is an absolute masterpiece.It takes an ordinary screenshot in your photo library and adds your phone on top of itfor a much more professional looking image.It works in both portrait and landscape orientations, and on Apple Watch, iPad, and certain modelsof Mac.It's not just for tech bloggers like me.If you ever want to put a screenshot on social media, in a presentation, in a document, ona flyer, the Apple Frames shortcut adds one quick step with much more professional looking,cleaner results.You can copy the image to your clipboard to paste on a different device, add it to yourPhoto Library, save it to Files, or bring up the share sheet to AirDrop it or send itover Messages.It even has settings where you can customize it to your liking.You can choose whether an input of multiple images will piece them all together in one,or save them as multiple separate images.You can even make a different shortcut that controls the Apple Frames shortcut for makingcustom actions without picking apart the immensely complicated Apple Frames shortcut itself.Next up is a shortcut that adds a missing feature to Apple Music.You see, on the Mac app, you can bring up the Up Next queue, and with one button you canclear the entire contents.On the iPhone you can bring up this list by tapping this button in the bottom right ofthe Now Playing screen, and you can swipe left on an item to delete it one by one, butthere's not a single button where you can clear the entire list at once.However, if you download the Clear Apple Music Queue shortcut, there's an easy way to do it.Anywhere you see this three dots button, tap on that, tap share, and then scroll down andin the share sheet you'll see Clear Apple Music Queue.Just tap that, and instantly your queue is empty.For easier access, you can also add this shortcut to your Home Screen.One of the more fun features of the iPhone is the ability to copy things out of photosas stickers that you can drop in an iMessage chat or a Snapchat.But it's not easy adding a sticker on top of another photo without using a third partyapp like Pixelmator.This Overlay Images shortcut makes it incredibly easy.You pick your starting photo, then you pick the photo you'd like to add on top of it,and you can choose whether to cut out the background or not.Then you can move it around and resize it on top, and just tap done to save it to yourPhoto Library.And just like that, you've combined two photos.This next shortcut is incredibly simple, but it's honestly a lifesaver:Open in Safari.If you're ever inside an app and you want to open what you're looking at in the webbrowser but you can't figure out how, well if you can find the share sheet, then youcan tap Open in Safari to… open it in Safari.It's honestly a lifesaver.Last but not least, one of the superpowers of the iPhone is that it can act as a remotefor the Apple TV.And it's super convenient.You can just bring up control center, tap the remote button, and there it is.You don't have to download an app, you don't have to sign into anything.It's built into every iPhone.But sometimes having an app icon on your home screen will be really convenient, especiallyif you're an Apple TV power user.Well you can add one by making a Siri Shortcut.Get started by downloading the Remote shortcut here.Then in the Shortcuts app, tap the three dots button to edit it.Then you're going to tap Apple TV and specify which Apple TV you want to control.If you have multiple Apple TVs in your life, then you can tap ask each time.Then add it to your home screen by tapping the share button, and tap add to home screen.You can put the icon wherever you want, and now you have a faster way to access the remotewithout bringing up control center every time.So those are eight examples of what you can do with shortcuts.To check out more ways you can customize your phone, click this video here.Remember to like and subscribe.I'm D. Griffin Jones with Cult of Mac.\n"