There’s this adage inproductivity, “if you have to do something more than once, you should automate it.“Automationis a great idea for those with the knowledge to do it. For a long time, that was me, being frustrated at doing tasks repeatedly with no skills to automate them. That was until I took the plunge and explored Apple’s Shortcuts app.
Shortcuts is a block-based automation app developed by Apple to make automating repetitive tasks more accessible. It’s an intimidating app at first. But I’ve found two ways to ease yourself into it. First, by having a problem and researching and testing until you create a solution – or by leveraging Shortcuts people have already made.
This article is about helping you discover Shortcuts to avoid repeating tasks, automate your life, and become more comfortable with the Shortcuts app. Along with a handful of selected Shortcuts, I’ve included links to otherPocket-lint articlesthroughout. At the end of this story, there are links to other fantastic Shortcuts creators. It’s all Shortcuts, Shortcuts, Shortcuts.
With that said, here are 10 Shortcuts that have changed my life.
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1First Thing and It’s Bedtime
Streamlining morning and evening actions
Every morning when I wake up, I run myFirst Thingshortcut. The last thing I do before bed is run my It’sBedtimeshortcut. These two have helped to automate my wake-up and bedtime routines. Previously, I found myself turning off extra alarms every morning to stop them from going off, telling Siri to turn lights on and off, and needing to manually turn Wi-Fi and orientation lock on if I forgot I turned them off during the day.
By running It’s Bedtime, I:
By running First Thing, I:
At one point, It’s Bedtime also AirPlayed white noise withDark Noiseto my HomePods with a 20-minute timer and set my iPhone’s colour to greyscale. “First Thing” turned off the greyscale in the morning.
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2Video Call
Making video calls easier
Video Callis one of my most used Shortcuts. I found that when I sat down for a video call, I had to set specific lights, open a particular video conferencing app, and connect my AirPods. Forgetting one of these steps became very annoying. So, I made this shortcut.
By running Video Call:
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3Elgato Light
Controlling the Elgato Key Light to Shortcuts
Bless theReddit communityfor providing the details on creating this shortcut. I bought anElgato key lightto help brighten my face while on video calls and making videos. The frustrating part is Elgato doesn’t offer an app with Shortcuts support. Fortunately, you may do some Shortcuts magic to turn this fantastic key light on and off, among other things, with a click of a shortcut. Running theElgato Lightshortcut connects to the light and runs an If statement. If the light is on, turn it off. Otherwise, turn the light on at a specific brightness.
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4Apple Frames
Saving me many hours of alignment
Apple Framesis a shortcut created byMac Stories’Federico Viticci. Apple Frames is an incredibly complex and powerful shortcut that fits an Apple device screenshot to a device frame, giving it a nice, clean look. Viticci is a far better shortcut builder than I am, so I’m grateful he released Apple Frames publicly. Apple Frames has no doubt saved me many hours of manually aligning images.
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5App Icon Downloader
Making App Store icons saveable
App Icon Downloaderis another fantastic shortcut I’ve sourced to help optimize my creative workflows. As a writer and presenter who mostly talks about Apple, I’ve occasionally talked about various apps. App Icon Downloader sources app icons from theApp Storeand gives them to me as a saveable PNG, making it easy to include app icons in article images and Keynote slides.
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6Watch In YouTube
Open right in the YouTube app
Watch In YouTubeis a shortcut I got while watching Stephen Robles'13 Easy YouTube Shortcuts for Creators and Viewers. The shortcut does pretty much what the name suggests; it takes a YouTube video link and pulls it up directly in the YouTube app rather than directing you to the in-app browser, then to Safari, and then to the YouTube app. To use this shortcut, press down on a link and tap Watch In YouTube from your Share Sheet. Your video will open in the YouTube app!
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7Action Button
Making the Action Button useful
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max are the first iPhones to debut theAction Button. This customizable button can be configured to, among other things, Shortcuts. There are several fantastic Action Button shortcut tips onPocket-lint. Still, I use mine to do a simple yet surprisingly helpful thing— – oggle aFocus mode. I have a Focus mode called HomeKit Silencer that only mutes HomeKit notifications. I created this Focus mode to limit HomeKit alerts when guests stay with me and they’re home when I’m not. Holding down on the Action Button runs an If statement: If the current Focus mode is HomeKit Silencer, turn it off. Otherwise, set Focus to HomeKit Silencer. you may do much more with your Action Button, but the small dose of convenience from just holding down theAction Buttonto change my Focus mode has been a game changer.
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8Start Screen Saver and Lock Mac
Simple yet functional
Having spent many years working in IT and cybersecurity, one tip is engrained in me: lock your computer when you walk away. Even though I now work from home, it’s still a habit I enjoy practicing. To help, I’ve created two Shortcuts:Screen SaverandLock Mac. Both appear in my Mac’s menu bar. Can you guess what they do? Screen Saver starts my Mac’s screen saver, and Lock Mac, you know, locks my Mac. Shocker, I know. While these Shortcuts may be simple, they’re nice to have. Recently, I added Lock Mac to my dock as an icon to make running it even easier.
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9Working Out
Comfortably getting them gains
I’ve been a long-time fan ofApple Fitness+. As someone who doesn’t care for the public setting that is a gym, I found Apple Fitness+ to be an easy and high-quality way to receive guided workouts. Like when I started a video call, I needed to configure several settings before beginning a Fitness+ workout on my TV and then reversing them afterward. I created myWorking Outshortcut to automate the progress.
By running Working Out:
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10Watch TV
Automating movie night
The final shortcut I’m sharing in this piece is calledWatch TV. This shortcut has gone through a few iterations, being tweaked as my life has changed. Still, it primarily automates the lighting and TV to enjoy movie night or TV time.
By running Watch TV:
There are three parts to this shortcut. When selecting Living Room or Gym Screen Saver, the selected TV switches to its screen saver. Similarly, when choosing Living Room or Gym Off, that TV goes to sleep.
When selecting Living Room or Gym, I’m prompted with another question: “What do you want to watch?” The options I set are Apple TV+, CBC Gem, Crave, Disney+, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. Whichever app is selected opens, followed by the running of four HomeKit scenes to close the blinds and adjust the lights.
Interested in more Shortcuts?
If you’re looking for more Shortcuts, consider visiting these fantastic resources:
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