If you own an iPhone, you are walking around with a remarkably powerful personal assistant in your pocket—and no, we aren’t just talking about Siri. We are talking about the Shortcuts app. For many Apple users, the Shortcuts app sits unused in a folder, a mysterious grid of colored squares that looks a bit too much like computer programming to be fun. But here is the secret: you don't need to be a tech wizard or write a single line of code to unlock its potential.
Shortcuts are essentially recipes for your phone. They allow you to string together multiple tasks—like sending a text, changing a setting, and opening an app—and perform them all with a single tap or a voice command. Imagine reclaiming fifteen minutes of your morning or removing the friction from your daily commute. By automating the repetitive parts of your day, you can focus on what actually matters.
Ready to turn your iPhone into a productivity powerhouse? Let’s look at how to transform your daily routine with these genius, yet accessible, iOS shortcuts.
1. The "Morning Briefing" Assistant
We all know the struggle of waking up. You roll over, squint at the bright screen, scroll through three different news apps, check the weather, and look at your calendar, all while trying to shake off the sleep. Instead of that chaotic scramble, imagine saying, "Hey Siri, Good Morning," and having your phone gently read you everything you need to know while you brush your teeth.
You can create a "Morning Briefing" shortcut that does the heavy lifting for you. This is one of the most popular uses for the app because it sets a positive tone for the entire day. You can customize this to fit your specific needs, but a standard briefing usually looks like this:
- Turn off Sleep Focus: The phone wakes up with you, brightening the screen and re-enabling notifications.
- Fetch the Weather: It grabs the forecast for your current location.
- Check Your Calendar: It looks at your first three events for the day.
- Speak Text: This is the magic part. You can have Siri say, "Good morning! The high today is 72 degrees. Your first meeting is at 9:00 AM with the marketing team."
- Play Audio: Finally, it can automatically start your favorite "Morning Coffee" playlist or the latest episode of a news podcast.
Pro Tip: To make this truly seamless, go to the "Automation" tab in the Shortcuts app and set this shortcut to run automatically the moment you stop your wake-up alarm. You won't even have to speak; your phone will just start briefing you the moment you wake up.
2. The "Heading Home" ETA Notifier
How many times have you been in the car, ready to drive home from work, and realized you need to text your partner, roommate, or family member to let them know when you’ll arrive? Texting while driving is dangerous and illegal, and fumbling with maps to find an exact time can be frustrating. The "Heading Home" shortcut solves this instantly.
This genius shortcut calculates your travel time based on current traffic conditions and sends a pre-written message to a specific contact. With one tap on your home screen (or by asking Siri), your phone performs complex calculations in the background and communicates for you.
Here is what happens in the background when you tap this button:
- The phone grabs your current location.
- It calculates the drive time to your home address using Apple Maps data.
- It drafts a text message that says: "I'm leaving work now! Maps says I'll be home in [Travel Time] minutes."
- It sends the message to your chosen contact automatically without you needing to press send.
- It immediately opens Maps and starts turn-by-turn navigation to your house.
This not only saves time but keeps you safe. You have communicated your status and started your navigation before you’ve even shifted the car out of park.
3. The "Super Low Power" Mode
We have all been there: you are out for the evening, your battery is hovering at 12%, and you don’t have a charger. While the built-in "Low Power Mode" on the iPhone is great, sometimes you need extreme measures to ensure your phone survives until you get an Uber home. You can build a "Super Low Power" shortcut that acts as an emergency life-raft for your battery.
Think of this as flipping the master switch on your home's breaker box. Instead of manually digging through settings menus to turn off features one by one, this shortcut does it all instantly.
A good battery-saving shortcut can trigger the following actions simultaneously:
- Set system appearance to Dark Mode (which saves battery on OLED screens).
- Turn brightness down to 10%.
- Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth completely.
- Turn off "Always On" display (for iPhone 14 Pro and newer).
- Turn on the standard Low Power Mode.
- Turn on "Do Not Disturb" to stop battery-draining notifications from lighting up your screen.
Quick Note: Remember to create a "I'm Back" shortcut that reverses these settings! Otherwise, you might spend the next day wondering why your screen is so dim and why your Bluetooth headphones won't connect.
4. The "Deep Focus" Timer
Distraction is the enemy of productivity. whether you are trying to study, finish a report, or just read a book for 30 minutes, your phone is usually the biggest obstacle. The "Deep Focus" shortcut is designed to lock you into a productivity zone instantly.
Rather than just silencing your phone, this shortcut sets up your environment for success. It integrates the "Timer" feature with "Focus Modes" to create a dedicated container for your work.
When you activate this shortcut, you can program it to:
- Ask you for input: "How many minutes do you want to focus?"
- Start a timer for that duration.
- Turn on your "Work" Focus Mode (which filters out social media notifications but keeps email active).
- Start a specific playlist, such as "Lo-Fi Beats" or "White Noise," at a set volume.
- Open your to-do list app or notes app automatically.
By ritualizing the start of your work session, you train your brain to switch into "work mode" the moment the music starts playing. It removes the friction of getting started, which is often the hardest part of any task.
5. How to Get Started (It’s Easier Than You Think)
If you are reading this and feeling intimidated, take a deep breath. You do not need to build these from scratch! Apple has made it incredibly easy to adopt these routines through the "Gallery" feature inside the Shortcuts app.
Here is the simplest way to add your first shortcut today:
- Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone.
- Tap on Gallery in the bottom right corner.
- Browse the collections. You will see categories like "Get Stuff Done," "Essentials," and "Morning Routine."
- When you find one you like, tap the + (Plus) icon or "Set Up Shortcut."
- Follow the on-screen prompts. The app will ask you simple questions like "What is your home address?" or "Which playlist do you want to play?" to customize the shortcut for you.
Once you have added a shortcut, you can add it to your Home Screen so it looks just like an app icon. Simply tap the three dots on the shortcut, tap the "Share" icon, and select "Add to Home Screen." Now, your complex automation is just a single button press away.
The beauty of iOS Shortcuts lies in their ability to evolve with you. Start with something simple, like the Heading Home text. Once you see how much mental energy it saves you, you’ll likely find yourself exploring new ways to automate your world. Your iPhone is capable of incredible things—sometimes you just have to ask it to do them for you.