There’s a free automation app on your iPhone that you’ve almost certainly ignored. It’s called Shortcuts — it lives on your home screen or in your App Library — and it can automate dozens of tasks you currently do manually every day. Changing volume when you plug in headphones. Turning on Do Not Disturb when you arrive at work. Sending a pre-written text when you’re on the way home. Logging water intake with one tap.
Shortcuts has been on iPhone since iOS 12, and its capabilities have expanded substantially each year. In 2026, with Apple Intelligence integration, it’s more powerful than ever. This guide shows you how it works, gives you the most useful automations for daily life, and tells you exactly how to set each one up — no coding required.
What iPhone Shortcuts Actually Is
Shortcuts is Apple’s built-in automation app. It lets you string together a series of actions — from apps, settings, and system features — into a single tap, voice command, or automatic trigger.
There are two types of Shortcuts:
- Manual Shortcuts run when you tap them on your home screen, in the Shortcuts app, or by asking Siri. Example: a shortcut that opens Maps to your home address, texts your partner ‘On the way home,’ and starts your commute playlist.
- Automations run automatically when a condition is met, without any tap needed. Conditions can be: time of day, location, when you connect/disconnect from a charger, when you open a specific app, when you receive a call from a specific contact, or dozens of other triggers.
How to Open and Navigate the Shortcuts App
- Find Shortcuts: Look for the app with a colourful geometric icon. If it’s not on your home screen, swipe down from the home screen and search ‘Shortcuts.’
- My Shortcuts tab: This is where your custom shortcuts live. Tap the + button in the top right to create a new one.
- Gallery tab: Apple’s pre-made shortcut templates — a good place to find ideas and one-tap setups for common tasks.
- Automation tab: Tap + to create a new automation — choose your trigger condition, then add the actions that should run automatically.
The 8 Most Useful iPhone Shortcuts and Automations
1. Commute Shortcut (Manual — One Tap)
What it does: Opens Maps with your work address, starts your preferred podcast or playlist, and turns on Do Not Disturb.
How to build it: Create a new Shortcut → Add Action: ‘Open App’ → Maps. Add Action: ‘Show Directions to [Work Address]’ → Add Action: ‘Play Music’ or ‘Play Podcast.’ Add Action: ‘Set Focus’ → Do Not Disturb → On. Name it ‘Commute’ and add it to your home screen.
Why it matters: You do this manually every morning. One tap does it all.
2. Morning Briefing (Automation — Triggered at Wake Time)
What it does: At your wake time, Siri reads aloud your Calendar events for the day, your Reminders due today, and the weather. Hands-free while you’re getting ready.
How to build it: Automation → + → Time of Day → [your wake time] → Add Actions: ‘Speak Text’ → add variable ‘Events Today’ from Calendar + ‘Reminders Due Today’ + current Weather. Enable ‘Run Immediately Without Asking.’
Why it matters: You get a full briefing without touching your phone — most useful on weekday mornings.
3. Low Battery Alert Text (Automation — Triggered by Battery Level)
What it does: When your battery drops below 20%, automatically sends a pre-written text to a family member or partner.
How to build it: Automation → + → Battery Level → Below 20% → Add Action: ‘Send Message’ → pre-written text like ‘My phone is below 20% — might lose contact.’ → choose recipient.
Why it matters: Replaces the manual ‘heads up’ text you forget to send, and prevents the missed calls that happen when your phone dies unexpectedly.
4. Arrive Home (Automation — Triggered by Location)
What it does: When your iPhone detects you’ve arrived at your home address, turns off Do Not Disturb, triggers a HomeKit scene (e.g. ‘Welcome Home’ lights), and optionally sends a notification to household members.
How to build it: Automation → + → Arrive at Location → set your home address → Add Actions: ‘Set Focus’ → Do Not Disturb → Off. If you use HomeKit: ‘Control Home’ → select your ‘Welcome Home’ scene.
Why it matters: Removes the 4–5 manual actions you take when walking through the door.
5. Do Not Disturb When Opening a Focus App (Automation — App Trigger)
What it does: When you open a specific app (Notion, VS Code, or any deep-work tool), automatically enables Focus mode and sets your screen brightness to 80%.
How to build it: Automation → + → App → Opens → [choose app] → Add Action: ‘Set Focus Mode’ → Work (or create a custom Focus) → On. Add Action: ‘Set Brightness’ → 80%.
Why it matters: Eliminates the manual ‘set up for deep work’ ritual. You open the app; the environment automatically adjusts.
6. Water Tracker (Manual — Home Screen Widget)
What it does: One tap logs a glass of water to the Health app, then shows a notification confirming how many glasses you’ve had today.
How to build it: Create a Shortcut → Add Action: ‘Log Health Sample’ → Water → 250ml (or your glass size). Add Action: ‘Show Notification’ → ‘Water logged! Total today: [Health: Water Today].’ Name it ‘Log Water’ and add to home screen.
Why it matters: The most common reason people stop tracking water is the friction of opening a dedicated app. One home screen tap eliminates the friction entirely.
7. End of Workday Routine (Manual or Automatic)
What it does: Archives your open browser tabs (saves to Notes), clears Reminders for completed tasks, turns off Work Focus, and sets a ‘wind down’ reminder for an hour before your target bedtime.
How to build it: Create a Shortcut → ‘Get Current Webpage’ from Safari + ‘Add to Note’ named ‘Daily Browser Archive.’ Add ‘Set Focus’ → Work → Off. Add ‘Set Timer’ → ‘Bedtime wind down in 1 hour’ (calculated from your target sleep time). Run as a manual shortcut named ‘End Work Day.’
8. Share ETA via Text (Manual — One Tap)
What it does: Gets your current location, calculates ETA to your home address, and sends a pre-formatted text with the ETA to a chosen contact.
How to build it: Create a Shortcut → ‘Get Current Location’ → ‘Get Directions’ → Home address → ‘Get Travel Time.’ Then ‘Send Message’ → ‘On my way home — ETA [Travel Time]’ to [Contact].
Why it matters: Replaces the ‘how long until you’re home?’ conversation with a one-tap answer every time.
Getting Shortcuts from the Gallery
You don’t have to build every shortcut from scratch. The Shortcuts Gallery (Gallery tab in the app) contains hundreds of pre-built shortcuts you can install with one tap and customise. Search the Gallery for your use case — ‘morning routine,’ ‘travel,’ ‘health’ — before building manually.
The Shortcuts subreddit (r/shortcuts) and websites like RoutineHub.co host thousands of community-built shortcuts for free download. Many advanced shortcuts — those involving complex logic, API calls, or multi-app coordination — are better downloaded and customised than built from scratch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do iPhone Shortcuts work without internet?
Most shortcuts work offline because they use on-device capabilities and locally installed apps. Shortcuts that require internet — such as those fetching weather data, sending messages, or using web APIs — require a connection at the time they run. Automations triggered by location or time of day work offline; automations that need to retrieve data from the web do not.
Can Shortcuts run automatically without me doing anything?
Yes — that’s what the Automation tab is for. Automations trigger based on conditions (time, location, battery level, app opened, charging state) without any user action. By default, iOS asks you to confirm automation runs with a notification tap. You can disable this confirmation for individual automations by toggling off ‘Ask Before Running’ — then they truly run without any interaction.
Can Shortcuts control smart home devices?
Yes, if your smart home devices use HomeKit (Apple Home). Shortcuts can control HomeKit devices directly — turning lights on or off, adjusting thermostats, running scenes, and locking smart locks. For non-HomeKit devices (Alexa-only, Google Home-only), Shortcuts can open the respective apps but cannot control the devices directly through Shortcuts actions.
Is there a limit to how many Shortcuts I can create?
No. You can create as many shortcuts as your storage permits, and there’s no Apple-imposed limit on the number of automations. In practice, most users find that 5–15 well-chosen shortcuts and automations cover the majority of their daily automation needs — beyond that, the management overhead can outweigh the time saved.
Do Shortcuts work with third-party apps?
Yes — thousands of apps add Shortcuts support, including Spotify, Chrome, Notion, Todoist, Fantastical, Carrot Weather, Drafts, and many more. App developers add ‘Shortcuts actions’ to their apps, which then appear when you search for actions in the Shortcuts builder. Apps with the Shortcuts symbol on their App Store pages indicate they support this integration.
Start With One Automation
The most common mistake with Shortcuts is trying to build a complex system all at once. Pick one thing you do manually every day that could be a single tap instead. Start with the Commute shortcut or the Water Tracker — both are simple to build and immediately useful.
Once you’ve built one shortcut and used it for a week, add another. The best iPhone automation system is the one built from genuine daily friction points, not from a list of ideas you read once and never implemented.
Your iPhone already has everything it needs to start automating your day. The only step left is opening the Shortcuts app.
