A Short Introduction To Shortcuts
At our design agency, we make intuitive stuff every day. We love efficiency in our work, so whenever we can experiment with a new tool to improve our lives, we dive right into it.
One of those tools is Shortcuts, released by Apple with iOS 12. It’s a free app that lets you build automations that can perform multiple actions on your iPhone and iPad with a single tap. Any shortcut you have can be launched from the app, the Shortcuts widget or by asking Siri.
Sounds complicated? Don’t worry, I’ve got you. With this article, I set you up with a few shortcuts I made and challenge you to make them your own.
Here are a few examples of what a shortcut can do:
- Bedtime: set your alarm, enable airplane mode, and start a nighttime meditation
- Mood: play music for your mood
- Reminder: remind you of something when you get home
I’ll detail each of these below!
1. Bedtime shortcut
This shortcut is great to get you started. Before going to bed, tap to run the shortcut and perform all of these actions at once. If you don’t have the Headspace app yet, now’s a good time to try meditation. It’s really not as intimidating as it seems.
Feel like experimenting a bit? Add actions to the Bedtime shortcut that will turn down your brightness, activate Do Not Disturb, and send a personal “Goodnight!” message to your s/o.
I set up this shortcut for you. 👉 Download it here!
2. “Hey Siri, mood.”
Here’s a familiar scenario: you want to listen to music, but you’re not sure what you’re in the mood for. With this shortcut, you pick a mood and the Music app will start a playlist.
Take this shortcut to the next level by connecting your own playlists and by adding or removing moods!
3. Reminder when you get home
At some point during the day, you inevitably think of your pet at home. This shortcut uses the Reminders app to quickly set a reminder with a pre-defined location (like your home address) and notification.
Remind Me At Home is from Apple’s own library of example shortcuts. You can find them when you open the Shortcuts app, and then tap “Gallery” at the bottom. Take baby steps here – this tab can be quite overwhelming!
Ready to make your own?
Great! I encourage you to play with these shortcuts to make them work for you. I leave you with some more tips and tricks:
- Getting started with Apple’s new Shortcuts app (iMore)
- Shortcuts at a glance (Shortcuts User Guide)
- Siri Shortcuts Basics: learning the Shortcuts app! (Matthew Cassinelli on YouTube)
Came up with a cool shortcut or need help? @ me on Twitter or share it in the comments.
