How to Use Shortcuts on Your iPhone to Save Time
How many times a day do you tap or swipe your phone screen? One study suggests the number is over 2,600 times for the average smartphone user. Though it’s ten-year-old research, the conclusion is clear. That’s a lot of finger action… and a fair amount of mental work as well. Any way to reduce all these taps would be welcome, and Apple offers one solution.
Apple Shortcuts has been around for years in a dedicated iPhone app called… Shortcuts. You select from a variety of predesigned shortcuts to activate that will help speed up certain tasks on your iPhone.
You can also create your own shortcuts using a series of ‘actions.’ You can even automate many shortcuts to run automatically.
(Yes, they’re called… automations.)
If you’re new to using these shortcuts, their powers enable you to combine multiple actions with a single tap (or you can also use Siri).
How to Set Up an Apple Shortcut
To get started in Shortcuts, you simply select the Gallery icon on the bottom of your screen. This brings up all of Apple’s shortcuts. Then if you tap on one of them, it explains what it does. If you want to activate it, tap on “Add Shortcut” or “Set up Shortcut” on the bottom.
After that, the new shortcut is easily accessible in the main library view in the Shortcuts app. You can also choose to create a little icon for your shortcut that lives on your phone’s home screen for even quicker access.
You activate the icon by tapping on the three dots on the top right of the colorful shortcut box. This brings up more choices. Select the drop down by the name on top and select “Add to Home Screen.”
Six Shortcuts to Try that I’ve Found Useful
Dictate & Share
There are multiple ways to dictate messages on your iPhone, but this as efficient as it gets. You tap the shortcut to begin recording, and then you can immediately start talking. After you’re done, you choose where to send your text file.
Email Myself
Though this may feel old school, emailing something to yourself can still be a quick solution. Once you activate this shortcut, it’s available directly from the ‘Share Sheet’ that displays after you tap the ‘share’ icon (square with the up arrow).
Directions to Event
Sometimes when I get in the car to drive to an appointment, I realize I need directions. Then, I have to open my Calendar app and tap on the address I’ve added to my appointment. This activates my Maps app and I’m ready to go.
But this shortcut speeds up that process by instantly pulling the address and sending it to the Maps app. (No more need to first open my Calendar app.)
Estimate Meeting Travel Time
Have you ever worried how long a drive is going to take depending on traffic conditions? As long as you’ve added an address and day/time in your calendar for your destination, this shortcut first confirms the future event and then calculates the current estimated travel time.
This is especially helpful a few hours before you intend to leave to see if traffic is already building up.
Share Location
There are several ways to do this from your phone, but this shortcut enables you in one tap to immediately share your location to a predetermined contact via text.
No need to go to your Messages app and choose who you’re texting. It’s lightning fast.
Play Podcast
Often, when I decide to listen to a podcast, I get a little cranky spending time after I open the Podcasts app to find my specific podcast, even if I follow it. If you have a favorite podcast, this enables one-tap access to it from your iPhone’s home screen. No Podcasts app required.
I created this shortcut myself by simply tapping on the plus-sign at the top right of the Shortcuts’ screen. Then I typed “Podcast.”
From there, I scrolled to the bottom, which displayed the podcasts I’ve been listening to. Next, I selected the podcast I wanted. After that, at the top drop down, I updated the name of my podcast shortcut and tapped “Add to Home Screen.”
You can repeat this process for as many podcasts as you like.
Be Kind to Your Finger
Shortcuts certainly aren’t as cool as what AI can do for you these days, but they do eliminate some unnecessary finger taps throughout your day.
Alternately, you can continue to take the extra few seconds to do it all yourself for each screen task. But those seconds add up quickly!
I do think proactively setting up easy shortcuts to help simplify your own user interface is a no brainer.
For your consideration…
