Get Inspired with These 8 Shortcuts Automation for iOS

Recently, I have learned that many people did not really use the Shortcuts app. If you want to get started with Shortcuts app, you can check my favorite shortcuts collection to have a rough idea about what Shortcuts can do. 

In this post, I will a few Shortcuts automation examples. Automation was first introduced in iOS 13. Back then, not much was really automated without user intervention. Now, in iOS 17, Shortcuts Automation is much more functional and fun.

All Automation Triggers

When you open the Shortcuts app and go to the Automation section, you will see Personal Automation and Home Automation. Personal automation triggers allow you to execute actions on your devices while Home Automation on your Smart Home devices. 

Here, we will talk about Personal Automation. I will probably add Home Automation when I get more smart home devices. As in iOS 15, some triggers are fully automated while others require user intervention. 

The automations below can be triggered automatically:

• Time of Day
• Alarm
• Sleep
• CarPlay
• Apple Watch Workout
• NFC
• App
• Airplane Mode
• Do Not Disturb
• Low Power Mode
• Battery Level
• Charger

The automation requires user confirmation before running:

• Arrive
• Leave
• Before I Commute
• Email
• Message
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth

You can combine all these triggers with hundreds of actions or pre-made shortcuts that you find online. With so many possibilities, you may not know where to start. Here, I will give you a few Shortcuts Automation ideas to get you inspired. 

Play custom sound when charging iPhone

As mentioned the Battery Level trigger is fully automated, so you can set it to play any sound of your choosing. You can refer to the video below to see the detailed steps. 

In the video, I use the downloaded Javis sound online and save it to the Files app. You can also play any track in your Music Library. 

Step 1. Open Shortcuts app and go to the Automation section to Create a new Personal Automation.

Step 2. Select the Charger trigger and tap Next to continue. 

Step 3. Add Get File from Folder action and specify the audio sound name and file path. 

Step 4. Add a Play Sound action below. You can tap the Play button to see if it plays the correct sound. 

Step 5. Save the automation and uncheck the option Ask Before Running. 

You can also create an automation task to play custom sound when unplugged. Of course, you can also custom the automation to run when the battery level reaches a certain point.

Do not disturb on gaming

It is pretty annoying that a notification pops up during gaming. Luckily, you use Shortcuts to automatically turn on Do Not Disturb mode when you open a specific game app. Sounds good? You can follow the steps below to set it up.

Step 1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap on ‘Automation’. Tap on the ‘plus’ icon and then  ‘Create Personal Automation’ to create a new automation.

Step 2. Select the App trigger and choose the app you want to run the automation for. For example, I choose “Dotcraft”.

Step 3. Tap “Add Action” to add the “Do not disturb” action.  Tap on the variable that reads ‘off’ and change it to “On”.

Step 4. Tap ‘Next’, uncheck the option ‘Ask Before Running’ and tap on ‘Done’.

If you also play other games, you can also create another automation. After that, whenever you launch a game app of choice, your iPhone will automatically switch to Do Not Disturb mode.

Great Morning

In the morning, you can create an automation task to run a morning shortcut when alarm goes off. There are many morning routine shortcuts that you can find online with a custom shortcut search engine. 

Here, I recommend Great Morining shortcut from Routinehub. It will tell you the weather, reminders, GPS, calendars, date, and more. In addition, it supports any RSS feeds, calendar events, travel times, etc. You can custom your morning shortcut based on your preference.

To set it up, you just create a new personal automation, choose “Alarm” as the trigger, and select when the Alarm is Stopped to continue. Tap “Add Action” to add “Run Shortcut”. Then tap on the Shortcut to select the Morning shortcut that you want to run. 

Schedule message

The Time of Day is fully functional as it should have been without user intervention since iOS 14. Now, you can create an automation task to send scheduled text message on iPhone without third-party apps. You can read this post about the detailed steps and a trick to schedule text message on iOS 13. 

As before, you just create a new personal automation, set the Time of Day as the trigger, and specify the exact time for it. Then You add the “Send Message” action and fill the message text and recipient. As always, be sure to uncheck the option “Ask Before Running” when you save the automation. 

Besides sending a text message, you can also use the “Send Email” action or “Send Message via Whatsapp”. However, Whatsapp doesn’t allow scheduling text messages via third-party services, so it will only bring you to Whatsapp messing screen. 

Change Wallpaper Automatically

Since iOS 14.3, the Change Wallpaper action is available in Shortcuts, so you can use Shortcuts to change wallpaper automatically. You can create a shortcut to select an image from the Photos app or the Files app. You can watch the video below to see how it works. 

You can set the automation trigger based on your needs. For me, I choose the Time of Day and run it on Sunrise and Sunset. I get this idea from a Reddit post. If you want to choose wallpaper from Files app, you should save the wallpaper images to iCloud/Shortcuts folder. 

When you add the Change Wallpaper action, it allows you set the image as both Lockscreen and Wallpaper. Of course, you can tap on it to change wallpaper only. 

Run Shortcut Every X Days

The Shortcut Automation allows you to create daily, weekly, and Monthly schedule tasks. If you want to run a shortcut every 3/4/5 days, I have made a shortcut for it. You can get the shortcut and set up an automation to run a shortcut every X days.

Step 1. Open the shortcut in edit mode, change the number of days to run accordingly.

Step 2. Add a shortcut that you want to run.

Step 3. Change the date action whether you want to run it today.

Step 4. create a daily automation to run this shortcut.

Standby Screen Always On

in iOS 17, Apple introduced Standby Mode, but Apple Only allows iPhone 15/14 Pro and Pro Max models to keep the screen always on. This Standby shortcut is for iPhone 15/14 and Plus models to keep the screen always on while charging.

Once you get the shortcut, you go to create an automation to run this shortcut when connected to a charge. If you unplug your iPhone, the screen will go off in 20 seconds.

Automatically Rename Screenshots Powered by ChatGPT

If you are looking for a way to organize your screenshots and give them meaningful names, this Screenshot Renamer shortcut is your thing. It is a clever automation that uses artificial intelligence to extract text from your screenshots and generate a descriptive filename.

You can run this shortcut daily or whenever you want. To use this shortcut, you need to have the ChatGPT app installed on your iPhone. You also need to choose a folder where you want to store your screenshots. The shortcut is easy to set up and use, and it can save you a lot of time and hassle.

Conclusion 

I have set up this automation on my iPhone a long time ago. They definitely have made my life easier. Hopefully, you also find these useful and learn how Shortcuts Automation works. 

Based on these automations, you can make a lot of customizations. You can also create other custom automations. If you have any questions regarding Shortcuts, be sure to leave a comment down below.