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    "parsed_content": "Software and appsApple Shortcuts Used to Be Weird and Confusing. Now It\u2019s the Best Way to Use Your iPhone.Published September 14, 2026Dave Gershgorn\/NYT Wirecutter via Apple ShortcutsBy Dave GershgornDave Gershgorn is a writer covering monitors, laptops, and tablets. He is a certified display calibrator through the Imaging Science Foundation.The first thing anyone does when getting a new phone is make sure they have access to all their apps. After all, apps are what connect you to your family, your friends, your bank, your work.\u00a0Historically, iPhone apps couldn\u2019t take actions by themselves. Leaving your house didn\u2019t trigger the Spotify app to turn on your music, for example, and your Toyota app wouldn\u2019t automatically lock your connected car when you disconnected from CarPlay.\u00a0The Shortcuts app changes that.Preinstalled on your iPhone by default, the Shortcuts app allows you to string together features from different apps that it can run on a schedule or on command. For instance, if you like to text your partner to tell them that you\u2019re on your way home from work, you can set up a shortcut that sends that prewritten text for you when your phone detects that it has left a certain location. Or maybe you miss the speed-dial feature of an earlier digital era and want to create a button on your home screen that initiates a call to a specific contact. That\u2019s a shortcut\u2019s work too.\u00a0Shortcuts have been around for a while, but they used to be confusing to create. With the release of iOS 27, shortcuts are no longer as difficult to make as they once were. Apple is using AI to massively improve the shortcut-creation experience on the iPhone (and in the newest versions of iPadOS and macOS). Now you open the Shortcuts app and answer the simple question: \u201cWhat do you want your shortcut to do?\u201d I\u2019ve been testing the iOS 27 beta all summer, and the Shortcuts app now saves me time and mindless screen tapping every day. Now that iOS 27 is available for anyone to download, I recommend trying it out. Here\u2019s how to get started.Get today\u2019s recommendationExpert advice. Very good deals. The absolute best (and worst) things we\u2019ve tested lately. Sent to your inbox daily.Sign UpFor information about our privacy practices, including how to opt out of marketing emails, see our Privacy Policy. For general questions, contact us anytime.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTHow shortcuts workThe simplest kind of shortcut is just an action (or a series of actions) that happens when you trigger it. You can add a button to trigger a shortcut on your home screen, in the Control Center, or in the screen that pops up when you share something.\u00a0Some of the most helpful shortcuts work across Apple\u2019s apps. For example, you can set an often-used timer or add a line to the end of a specific note in the Notes app without having to open the associated app. Always late? Make a shortcut button on your home screen to text your boss and say that you\u2019re on the way.\u00a0The next step up from a shortcut is an automation, which runs automatically when your phone determines that certain conditions are met. You can create an automation to run at a specific time, such as sending a text to a loved one every morning at 9 a.m., or when you change location, such as sending a text when you leave work. There are more than 20 kinds of triggers, including when your phone\u2019s battery level reaches a certain level, when you open a specific app, when you connect to a certain Bluetooth device, when you take a screenshot, or when you connect or disconnect your phone from power.How to create a shortcutIn iOS 27, when you open the Shortcuts app, a text box appears. There, you can use natural language to describe the action you want an app to take. The Shortcuts app also gives some helpful examples of shortcuts to describe if you\u2019re not sure where to start.\u00a0To see the full list of automation triggers, tap the + button at the bottom of the screen, and then hit Edit on the top-right corner of the new shortcut-creation screen. Then tap Automation in blue, and you\u2019ll see a list of all the trigger options for your device. When you know what you want your phone to do, swipe down to partially dismiss that menu, tap the Siri button on the top-right corner where the Edit button was, and type what you want to happen into the text box.Apple ShortcutsThough shortcuts are now much simpler to create, they aren\u2019t foolproof. Complicated, multistep commands aren\u2019t always captured as intended or are completed in a different way than you expected. The function can also miss shortcut-enabled features from third-party apps, depending on how you phrased your prompt.\u00a0I\u2019ve found that the most reliable way to word your command is to focus on the outcome you want, rather than on how you think it should be done. As with many coding languages, you often have multiple ways to accomplish the same goal in the Shortcuts app, and the flow of actions in your head might not match up with how the algorithm implements your idea.One innocuous example is a shortcut that closes Instagram after 15 minutes. I wrote: \u201cSet a 15-minute timer when I open Instagram, and close Instagram when the timer concludes.\u201d But as it turned out, the automation didn\u2019t need a timer from the Clock app, since it has its own timing system, so instead it set an extra Clock timer to go off at the same time Instagram closed. I was able to delete the extra timer by toggling to the Edit button and removing the associated action. You can edit any shortcut if it doesn\u2019t behave the way you want it to.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSample shortcuts Wirecutter staffers useText Dad \u201cI\u2019m home\u201d when I arrive at homeAdd entered text to the end of my \u201cAuto Maintenance\u201d noteStart an outdoor workout when I leave home\u00a0Play \u201cMoney\u201d by Cardi B when I open the Chase appMaking more advanced shortcutsYou can program advanced and complex series of actions in the Shortcuts app with a little more time and effort. By tapping the Edit button in the top-right corner of the shortcut-creation screen, you can select triggers or actions from a list and place them in the correct order.To test this out, you might schedule a shortcut to switch between focus modes (and associated home screens) when you\u2019re in different locations, or at certain times. For example, before 9 a.m., the home screen for my Morning focus mode has only a few apps, such as my gym-access app and my podcast player. It has no social media apps, which prevents me from scrolling when I first wake up. The Shortcuts app also allows you to use Apple\u2019s AI models to make decisions within your shortcut or to grab data from the internet. When coupled with third-party apps that support shortcut actions, this feature enables some elaborate automation.\u00a0One over-the-top example: I\u2019ve collected pocket knives since I was a teen in Boy Scouts. Recently I set out to organize them in an app to better track what I\u2019m looking for, what I have, and what I want to sell. Using Shortcuts, I can take a screenshot of a cool-looking knife and select my shortcut from the Share menu, and the shortcut tries to identify the knife, searches the web for information, and fills in an entry in the Collections Database app that I use to log my collection. Figuring out how to structure and save the newly grabbed information took me a few hours over two days, so you can expect to spend some time on a similarly complicated idea.Apple ShortcutsLook for Shortcuts-enabled appsMany third-party apps on the App Store, including time and route loggers for tracking work hours, recipe apps, delivery tracking, and tide charts, have Shortcuts support. Unfortunately, Apple doesn\u2019t offer a great way to determine whether an app supports Shortcuts, so I\u2019ve had the most success searching on Google for recommendations within each app category. If an app you use doesn\u2019t support Shortcuts directly, you can instead trigger shortcuts when a specific app sends a notification; with this feature, you could, for instance, trigger an automation from a smart lock, smart doorbell, or smart water sensor app alert.As you start to use the Shortcuts app more, you might find yourself looking online for ideas. Doing so is a great way to expand your knowledge of how the tool can be used, but I recommend against just downloading any shortcut you find online: Shortcuts can control nearly every aspect of your phone, some have lots of steps and can be hard to audit, and handing over that control to a random file you find on the internet could be disastrous.\u00a0The most reliable shortcuts are the ones that you create to work on your device with your apps. And it\u2019s never been easier: Just ask for what you want, and it happens \u2014 most of the time.This article was edited by Signe Brewster and Caitlin McGarry.Meet your guideDave GershgornWhat I CoverI am based in Seattle and responsible for Wirecutter\u2019s computer monitor coverage, as well as all our guides to Apple laptops and desktops. I also review higher-powered laptops, such as business laptops and laptops for photo and video editing. Plus, I write our reviews for all-in-one computers, ergonomic keyboards, and home 3D printers. If it has a screen, sits on a desk, and isn\u2019t a basic Windows ultrabook, I\u2019m usually the person to try it out.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
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