Automate Your iPhone With the Shortcuts App — No Coding Required

The Shortcuts app comes pre-installed on every iPhone running iOS 13 or later, yet most people have never opened it. That's a shame, because it's one of the most powerful tools Apple has built into iOS — letting you automate repetitive tasks, chain app actions together, and run entire workflows with a single tap.

This guide is for complete beginners. By the end, you'll have your first useful Shortcut running.

What Is the Shortcuts App?

Shortcuts lets you create custom automation "recipes" by combining actions from apps and iOS itself. Actions include things like: send a message, play a playlist, turn on a specific Focus mode, log data to a spreadsheet, or get your current location.

You can run shortcuts by tapping them in the app, adding them to your Home Screen, using Siri by voice, or triggering them automatically based on conditions (time, location, app, etc.).

Key Concepts to Know

  • Shortcut: A sequence of actions you run manually (by tapping or asking Siri).
  • Automation: A shortcut that runs automatically when a trigger condition is met.
  • Action: A single step in a shortcut (e.g., "Get Current Date", "Send Message", "Set Volume").
  • Gallery: Apple's built-in library of pre-made shortcuts you can add with one tap.

Your First Shortcut: Morning Routine Launcher

Let's build a shortcut that, with one tap, turns off Do Not Disturb, sets brightness to 80%, and opens your news app of choice.

  1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap the + button.
  2. Tap Add Action and search for "Set Focus". Select Set Focus and configure it to turn off Do Not Disturb.
  3. Tap the + again. Search for "Set Brightness". Drag the slider to 80%.
  4. Tap the + again. Search for "Open App". Choose your news or reading app.
  5. Tap the shortcut name at the top to rename it "Morning Routine". You can also give it a custom icon.
  6. Tap Done. Add it to your Home Screen by tapping the share icon and choosing "Add to Home Screen".

5 Practical Shortcuts Worth Building

  • ETA to Home: Automatically sends your estimated arrival time to a contact when you start navigating home in Maps.
  • Water reminder: Logs a glass of water to Apple Health and shows a confirmation message — trigger it from a Home Screen widget.
  • Low Battery Mode toggle: A one-tap shortcut that enables Low Power Mode and dims brightness at the same time.
  • Meeting mode: Sets volume to silent, enables a Work Focus, and opens your calendar — all at once.
  • Wi-Fi + Bluetooth quick toggle: Quickly enable or disable both with a single tap (useful when Siri misunderstands you).

Using Automations (Trigger-Based Shortcuts)

Automations run without you tapping anything. To create one:

  1. Open Shortcuts and tap the Automation tab at the bottom.
  2. Tap New Automation.
  3. Choose a trigger — for example, Time of Day, Arrive at Location, or App is Opened.
  4. Add your actions and tap Done.

Example: Every day at 9pm, automatically enable Sleep Focus, lower brightness, and start a sleep playlist.

Where to Find Pre-Made Shortcuts

You don't have to build everything from scratch:

  • The Gallery tab in the Shortcuts app has curated starters from Apple.
  • Communities like Reddit's r/shortcuts share downloadable shortcuts regularly.
  • Many apps (Notion, Todoist, Fantastical) publish their own Shortcuts actions you can incorporate.

Getting Started Is the Hardest Part

Shortcuts has a shallow learning curve once you understand the building blocks. Start with something simple — even a one-action shortcut that opens a specific playlist or URL — and build from there. Over time, you'll find more and more tasks you can hand off to automation, freeing up your mental energy for things that actually matter.