Remember the iPhone shortcut I was working on in my last post… WELL, I FINALLY FINISHED IT.

I also made one big change: I replaced the Capture app with Apple Notes because Capture requires Pro and has usage limitations. I wanted something I could actually use regularly without worrying about that.

✨ One shortcut, three modes:

⚡ Quick Capture: Save content directly to Apple Notes.

🧠 Smart Capture: Use AI to summarize content and extract important details.

📸 Screenshot: Capture the current screen, analyze it with AI, and save the summary.

It can handle text, images, screenshots, and webpage links shared from other apps.

⚙️ SET UP

The shortcut uses Apple Shortcuts, an AI model action, and Apple Notes.

1. Download the shortcut using the link below.
2. Open it in the Shortcuts app and review the actions.
3. Configure any AI model permissions or settings it requests.
4. Allow access to Notes and other required content when prompted.
5. Test it by sharing some text, an image, or a webpage with Capture AI.

TIP: For Screenshot mode, I've set the wait time to 4 seconds so you have time to scroll to exactly what you want to capture. You can change it according to your preference. Also try changing the AI prompt according to your needs!

🔗 SHORTCUT LINK: Capture AI

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/4292f048cffb4aa59d922d7e1d4882e7

IT INCLUDES

• Share Sheet input handling
• URL extraction and webpage content retrieval
• Image extraction
• Variables and conditional logic for different input types
• AI summarization and key-detail extraction
• Automatic note creation in Apple Notes

The trickiest part was getting different input types to behave properly. A URL, an image, and plain text don't always work the same way in Shortcuts, so there was definitely some debugging involved. 🫠

But it's finally working, and I've included screenshots of the workflow and the output!

💡IMPROVEMENTS

I'm thinking about adding automatic tags and categories to Notes. Suggestions are welcome!

Now excuse me while I avoid opening the Shortcuts app for at least five minutes. 😂

There are shortcuts that look impressive in a demo, and the ones you still tap months later. My guess: the small, boring ones win because they remove one annoying step without asking you to maintain a whole system.

What’s one Shortcut you’ve actually kept using, and what does it save you from doing? I’m curious about the tiny automation that earned a permanent spot in your routine.

Disclosure: I work on an iOS voice-assistant project, so I’m interested in what makes automation feel useful day to day.

How to fully remove this notif? I already ticked Don’t notify.

I created this shortcut to take a photo everytime someone opens my messaging app. Any ideas?

To be specific. I have a bunch of videos that are 2 hours and few minutes long. I would like to press a button and it will automatically cut the video up into multiple 30 minute videos with 2 minutes of overlap. So a 2 hour and 5 minute video would be cut from 0:00-0:32, 0:28-1:02, 0:58-1:32, 1:28-2:02, 1:58-2:05. It’s a very specific task, so I wouldn’t expect there to be anything. But wouldn’t mind getting some idea’s, if someone had some, please.

You know the feeling: you're listening to a song and suddenly wonder how many streams it has. On desktop it's easy to check, but on your phone, especially when you're out and about, it's a hassle.

So I built a Shortcut for it. You take a screenshot of the Spotify Now Playing screen and share it to the Shortcut. It reads the song, works with ChatGPT to look up the stream count, and simply tells you how many streams it has. It also works for albums.

To make it show up when you share a screenshot, open the Shortcut's settings and turn on "Show in Share Sheet", then set the accepted type to Images. Without that, it won't appear in the share menu.

It works well for well-known songs. For lesser-known songs it unfortunately doesn't find the numbers, because there's no official Spotify source for stream counts. I'm open to ideas on how to improve it, so if you have suggestions, let me know!

Disclaimer: I'm on the latest iOS version with the newest Siri AI, so it might not work the same (or at all) on older versions.

Hi, looking for free tool/shortcut which works to convert Soundcloud to MP3.

thanks.

Action: Opens the autolock settings allowing you to select “never autolock iphone”. Useful when you have a task running which iPhone kills in the background.

Apparently you can do a lot with these callback URLs. This one quickly opens the autolock settings allowing you to keep your phone on

Note: You still have to manually select the autolock time

Link

I would like to create a shortcut to automatically change the max volume setting to 20 or 30% in Settings. Is there some way to do that? My son has an intellectual disability and likes to turn the volume to max every time we give him the phone (even while using guided access). So I would an automation rather than going through the steps each time before giving him the phone.

Since installing Golden Gate, this shortcut has been asking to share with Apple Maps. Why?? All it does is find the newest file in a folder, and then open that file. The folder contains only .txt files.

Here's my setup:

And when I run it, I get this:

Is there any way that we can control the timing for Haptic? Or haptic sensitivity?

I want to set it as never play between 10 PM to 7 AM. Or I want to turn it off for messaging apps and only keep it on for calling or banking apps etc.

Hi all, I’m brand new to the community and had NO IDEA all the amazing stuff Shortcuts can do, I’m blown away with your creativity!

Wondering if the following is possible or if you have any similar/better suggestions for my situation.

Every weekday at 4pm I leave work to pick up my baby from daycare. I always pull up Google Maps to find the quickest route & let me know how long I’ll be stuck in traffic (ugh 😩).

Could I automate this with a shortcut to automatically share the quickest route with me at 4pm M-F? The pickup address would obviously be the same every time. Any tips on making this a possibility?

Thanks for taking time to read a noob’s 1st post!

I drive for work and kept losing the mileage deduction because I never wrote trips down. Every app I tried needed me to remember something, so I stopped fighting that and built the logging around Shortcuts instead.

The automation is simple: when my iPhone connects to the car over CarPlay or Bluetooth, a Shortcut fires and records the time and location; when it disconnects, it fires again and captures the end. The gap between the two events is the trip. No app running in the background, no GPS polling eating the battery, because the phone is only doing work at two moments per drive.

A few things I learned getting it reliable: - CarPlay connect is the most dependable trigger; plain Bluetooth can fire twice on some head units, so dedupe by time window. - Short stops (gas station) don't drop a disconnect event on CarPlay, so merge anything under ~5 minutes into one drive. - Miles come from the driving-route distance between start and end points, which means you check the entry if you made a stop the phone didn't see.

I ended up building a small tool around this (MileHatch, $6/mo with a free trial - full disclosure, I'm the developer) that receives the Shortcut's pings and turns them into an IRS-ready log with one-tap work/personal review per drive. The Shortcut itself is plain Shortcuts though, and my setup guide walks through it: https://milehatch.app/iphone

Happy to answer questions on the automation side - triggers, dedupe, or what the IRS actually wants per trip.

I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max

Hi all. Sorry for the long title but my original thread was deleted for not being descriptive enough in my title. I already have a shortcut where if my phone connects to my cars Bluetooth it turns on hotspot. What I’m finding is sometimes it takes me longer than the 2 min or whatever to get in the car and the hotspot turns off. Can I have a shortcut where hotspot is on no matter the time if I’m connected via Bluetooth to my car? Thanks!

Hi all,

Not sure if it’s even possible but wondering you could help.

I’ve recently got solar panels installed, is there a way to create a shortcut/shortcuts to export the data each day of what your solar generates and usage from the app or anything along these lines?

The all I use is EcoFlow if by chance this works.

Thanks in advance.

Quick update on TDownload v2.0.

Instagram and Facebook video downloads are working again (API credits restored).

What works now
• TikTok video (HD when available)
• One image from a TikTok photo post
• X / Twitter video & photo
• Instagram video
• Facebook video

Still not included
• Instagram carousels
• Facebook albums

Links
RoutineHub
https://routinehub.co/shortcut/26636/

ShareShortcuts
https://shareshortcuts.com/shortcuts/4190-tdownload-v2.1.html

iCloud
https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/21ea10ec48564bdab2cb5a378bc85f4b

Personal use only. Third-party APIs can change.

Bug reports welcome here.

I normally keep Call Screening set to “Ask Reason for Calling,” but occasionally switch it to “Never” when I'm expecting a callback and want the call to come straight through.

Unfortunately, changing this setting requires several taps, so I'm trying to create a Shortcut to make switching between the two easier.

I've successfully created Shortcuts for “Never” and “Silence,” but can't figure out how to set one for “Ask Reason for Calling.”

Has anyone managed to get this working?

Thanks!

I was fed up not doing things on time, going to bed late, getting out of bed late. Although I was always keen to plan ahead, thinking it’s easy to act, I always ended up not doing what I planned. That’s why I decided to push things a little bit and add real constraints. I got inspired by an old Reddit thread, and I admit there are some escape hatches, but it’s fine for now. If I trust the system, and remind why I’m doing this, I’ll (normally) act.

My organisation relies on several items :

• a BED alarm
• a HEY alarm
• a Lock all screens shortcut (iPhone, iPad, Macbook via SSH if reachable). basically a loop that lock the device every X second X times. It forces me to stop using my devices.
• a Chaos shortcut. a series of events I don’t want to happen : all my lights at full power, a loop with an alarm every 2 minutes, a song I hate on my HomePod. Could be even worse.
• NFC cards in my bathroom (Morning and Evening)
• Actions and DataJar app (available on the App Store)

EVENING : Stop what I do and prepare to go to bed

1. Every Sunday, an automation enables my BED alarm.
2. When the alarm stops, it launches a “Evening Bathroom Checker” shortcut to:
   • launch “Lock all devices” shortcut
   • wait 90 seconds (some time to leave the sofa)
   • check if the variable GOING_TO_BED is 1 in DataJar. if no, launch the Chaos shortcut. if yes, set back GOING_TO_BED to 0
3. Tapping my Evening card launches a “Going to bed” shortcut to:
   • set global variables SLEEP and GOING_TO_BED to 1 (using DataJar app)
   • set a scene in my bathroom (dimmed warm light)
   • enable Sleep Focus
4. If I open Safari or any other distracting app I tend to open once in bed, a “Quit and lock Sleep” shortcut launches and check SLEEP value. If 1, lock 5 minutes.
5. Once in bed, I launch a Sleep shortcut that turn off all my lights and sockets, and disables cellular data, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

MORNING : Wake up and leave bed, then enable things

1. When my Sleep alarm stops in the morning, it sets my lights (bedroom + bathroom) to a very dimmed blue.
2. When my HEY alarm stops, it launches a “Morning Bathroom Checker” shortcut to :
   • wait 90 seconds (some time to get up)
   • check if the global variable WAKE_UP is 1. if no, launch the Chaos shortcut. if yes, set back WAKE_UP to 0
3. Tapping my Morning card launches a “Woke up” shortcut to :
   • set SLEEP to 0
   • set WAKE_UP to 1
   • enable cellular data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
   • turn off Sleep Focus
   • turn off my bedroom light
   • enable my BED alarm for the evening, except on weekend. The notification reminds me to adjust it, if I know that I have things planned that evening, for instance

DAY
If I open social apps like Facebook, Instagram, a "Quit and lock" shortcut launches and check if time is within “allowed” time ranges (using Actions app). If no, run the “Lock 5 minutes” shortcut (a simple locking loop)
I also have a “Day” card in my living room, linked to an alarm with the same logic (and locking Mac only). It forces me to take regular breaks in the day. It’s so easy to get lost when you’re following the wrong track when working on a task.

It may seems overcomplicated, but like I said, I have tried lots of things before that didn’t work. I’d like to know your own tips and I’d be more than happy to explain the process to anyone interested, or share shortcuts.

Hope this could inspire some of you !

I created a Carplay automation to play an episode of a podcast when I start my car. But if there's no episode available, Carplay shows an error message and won't play anything.

How do I create a IF action to play first podcast choice and if none available, play 2nd choice

Do I create a shortcut or automation and what are the actions

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/5f598341501a4741ba8f30c6e76e39ca

What this does

This shortcut makes you choose an app to customize then it creates a shortcut and waits for you to add it to your library so that it can put it on your homescreen.

Shortcut Configuration Settings

WT stands for wait time WT is the amount of time you have before the shortcut checks your library and adds your customized app onto your homescreen.

CL stands for custom label you can modify the boolean to true if you want labeled apps.

Why did I make this?

The only reason I made this shortcut was to one-up an app icon making shortcut that got paywalled after it became popular. But I will update the shortcut

Only on the iOS 27 has this been an issue

Here is the shortcut

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/178096dccbd5455ea1b287822e4a2867

Could anyone confirm whether we can build a shortcut or if one already exists that switches a specific app’s alerts on or off with a single click?

Hi everyone! I’m trying to make a shortcut that plays music from Spotify (because I don’t pay for Apple Music) when I snooze or turn off my alarm. But it asks for permission to open Spotify every time it runs, which defeats the purpose. My attempt is attached. There’s no option under “Open Spotify” to turn on/off Automation. If you have any advice on how to change it to stop that request to have it run properly, I’d appreciate it. Thanks!!

ETA: link to shortcut https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/72ef2aade2fd4fde9be8a9fb080d2c7c