Shortcuts to Try at Home
SHORTCUTS TO TRY AT HOME
Recreate these 5 shortcuts to streamline your life.
The Shortcuts app, a new addition to iOS 12, is designed to help you streamline your productivity on your iOS device. The shortcuts you create can be amazingly simple or incredibly intricate, depending on what you are looking for. Here is a list of my five favorite shortcuts that you can try for yourself.
PERSONALIZING YOUR SHORTCUTS
Each time you create a shortcut, it's a good idea to name it and select a unique icon, so it's easier for you to find. To do this, go to Library, tap the three-dots on the shortcut tile, then tap the on/off icon in the top right corner. From here, you can name your shortcut, assign an icon to it, and add it to Siri, as well as choose to add it to your Home screen or as a widget to your Today View for easy access.
RUNNING YOUR SHORTCUTS
Once you've created shortcuts, you have several options of how to initiate them: directly from the app, from your Today View, from your Home screen, or by using Siri. From the Shortcuts app, just open your Library and tap on the option you'd like to run. Use the Add to Siri option to record a phrase that will initiate the shortcut. Whenever you say, “Hey Siri,” followed by your chosen prompt, your shortcut will activate. Finally, if you added a shortcut to your Home screen or to the Today View, just tap the shortcut from either location to launch the Shortcuts app and open it to your shortcut of choice.
# 1. KEEP A FILE OF WORD OF THE DAY
As a retired educator, I still have a thirst for learning. Teaching myself to use Shortcuts has been great for satisfying that need. As with any learning, it is good to start with an example and see how to build on that. Word of the Day is a shortcut that's available in the Gallery section of the Shortcuts app. Here, I have taken the shortcut that pulls the word of the day from Merriam Webster's site and have added the action of taking that text and sending it to the Notes app where I have a running list of words. • When you open Shortcuts, at the bottom of the screen you will see Gallery on the right-hand side. If you tap on it, you'll be presented with a collection of shortcuts that have already been created for you. In the Learn Something New section, you will find Word of the Day. Tap on it and choose Get Shortcut. Now it will show up in your Shortcuts Library. • In the Shortcuts Library, tap on the three dots on the shortcut card, and you will see two simple commands: Get Items from RSS feed and Quick Look. Instead of just reading the Word of the Day, I want to save it to Notes. To do this, you delete the Quick Look command and replace it with the Create Note command. • When you run your shortcut, an alert will pop up that shows you the Word of the Day and gives you the option to save the word to Notes.
Before running the shortcut for the first time, create a note titled Word of the Day in the Notes app. Now you'll have the option to save new words to this note when you run this shortcut.
# 2. PLAY BINGO!
Here's a fun one, the Bingo shortcut I created for my daughter's birthday. When the Bingo cage we ordered didn't arrive on time, I sat down and created this shortcut in just a few minutes. It makes use of the List function—it chooses an item from the list at random and speaks the text that is parsed from the results. Let's take it step by step. • When you open the Shortcuts app, tap on the icon that says Create Shortcut. You now have your blank slate. • Type “list” into the search bar to find the list option. • Tap the List option to add it to the work area. • You can now change the default items in your list to the letters that spell Bingo. Tap each item and enter your letters, tapping Add new item when you need to add letters. The next two items to add are Get Item from List and Speak Text. Find them by typing into the search bar and tapping them to add them below your Bingo list. • Get Item from List will display with a default of First Item. Click on First Item and choose Random Item (otherwise it will only select B, and nobody wins that game!). • Under Speak Text, leave the default settings. • Now let's add the numbers to be called. Add another List option below Speak Text, but this time enter the numbers one to fifty instead of the letters B I N G O. Add your Get Item from List and Speak Text commands just as in the first step. • Press the Play button at the top of the screen to preview your Bingo Shortcut.
# 3. CREATE A PERSONALIZED PODCAST LIST
I subscribe to a large number of podcasts, and creating a menu of podcasts makes it easier to play them than digging through the Apple Podcasts app. Another benefit is that I can play
episodes from a widget in my Today View without having to launch the Apple Podcasts app first. • To start, we are going to create a Menu. Type Menu into the search bar to bring up the Choose From Menu choice. Tap to add it to your work area. • The next step is to connect a podcast with a menu item. When you search for podcast in the search bar, it will bring up Siri suggestions based on the last several shows you've listened to. • Drag and drop the podcast under its corresponding menu item. If the name of the podcast does not appear in the suggestions, you need to listen to it first and then it will appear in the list. • If you don't listen to podcasts often enough for Siri to offer recent listening suggestions, you can type next podcast into the Search bar. The Next Podcast option will start playing the last podcast you listened to, however long ago, right where you left off.
# 4. TRACK YOUR BLOOD SUGAR
widget to my Today View pulls up a place where I enter the numbers and they're inserted into the Health app for me. It is a simple shortcut with only two steps. • Ask for Input will pull up a numeric keyboard to enter your Glucose Level. Next to Input Type, tap text and choose number. • Log Health Sample will input that number into the Health app on your iPhone. Next to Type, tap Blood Glucose. You may be prompted to grant access to this information. If you’d like an additional shortcut that will pull your entries from the previous seven days and run an average, scan this QR code to visit the online article with a download link.
# 5. DESIGN A NIGHTTIME SHORTCUT
Ocean Sounds, turns off my Bluetooth (otherwise my phone periodically connects to the Echo, thus turning off my Ocean Sounds), and then says goodnight to everyone in my family. • To have Siri give commands to my Echo, I type text into the search bar, then add the Text option to my work area. • Next, I enter in the text that I want Siri to say, in this case, “Alexa, run Ocean Sounds.” • I search for, then tap to add the Speak Text command into my work area to have Siri verbally give the command. • Search, then tap to add the Set Bluetooth command to turn off my Bluetooth, Set Volume to turn the phone volume down, and Set Brightness to dim the screen's brightness. • After inserting a Wait Command and setting it for 5 seconds, I have the Shortcut turn on Do Not Disturb until 7 a.m. using the Set Do Not Disturb command. • And finally, I drag and drop another Text command, then type my goodnight into the Text prompt and have Siri read it by using another Speak Text command.
There you have my top five shortcuts. If you are looking to delve a little deeper, the best way to learn is to explore the Gallery tab in the Shortcuts app and make your own minor changes to existing options. You will be amazed at what you might come up with.