For me, I have shortcuts on my Mac to change the wallpaper based on time of day (light or dark), but that’s it. I’d maybe be interested in using more if I could think of a good use case, so share yours, if you have one
Simple - a share menu shortcut that just says “remind me about this later” and a small pop up asks if to remind you in 2 hours/in the evening/on the weekend/when i get home. Superr useful.
I want this, how do you set it up?
Toggle VPN off, tied to my Work focus. One time I logged into work email while connected to a VPN. Freaked out my IT.
I have a shortcut that turns on my tv’s in the morning (Apple TV), switches them to Spotify, and plays a logo music playlist for me. It lets me have music playing throughout my house as I’m waking up making breakfast
I’ve got a few on my phone:
- one for playing a sound when my phone is charged
- another for starting my Streaks timer when certain reading apps are opened, so that I can track how long I read every day across apps automatically
- when my Sleep schedule begins (when I’m going to bed), I automatically change the screen colour to grey to help prevent being distracted. When I wake up, it turns that off.
- I have one HomePod, and I don’t use it much, but it has a temperature sensor and when that goes over 25C I get a notification so I know to turn on the AC
In iOS 16, you can have multiple lock screens that can be customized. (long press the lock screen). Then you can go into the sleep focus and set the lock screen to the one you created. I have focuses for work, school, driving, sleep, and otherwise each with different lock screens.
My main use for them is to streamline how I use OmniFocus. I have shortcuts for adding items directly to certain projects rather than having to send them to the inbox first. I use certain projects as recurring checklists, so one of my shortcuts collects them all into a list and lets me pick which one I want to open.
I also sometimes use them to get around limitations in Apple apps. The favorites feature in Maps didn’t work great for me, so I made shortcuts that will let me pick from an arbitrarily long list of favorites.
Edit: I forgot to mention that this is all on iOS. I have really used them on Mac OS
Yes, on iPhone only, though. I like that you can schedule them to run at certain times which is super helpful with home automation. As a former jailbreaker, I used to miss Activator but Shortcuts does everything I need.
A few good ones:
- “I’m being pulled over” will start recording video and stream it as well as text contacts your location. The ACLU put this one out in 2020.
- “On my way” will calculate my driving time to home, pad it by a few minutes for stoplights, and text it to my wife.
- I have a HomeKit garage door opener/sensor. I have a shortcut that runs at 9pm and texts me and my wife if any of the doors are still open and displays a prompt to close them.
