6 Custom Shortcuts You Need for Your iPhone | Where to Get Them and How to Install Them
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The Shortcuts app has seen a lot of changes over the years. Seasoned iPhone users might remember when the Shortcuts app was called the Workflows app. Those were the days. Fortunately, after Apple renamed it Shortcuts, the company's done nothing but improve it and make it more powerful. You'll be surprised at what it can do.
There are many ways to trigger your shortcuts. You can have them run automatically, start them yourself from the Shortcuts app, or even use NFC. And now, with iOS 14, you can access your Shortcuts right from your Home Screen. Who knows how Shortcuts will improve when iOS 15 finally drops, but one thing's for sure, you don't want to wait until then to start using Shortcuts.
How to Install Shortcuts Made by Other Users
You can create your own Shortcuts, but today we'll show you how to download and install Shortcuts from other iPhone users. There are many places where you can find and download Shortcuts, but some of the best places are RountineHub and Shortcuts Gallery. These websites have a bunch of Shortcuts for you to choose from. It's as easy as downloading them and using them. But, if this is your first time installing third-party shortcuts, you'll need to grant permission to install them first. Here's how.
- On your iPhone, go to Settings.
- Scroll down and select Shortcuts.
- Toggle Allow Untrusted Shortcuts on.
- Tap on Allow.
- You might need to enter your passcode.
If this is your first time using shortcuts at all, you won't be able to toggle this option on. Your iPhone will ask you to first go into your Shortcuts app and run a Shortcut before it enables it. If that's the case, head over to the Shortcuts app and do this.
- Open the Shortcuts app.
- Tap on Gallery at the bottom of your screen.
- Choose any Shortcut available. For this example, you can tap on Starter Shortcuts.
- Tap any Shortcut you might want to use. Again, for this example, we'll select Block Off an Hour.
- Tap on Add Shortcut.
- You'll see a message that the new Shortcut was added.
- Tap on My Shortcuts at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap on your newly added Shortcut.
After you run a Shortcut, head back to Settings, and you'll see that "Allow Untrusted Shortcuts" is enabled. Toggle it on, and you're good to go. Now, continue reading to browse six of the best Shortcuts to download.
Download Videos from Facebook, Instagram and More
How many times have you've seen a funny video or photo on Facebook or Twitter, but you haven't been able to save it on your iPhone? Well, the R?Download Shortcut will help you do just that. With this Shortcut, you can download anything from videos, audio, Stories from Instagram, or Fleets from Twitter. You can even download TikTok videos and SoundCloud songs. It's a really complete Shortcut that'll help you save every funny meme you see online.
Send Scheduled Text Messages
One way emails are better than texting is that you don't have to worry about forgetting to send an email – you can just schedule it and move on. Well, the Auto Message Shortcut borrows this feature and lets you schedule when you want to send a message.
All you need to do is trigger the Shortcut, write down the message and when you want to send it, and you're good to go. The Shortcut will remind you when it's time to send the message. You can send a message to any group or favorite contacts, and you can even send messages via WhatsApp. Plus, a new feature also lets you dictate your messages either from your iPhone or your Apple Watch. Great for people on the go.
Find a Song on Any Music App
If you're already using Apple Music, then you won't have any problems finding a song and quickly adding it to your playlists. However, for Spotify or Deezer users out there, it's not as simple on iPhone. If you've had that problem, then you need to try this Music Finder Shortcut. As you can probably guess from the name, you can run it, and this Shortcut will find any song and play it on Spotify, YouTube, Deezer, or Apple Music.
Get a Bunch of Utilities from a Single Shortcut
If you're looking for a shortcut that'll cover every need you might have, then this Utilities Menu Shortcut is the way to go. There are over 100 utilities available on the Utilities Menu, all just one tap away. You can send messages, edit pictures, create PDFs, or check the IMDb Rating of any movie you want. You can even play games inside the Utilities Menu. It's like the Swiss Army Knife of Shortcuts.
Edit Pictures Like a Pro on Your iPhone
Although the Photos app on iPhone offers a bunch of options to edit your pictures, it still needs a few more features to make it a pro editing app. Until that happens, you can always try the Photos Toolkit Shortcut. This Shortcut lets you resize, rotate, and flip images like the Photos app, but it can additionally let you create GIFs, combine and overlay two images, and even convert any image to other formats—all that from just one Shortcut.
Watch YouTube in Picture in Picture on iPhone
This is probably one of the coolest shortcuts you can get right now. There is a way for you to use Picture in Picture when watching YouTube videos from your iPhone, even if you're using the app. Back when PiP was enabled on the iPhone, you could use your Safari app as a workaround to watch YouTube in PiP, but that was soon "fixed."
Now, however, you can use this Youtube PiP Shortcut, and it'll work like a charm. Keep in mind, though; you'll also need to download a separate app for this Shortcut to work. Head over to the App Store and download Scriptable. It's free to download, and you won't have to do anything other than having the app installed on your iPhone.
After you've downloaded the Shortcut and Scriptable, you can go to the YouTube app, tap on Share, and then on more. Finally, tap on YouTube Pip, and the Shortcut will automatically make the YouTube video go into Picture in Picture mode.