How Do I Use Siri Shortcuts to Automate My iPhone?

By Mark Debson · June 15, 2026 · 10 min read · Tech & Gadgets

A beginner walkthrough of the Shortcuts app: triggers, actions, personal automations and ready to copy workflows that genuinely save time every day.

Quick Answer

Siri Shortcuts is Apple's built in automation app that strings actions across other apps into a single tap or voice command. Open the Shortcuts app, tap the plus icon, name your shortcut, and add actions one by one in the order you want them to run. Trigger them with Siri, the Home Screen, the Share sheet, a widget, or a Personal Automation that fires on time, location, NFC tag or system event.

The app ships on every iPhone running iOS 13 and later, costs nothing, and is now the foundation of the Action button on iPhone 15 Pro and newer.

How Shortcuts actually works

Every shortcut is built from two ideas:

• Trigger: what makes the shortcut run. Options include a Siri voice phrase, a Home Screen icon, the Action button, an Apple Watch complication, a CarPlay slot, a widget, the Share sheet, or a Personal Automation event such as Arrive, Leave, Time of Day, NFC Tag, Email Arrives or Charger Connected.
• Actions: the steps the shortcut performs once triggered. Actions can read data (Get Current Weather, Get Last Photo), transform it (Get Text from Input), or send it somewhere (Send Message, Post to Notes, Open URL).

Output from one action automatically becomes input to the next, which is what makes the app powerful. The Get Travel Time action returns a duration that the next Send Message action can drop directly into a text.

Your first shortcut: a Driving Mode

This walkthrough builds a one tap shortcut that sends your partner your ETA, switches the iPhone to Do Not Disturb, and opens turn by turn directions home.

Step 1: create a new shortcut

1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap the plus icon in the top right.
2. Tap the title at the top and rename it "Drive Home".

Step 2: add Get Travel Time

1. Tap Add Action and search for "Get Travel Time".
2. Tap the destination field and enter your home address.
3. Set transport type to Driving.

Step 3: send a message with the ETA

1. Search for "Send Message" and add it.
2. In the message field type "On my way, ETA " then tap the variable picker and insert the Travel Time output from step 2.
3. Set the recipient to your partner's contact.

Step 4: switch on Do Not Disturb

1. Search for "Set Focus" and add it.
2. Pick Driving (or your custom Focus).

Step 5: launch navigation

1. Search for "Show Directions" (Apple Maps) or "Get Directions in Google Maps" depending on your preference.
2. Set destination to your home address.

Tap Done. The shortcut now lives in your library. Add it to the Home Screen, attach it to the Action button, or just say "Hey Siri, Drive Home" to run it.

Personal Automations: hands free triggers

Personal Automations run shortcuts without you tapping anything. Open the Automation tab at the bottom of the app, tap Create Personal Automation, and choose a trigger:

• Time of Day: run a morning briefing shortcut at 7:00 am that reads your calendar, weather and commute time aloud.
• Arrive / Leave: turn on Do Not Disturb when you arrive at the gym; turn Wi Fi back on when you arrive home.
• NFC Tag: stick a 50 cent NFC tag on your nightstand. Tapping the phone to it sets a sleep alarm, dims the lights via HomeKit and starts a sleep sounds playlist.
• Charger: when your phone is plugged in between 9 pm and 5 am, switch to Sleep Focus and lock the screen.
• App Opened: when Instagram opens, start a 15 minute timer to limit doomscrolling.

On iOS 14 and earlier some triggers asked you to confirm with a banner. On iOS 17 and later, most location, time and NFC triggers can finally run silently if you turn off Ask Before Running and Notify When Run.

Ten shortcuts worth installing today

1. Battery to Low Power: automatically enable Low Power Mode below 50 percent.
2. Wi Fi at Home: turn Wi Fi back on when you reach your home location.
3. Receipt scanner: trigger via Share sheet on any photo, OCR the receipt, append to a Notes log.
4. Daily water log: tap a Home Screen icon to add 250 ml to Apple Health.
5. Quick meeting note: creates a Notes entry titled with today's date and the active calendar event name.
6. Convert currency: uses an exchange rate API to convert highlighted text in the Share sheet.
7. Speed dial widget: a stack of contact cards on the Home Screen that call or FaceTime with one tap.
8. Music for the gym: when an AirPods connect at the gym location, play your workout playlist.
9. Photo album sort: moves new screenshots to a Screenshots album automatically every night.
10. Power nap: a single shortcut that starts a 20 minute timer, plays brown noise and sets Do Not Disturb.

Where to find more shortcuts

The Gallery tab inside the app has hundreds of Apple curated examples. Outside the app, the most reliable third party libraries are RoutineHub, ShareShortcuts and the r/Shortcuts subreddit. Always read what a shortcut does before adding it: untrusted shortcuts can request permissions for Contacts, Photos and Location.

Common problems and fixes

Personal Automation does not fire

Make sure Enable This Automation is on, Ask Before Running is off (if you want silent execution), and that the trigger condition is actually met. Location triggers need Always Allow location permission for Shortcuts.

Siri does not recognise the phrase

Rename the shortcut to something phonetically distinct. Two and three syllable names work better than single short words.

An action says it requires a subscription

Some third party apps lock advanced Shortcut actions behind their paid tier. The action label usually says so in small text.

FAQs

Does Shortcuts work on iPad and Mac?

Yes. Shortcuts run on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. Some triggers (NFC, Charger) are iPhone only.

Does it drain battery?

No. Shortcuts only consume battery while they are running, which is usually a fraction of a second. Personal Automations sit idle until the trigger fires.

Is there a Shortcuts equivalent on Android?

The closest equivalents are Google's Routines (limited) and third party apps like Tasker, MacroDroid and Automate. None match Shortcuts on system level integration.

The takeaway

Shortcuts is the most underused power feature on the iPhone. Start with one shortcut that removes a daily friction (a commute ETA, a water log, a single tap meeting note) and the rest become obvious. Within a week you will have a small library that quietly saves 15 minutes a day without you ever thinking about it.