The function iPhone Shortcuts (Shortcuts in English) appeared in 2018 with the release of iOS 12. A novelty that was very well received by users, since it allows many actions and tasks to be carried out automatically. This translates into easier use of the smartphone and considerable time savings.
Today's article is dedicated to learning more about this practical feature of iOS: how it works and how it can be useful to us. Then we will select some of the best iPhone shortcuts so that you can put them into practice and enjoy their advantages.
What are Shortcuts and iPhone?
The Shortcuts function can be defined as a very practical method to automate certain functions of our applications. In a way, it's about shortcuts that simplify some processes. Actions that normally require several steps can thus be performed with just one, simply by using the shortcut.
Shortcuts is one official apple app, so its degree of integration with other elements of our iPhone is total. That brings many advantages. For example, him assistant Siri it will also launch suggestions for shortcuts to make using our phone easier and more fluid.
We can create shortcuts from the application itself and also from each of the third-party applications. In short, it is a resource that gives us a very practical way to customize the way our iPhone works.
The activated shortcuts are found in the section "Library" of our iPhone. When accessing them, we see an icon with three points through which we will be able to edit them. For activate new shortcuts you have to go to the section "Gallery", where all the shortcuts available in Apple are perfectly classified, and use the option "Get shortcut."
Selection of the best iPhone shortcuts
There are hundreds of shortcuts available. Developing a complete list of each and every one of them would take us a long time, really. It is much more convenient to make a selection like the one we present below from the best iPhone shortcuts. Surely you will use many of them in your day to day:
Battery saving
An interesting shortcut with which we can prolong the battery life of our iPhone. Through this shortcut we will be able choose the percentage of battery from which the saving mode is activated. For example, we can set the limit at 30% or 40% or select some actions (reduction of screen brightness, deactivation of certain applications, etc.) to be activated automatically from a certain threshold.
Merge images
This shortcut that allows us create a composition or collage from a series of images. It works very well, so we will be able to do without other editing applications that we have installed on the phone. to use this shortcut First you have to select the photos, after which the shortcut will ask us how we want to join them (horizontally or vertically, in a grid, etc.). The result will be an elegant composition.
Share WiFi via QR
Never before has it been so easy to share WiFi with other devices. No need to send nadir anymore WiFi network name and password, all you have to do is use this shortcut. Just a touch of the screen shortcut creates a QR code for our WiFi network that can be used by both Android and iOS users. Thus, to connect to this network they will only have to scan the QR.
Days Between
Not exactly a calendar, but a calculator of days between two different dates. It is true that this is something that we all constantly do with our heads, counting on our fingers, or taking a look at the calendar, but this shortcut makes it even faster and easier. And no margin for error.
PDF converter
PDF is the universal standard format for presenting any kind of documents. When we want to convert a text from any other format, we often resort to the help of online converters, which work very well. But if we want to do this from our iPhone, the process is even simpler. In reality, it comes down to a single touch of the screen.
Access to our favorite Spotify Playlist
If you like music, you probably have the app installed on your iPhone Spotify. This shortcut will help you access your favorite albums or playlists with a single touch of the screen. The same goes for directly accessing your list of favorite podcasts on the platform.
Eject water from iPhone
You have to have this shortcut always activated, as a precaution, because you never know when you are going to need it. With a simple touch of the screen, this shortcut will launch a sound in the volume of our iPhone that, thanks to the effect of vibration, it will remove any traces of water that may have entered the speaker of the device. If liquid has been spilled on your phone or dropped in a wet or damp place, it will help you a lot.
Download photos and videos
Finally, a shortcut with which we will be able to download videos from YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and other platforms. With a single click, quickly and without complications. Of course, at the moment it only works with phones that have iOS version 15.1 or higher.
Create a custom shortcut on iOS
If the default shortcuts don't cover all your needs (difficult, because the list is huge), you can always try to create your own shortcut. It is not complicated, you just have to follow these steps:
- First we open the app Shortcuts and we touch on the symbol "+" which is in the upper right corner.
- Then we select "New Shortcut".
- Alli we write the name that we want to give the shortcut and press OKAY.
- Using the option «Add action» we will be able to add all the desired actions (there are many available) until configuring the new shortcut that we want to achieve.
- Finally confirm by pressing OKAY.
In this way we can configure all kinds of automations that will allow us to do almost any process with a single touch with our iPhone or iPad. And without the need for extensive programming knowledge.