I've been sleeping on Apple Shortcut Automations. So, I asked my community for their top automations that actually improved their lives. Here's the top 15 life hacks from the thread:
1/ Record voice memos, email them to yourself, then use an AI agent platform (Gumloop, n8n, or Lindy) to turn them into long-form articles https://x.com/BigBrother_Jane/...
2/ Show recently added contacts in reverse chronological order to not forget the new people you've just met https://x.com/JSussHQ/status/1...
3/ A share extension that removes trackers from URLs https://x.com/greijukainen/sta...
4/ Scan outside music, get song through Shazam, then auto-add to a playlist on Apple Music https://x.com/adac127/status/1...
5/ When YouTube is open automatically set orientation lock https://x.com/yairhaimo/status...
6/ Press action key to take a screenshot of any text, translate it, and show it in a window https://x.com/reallynattu/stat...
7/ Double tap that switches phone from gray scale to colour for 1 minute (@imrat uses gray scale by default) https://x.com/imrat/status/196...
8/ Making the text on your phone gigantic during workouts so you can read phone at gym https://x.com/gambrill/status/... needing glasses
9/ Using Siri to activate Smart home appliances on command (gates, deck fountains, jets, etc) https://x.com/fotsch1/status/1...
10/ Copy a URL, push to n8n, scrape the page, send it to an LLM for a summary, and save to notes (Obsidian) https://x.com/subodhchaturved/...
11/ Enter car, trigger Google Maps to get a time estimate, and auto-texts wife ETA Reportedly helps with marriage, too https://x.com/a19grey/status/1...
12/ Location based trigger that detects when near the gym, opens workout app, and chooses the next workout based on previous day's workout https://x.com/TheHaykerman/sta...
13/ Setting 100% volume every morning so you don't miss alarms https://x.com/heyisaacr/status...
14/ Taking a URL from YouTube, combining it with a propmt to extract frameworks or ideas from the video, putting the prompt in the clipboard, and opening Gemini https://x.com/peterdedene/stat...
15/ Automatically setting alarms an hour before meetings https://x.com/sampullara/statu...
Here's the full thread with all the community responses. There were 200+ answers so it was TOUGH to pick the top 15. Thanks everyone for contributing! I plan to do more of these so follow me @rowancheung for more https://x.com/rowancheung/stat...
@rowancheung The original thread was already full of gems, and you've put together a fantastic, high-value summary in here. 🔥 Thanks for including me, Rowan!
@peterdedene Thanks for sharing your secrets with the world! :^)
@rowancheung No one said mine: - Whenever you remove iphone from charger, turn on lower power mode - Whenever you connect it to charger, turn off low power mode (for app updates, etc.)
@rowancheung Would you be interested in iOS shortcuts like programming interface -- but built for AI agent reasoning?
@rowancheung Automation can truly free up time for what matters. Exploring these could reveal some hidden gems for a smoother daily routine.
@rowancheung Those automations can really change the game!
@rowancheung i always forget about them but they can be so powerful, my fav is auto-sending "good morning beautiful" texts when my alarm goes off so she thinks i'm romantic af
@rowancheung Apple Shortcuts are the future tools for on device AI agents. Great sharing! AI can learn from this post in future.
@rowancheung Some of these shortcuts can quietly save you hours every week once you set them up right. They arent flashy. but lets be honest. One less repetitive daily tap on your screen can feel like pure magic.
@rowancheung @grok Provide shortcut Automations for Android users
@rowancheung Any idea how to make this run faster? It’s very slow for what it is.
@rowancheung cool post. will bookmark 🔖 and try some shortcuts.
@rowancheung Can we ask ai design our apple shortcut ?
@rowancheung are you going to use any of these though? this sounds useful in theory...
@rowancheung And apparently shortcuts are here to stay, on next IOS version new features as well. 🚀
@rowancheung Thanks ! These are so specific but they must be really time saving in the long run
@rowancheung Could you share them via iCloud in a artical/post?
@rowancheung Really helpful list… amazing how small automations can add up to a big difference in daily flow. –Paula
@rowancheung Time to automate.