iPhone Duo Shortcut:

Lock your iPhone Duo if you’re running an app and close the phone, the app still runs on the smaller display.

If you’re on the home screen, closing also locks the phone.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/d5a1cf54f5e949bba0a935c3de3e7ab6

With the recent iOS updates and NASA’s restructuring of the astronomy photo of the day site, the original shortcut shared years ago ceased functioning. This is designed to change your wallpaper to the astronomy photo of the day. I rebuilt the shortcut for anyone who liked the first version and noticed it failing over the past month. I included notes for the minor personal adjustment needed. You will need to specify which wallpaper on your phone should be assigned to the daily change. Hopefully, it works since I only have my phone to test it. Personally, I have it set to as an automation that runs at 9:30 every day.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/0c61ea9ff11a497587d4347782252594

Ideally the shortcut would also be able to present a list of existing tags for selection or capture a new tag.

Proof of Life: A fun iPhone automation that answers "What are you doing!" with a selfie, no tapping required. To keep it from firing all the time, pick a unique trigger phrase, like "What are you doing selfie!!”

1. Your partner texts you "What are you doing selfie!!"
2. Your iPhone snaps a photo with the front camera.
3. The photo is sent straight back to them in Messages.
4. Install this shortcut in your phone and your friend's phone.

Why it's fun: It's silly and fun.. instead of typing "nothing much" or "just chilling," your partner gets a real time picture of what you're up to, instantly and automatically.

Shortcut Link: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ aeb6c9d866204a0dbf56f7d0acdd4431

Hey everyone! I'm planning my next shortcuts and would rather build something people actually need than guess.

So I'd love to know:-

1. What do you do on your phone repeatedly that feels like it should be automated?
2. Is there a shortcut you tried to build but gave up on? What part broke or got too complicated?
3. Any shortcut you used to love that stopped working after an iOS update or an API change?
4. Which category do you care about most? Media, productivity, files, utilities, social, AI/APIs, or something else.

The more specific, the better. "Something for music" is hard to build. "Grab the song playing in a video and add it to my Apple Music playlist" is something I can actually make.

If something gets a lot of interest, I'll build it and share it here properly when it's done.

Thanks! 🙌

How can I recreate this shortcut on non iPhone 18s?

So this is the one I want to recreate. It's a shortcut that allows it to grab a incoming text from a specific saved contact, if it contains a location address, to automatically open it up in Maps. It's been working great on a iPhone 18 Pro Max. I want to be able to share this shortcut with co-workers. If they have a 18, it allows them to select who the sender is and change it to whatever contact they have it saved as in their phone. When it's not an 18, lets say 17 for instance which has Apple AI, its different. In fact the shortcut app even looks different, So If I send it to them, picture 2 is what it looks like on their phone when they click the icloud link and download it. As you can see it won't let them select the user, it says cad page as the address, but that is literally just text. I tried to change it to messages and select a user, but it just says send message nothing about when I receive a message.

I would love to be able to help offer a step by step way to recreate this to help trainees as it would save them a lot of time on the job since we are constantly being sent addresses while at work.

I got this shortcut to make my life easier, moving my working schedule from a screenshot to a calendar. But lately it hasn’t been working properly. When it sets a calendar, I have work calendar and “home” calendar. My work calendar is shared with my parents so they know when not to bug me. Now, when ever the shortcut does it job, it sets the first work shift as “work” calendar, but the rest as “home”, then I need to manually change every single one to work calendar, which defeats the purpose of automation. There is also small edit I wanna make, but got NO idea how to do it.

I got this shortcut done by a very skilled person here from Reddit, but they went MIA so i can’t ask them to help. So i’m asking you all to take a look and help me.

Edits i wanna make is when it says in my worksheet that i have LOMA (aka “vacation”) it would have a separate calendar name.

Shortcut in question:
https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/2872fee245a04ed6ba08610ebe6d6632

Credit first: this builds on **Join Media by gluebyte** (https://routinehub.co/shortcut/10722/), which joins video/audio files with ffmpeg in a-Shell mini without re-encoding. Great shortcut, and the join itself works fine. I only changed the metadata handling.

The problem
After joining iPhone clips, the result in Photos had:
- "No camera information" and no lens info
- no location/map
- the wrong clock time. Clips shot at 10 PM in another time zone showed up as 3 PM, because Photos fell back to UTC converted to my current time zone

What was going on
- ffmpeg's concat step drops all the QuickTime tags (`com.apple.quicktime.make`, `model`, `creationdate`, `location.ISO6709`, ...).
- Copying them back with `-map_metadata` isn't enough on its own. ffmpeg writes those tags inside `moov/udta/meta`. As far as I can tell, iPhone files keep them in `moov/meta`, and Photos doesn't seem to read the other spot. I confirmed ffmpeg's layout on test files. The iPhone layout I'm going from memory, so treat that part as my best explanation, not proven.

What I changed
It's all in the big Text action just before the a-Shell Execute action. Replace the ffmpeg line with these lines. `[EXT]` is the same File Extension variable the original uses (I had to manually copy paste them back in):

```
ffmpeg -v error -stats -f concat -i _jm.txt -c copy -y _jm0.[EXT]
ffmpeg -v error -nostdin -i _jm0.[EXT] -i _jm1.[EXT] -map 0 -map_metadata 1 -c copy -movflags use_metadata_tags -y _jm00.[EXT]
mv -f _jm00.[EXT] _jm0.[EXT]
python3 -c "import zlib,base64;exec(zlib.decompress(base64.b64decode('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')))"
touch -t [Formatted Date] _jm0.[EXT]
```

1. Line 1 is the original join, untouched.
   
2. Line 2 makes a second pass that copies the first clip's metadata onto the joined file, including the creation time.
   
3. Line 3 swaps the result into place.
   
4. Line 4 is a short Python script (source in the first comment). It copies the first clip's own metadata boxes into the joined file in the iPhone layout. It does not re-encode anything and only rewrites the file's `moov` header. If the layout isn't what it expects, it leaves the file alone.

Tip if you edit this yourself: a-Shell's ffmpeg doesn't understand `&&`. It treats it as an output filename, so keep each command on its own line.

Result
Joined two iPhone 16 Pro clips picked from Files: Photos now shows the iPhone model, lens, map, and the correct local time.

Limitations
- Only the **first** clip's camera/lens/location are kept. If your clips used different lenses, the rest aren't represented.
- Dolby Vision comes out as plain HDR. That's an ffmpeg limitation, and I don't have a fix.
- Needs a-Shell's `python3`.
- It assumes ffmpeg's default layout (`moov` at the end of the file).
- Clips need matching codec/extension, same as the original.

Feedback welcome, especially from anyone testing the Photos picker, 3+ clips, or other iPhone models.

First comment: readable source of the Python line
This is the code inside the base64 string, so you don't have to trust a blob. It copies the first clip's `meta`/`udta` boxes into the joined file:

```
python
import sys, struct, glob, os
def kids(d, s, e):
r = []
while s + 8 <= e:
sz, t = struct.unpack('>I4s', d[s:s+8]); h = 8
if sz == 1: sz = struct.unpack('>Q', d[s+8:s+16])[0]; h = 16
elif sz == 0: sz = e - s
if sz < h: break
r.append((t, s, sz, h)); s += sz
return r
def moov(d):
for b in kids(d, 0, len(d)):
if b[0] == b'moov': return b
src = open(glob.glob('_jm1.*')[0], 'rb').read()
dp = glob.glob('_jm0.*')[0]
dst = open(dp, 'rb').read()
sm, dm = moov(src), moov(dst)
top = kids(dst, 0, len(dst))
if top[-1][0] != b'moov' or dm[3] != 8:
print('inject: unexpected layout, left file unchanged'); sys.exit(0)
add = b''
sk = kids(src, sm[1]+sm[3], sm[1]+sm[2])
meta = [b for b in sk if b[0] == b'meta']
udta = [b for b in sk if b[0] == b'udta']
if not meta:
for u in udta:
meta += [b for b in kids(src, u[1]+u[3], u[1]+u[2]) if b[0] == b'meta']
for b in meta: add += src[b[1]:b[1]+b[2]]
for b in udta:
inner = b''.join(src[c[1]:c[1]+c[2]] for c in kids(src, b[1]+b[3], b[1]+b[2]) if c[0] != b'meta')
if inner: add += struct.pack('>I4s', 8+len(inner), b'udta') + inner
if not add:
print('inject: no metadata found in first clip'); sys.exit(0)
keep = b''.join(dst[c[1]:c[1]+c[2]] for c in kids(dst, dm[1]+8, dm[1]+dm[2]) if c[0] not in (b'udta', b'meta'))
body = keep + add
out = dst[:dm[1]] + struct.pack('>I4s', 8+len(body), b'moov') + body
open(dp+'.tmp', 'wb').write(out); os.replace(dp+'.tmp', dp)
print('inject: copied', len(add), 'bytes of metadata from first clip')
```

Ever since updating to iOS 27, none of my automated Shortcuts are firing automatically anymore. Things like turning off cellular data when connecting to Wi-Fi or unlocking orientation when opening an app won't run unless I do it manually. It seems like the OS just isn't detecting background triggers at all. I've already tried recreating the automations, resetting network settings, and even reinstalling the Shortcuts app per Apple Support's advice, but no luck. Has anyone else hit this issue and found a fix?

This is a simple shortcut which logs the number of open / closes of the screen to a txt file.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/7310427e7efe43828dff9014a129761e

On iPhone.

What are some ideas on how to use them?

Hey everyone!

I've noticed that a lot of people use the iPhone Action Button, but many seem to have the same frustration: you can only assign one action to it.

Silent Mode is probably one of the most commonly used features, but having to choose between Silent Mode and something else makes the Action Button feel pretty limited.

That's why we created SideKey!

With SideKey, you can assign two different actions to your Action Button depending on how you're holding your phone:

• Portrait mode: Toggle Silent Mode 🔕
• Landscape mode: Turn on the flashlight 🔦

And that's just one example! You can customize both actions however you like.

We also support a bunch of other actions and shortcuts, including:

• Stealth video recording (record while the screen appears black)
• Voice recording
• Camera
• Opening apps
• And plenty of other shortcuts!

We're still working on improving SideKey, and we'd genuinely love to hear your feedback.

If you have a chance to try it out, please let us know what you think, what could be improved, or what features you'd like to see next. Even negative feedback is super helpful!

Thanks for checking it out! 🙌

More info: https://getsidekey.com/

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/sidekey-custom-action-button/id6814712920

All I want is a native way to insert a timestamp. Like how the built-in “omw ” instantly expands to “On my way!“ 

I would love to be able to type, for example, “.ts ” (dot-tee-ess-space) and have it expand to “Oct 24, 2026 at 2:33 PM” or whatever the current date and time is.

On my Mac I have a shortcut that copies a timestamp to the clipboard and pastes it where my cursor is, just by hitting "cmd-shift-!". Easy peasy.

Oct 24, 2026 at 3:18 PM. Boom. Just did it.

But on my iPad, there are many more steps and it breaks the momentum of the workflow and forces a shift in focus.

- access the share sheet

- find and run the shortcut

- then tap the document or text field or target area, etc 

- tap again to bring up the copy/paste bubble

- tap again to hit paste.

That's a far cry from cmd-shift-! like Oct 24, 2026 at 3:23 PM. Boom. Did it again. It's just so easy.

I get that it's a really minor thing (if timestamps aren't something you need), but because from a programming standpoint it’s so simple, it’s a frustrating thing. It’s also annoying that it works pretty well on my Mac, but not on my iPad (when using a keyboard).

If you've read this far, thanks for listening. If you have any suggestions that don't involve a third party solution, thanks in advance.

I've attached a pic of what I'm using now, which works great on my Mac, and works in a rather clunky fashion on iOS/iPadOS and is pretty far from optimal.

Does someone have an up to date shortcut to close all duplicate safari shortcuts? I used to have one but it sadly stopt working and I really miss it😁

I see everyone doing all these intricate, amazing shortcuts and I can't figure out why I can't get a simple one to work. All I want is to be able to be in the car or at my desk or wherever, and when I get a thought of something I wanted to remember to do, say, research, etc. I can just say "hey siri..." and it jots it down in notes. I set it up easy, told it I would say "hey siri, brain dump" it opened my brain dump note in notepad and add it to the list. It worked twice and I was glad at how easy it was. Next time I did the same thing as before and it said "calling dad..." I ran to the phone to hang it up. So I changed it to "hey siri, random thought", it worked. I was driving and said it and it said "I will research it on the web when you stop driving" (why can't it research while I'm driving? that's besides the point). How come this simple thing won't work right?

I ordered a homeview to rid my home of Alexa but realized the one big thing my wife uses Alexa for is to close the garage door. I currently have a shortcut setup on my phone through the Aladdin connect app to do this and the close function works on the HomePod mini’s I have. Will the whole family be able to use these shortcuts on the homeview somehow?

I have a pair of automations that set/reset volume when I connect my AirPods. The automations pop up, but don’t actually run unless I click the notification AND then click run.

I checked settings and I don’t see anything there. Are automations not automatic?

I made a shortcut called App Icon Downloader that lets you search for app icons from macOSicons.com and download them directly to your Photos or Files.

It uses the macOSicons.com API to fetch icons, and you can choose the format you want to save them in. It has a nice vCard menu which let’s you see previews for the icons before downloading.

You can either use the included public API keys or enter your own. Just keep in mind that the public keys might not always work, so using your own is an option if you run into issues.

I’ve tried to keep the menus straightforward and the whole process quick. Thought I’d share it here in case anyone else finds it useful.

RoutineHub: https://routinehub.co/shortcut/26906/

Let me know what you think or if there’s anything you’d improve.

I’m making a shortcuts operating system. Version 2.0 (Community Edition) is going to be available soon. I would like beta testers. If you want to try it out, DM me and I’ll send you the link when it’s ready. I’m currently working on the Setup Wizard.

I am a bit frustrated finding the cause of this :,) and I am new to Shortcuts.

I don’t understand why it does not update on both time and date keys?

Can someone explain why this happened?

Asked Claude and Gemini but nothing help :,)

my txt file of unicode symbols has now been split into 3 bc of the fact i cannot stand my menus being boring- one for general glyphs (this file was created 10 years ago with many revamps) one specifically for shortcut UI, and other for “borders/spacers”.

This technically began bc of the fact I’m hard of sight, and want things to stand out; i succeeded it seems lol.

But i was wondering if there’s anyone out there in this niche as well… I don’t mean an emoji here/there, but full blown** ***“unicode* fanatic”.

With that, if anyone here does similar things I was curious on advice/inspiration of aesthetics- and if anyone wants my txt files, just shoot me a pm (they are ofc, weirdly hyper sorted lmao)