Apple shortcuts for iPhone, iPad and Mac
Shortcuts, originally known as Workflow, are a powerful and time-saving feature for iPhone, Mac and other Apple devices that shorten repetitive processes, improving your productivity and user experience.
In short, it's a powerful automation tool that's been available since iOS 12, bringing the efficiency of your iOS devices to a new level. With the release of the Shortcuts app , Apple has provided its users with a gigantic range of automation options, with over 600 available shortcuts.
Useful Shortcuts
In this article we present our top 5 most practical iOS shortcuts and explain step by step how you can set them up and save time and nerves by automating recurring processes.
Shortcut Overview
- Remove image backgrounds
- Post on Instagram in seconds
- One-Click Researching
- Daily News
- NASA space images
Remove image backgrounds in seconds
A useful shortcut to easily remove unwanted backgrounds from images. The new image, with no background, can then be saved directly to your gallery without any further effort.
Add the shortcut to your iPhone, iPad or MacBook for free using the link below. Once the shortcut is saved to your device, you're ready to remove wallpapers with a single click.
To use this shortcut, you can share the corresponding image for the shortcut using the share button. In the menu that then appears with the various options, under More actions you will find the shortcut "Remove Background", which, thanks to AI, removes the image background for you as soon as this command is selected.
Optionally, the shortcut can be run from the Shortcuts app and can be found under the name "Remove Background" , which will then open the gallery and you can select the desired image. The resulting image, with no background, is then automatically scaled to a proportional size and saved in the Recent Album.
One-Click research assistant
This ChatGPT shortcut allows you to explain foreign
words or complex topics quickly and easily
and also to retrieve an accurate explanation of the
text you are looking up for within one click.
Simply highlight the word or text you want, then
use the share menu and select the shortcut:
"What means?"
After a few seconds, you'll get a precise and concise
definition of the highlighted text.
It creates a summary, which is then copied to your
clipboard. So you can easily put the information where
you want it, wherever you need it To use this handy
assistant.
Download
ChatGPT from the app store
and login or register.
After this you good to go and you can add the shortcut
to your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook.
One click news
This shortcut extracts the latest news from your region and the rest of the world at the touch of a button and quickly shows you which topics are relevant.
After running the command, you can choose from a list of world-renowned news magazines. By default, you have the choice of magazines: Techmeme, NY Times, BBC, CNN, and NPR.
Of course you can also add your own selection of magazines to the command.
You will be presented with a list of articles that have recently been published, including the publication date. Just select the article you want to read it in full for free on the magazine page.
NASA - Images from Infinity
Astronomy enthusiasts will love this shortcut!
View amazing and mesmerizing images of space with just one click and save them straight to your gallery. Thanks to the NASA database and the "Picture of the Day" category, you can experience space up close.
Post on Instagram
Optimize your social media presence with our simple and effective solution! Create full posts for your feed and Instagram story in seconds. You can also share your creations directly with your loved ones via Instagram messages.
For the shortcut to work you need the Instagram App for iOS on your device, make sure you are logged into the app with your account. Now simply download the shortcut using the "Add Shortcut" button.
Then you are ready to use this shortcut. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone or iPad and select the "Create Instagram Post" shortcut, or select an image or video and use the Share button to run the "Create Instagram Post" command.
Then follow the instructions of the
shortcut:
First select an image from your photo app.
Then write a caption for your post , don't forget the
#hashtags.
Check and confirm your entries and then publish your
post directly to Instagram with outstanding
efficiency.
How do you create shortcuts?
Let's take a look at the steps involved for creating shortcuts, by creating one ourself. The example shortcut will translate German text into English.
- Open the shortcuts app
-
Click on plus at the top right corner and create a
blank shortcut.
-
Give your shortcut a unique name.
-
For our example, search for "dictate text" in the
search box and select the action.
You can add additional actions, like opening apps, sending messages, or running scripts as well.
-
Personalize your shortcut by setting preferences
like text input, variables, and conditions.
In this case we set the language of our dictated text input.
-
Now let's create a variable to store the text in.
To create a new variable, type "configure variable" in the action search bar.
Name your variable with something meaningful. The variable value will be automatically set based on the outcome from the previous action.
-
To ensure that the variable is not empty we can use
the "if" action.
To do this, search for the "if" action and add it. The variable is automatically included in the action. Now you can specify under which condition the shortcut should continue.
We can now set the condition for the variable to "has any value", which means that the if condition is only met if that the variable is not empty.
Since we want to translate our text, we can search for "translate text" in the search field at the bottom and add the appearing action. Now drag the action object after our "if" statement, so that's only will be executed, if the if-condition is met.
Configure the "Translate Text" action, by select the language you want, the text to be translated into.
-
Handling the oncoming translation.
You can display the outcome with the "Overview" action.
The translated text can then be copied directly to the clipboard using the "Copy to clipboard" action.
To end the workflow, you can use the Stop Shortcut action.
There are many more actions for creating shortcuts,
which you can use to automate and simplify a bunch of
tasks.
The best way to become familiar with shortcuts is
by creating them yourself.
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Conclusion
The iOS feature "Shortcuts" offers an incredible
wealth of possibilities that improve the user
experience of your uniquely Apple devices.
The gigantic range of different actions that can be
used when creating orders is impressive!
Regardless of whether it is the automation of
processes, such as sending ready-made messages, or the
operation of entire apps and websites such as
Instagram and Ebay, or more complex workflows in which
several processes are linked, there are no limits to
creativity.
Its may be hard to figure out how to create shortcuts yourself, but its worth it to learn it