The Shortcuts app was first introduced as an official app by Apple on their iOS 12, which later transformed into an in-built app in iOS 13 and iPadOS 13. Now, Shortcuts app offers various tools and system features for creating connections between the first and third-party apps. With the tap of a single button, you can speed up the process and actions on your device. It allows you to perform more than one task using any app. You can ask Siri to activate the app for getting your jobs done.
Siri can help you get a more sorted experience on Shortcuts. You can easily create shortcuts without creating an activation phrase. On the app, you can engage Siri into a conversational interaction. For a lot of people, this app has been troublesome as they couldn’t execute the procedures involved in it. So here is a step by step procedure for how you can use the Shortcuts app:
- Open the Shortcuts app on your device (iPad or iPhone).
- At the upper right corner of the screen, click on the ‘+’ icon.
- Select Add Action to find a list of options for creating shortcut actions appearing on your screen.
- These are the following options and the tasks they’ll help you complete:
- Apps – it will bring you the list of apps that work with Shortcuts.
- Favorites – it will show you all your favorite tasks and activities.
- Media – it includes a camera, music, video, audio, etc.
- Scripting – it allows you to open apps, control over devices functions, control flow, and more.
- Location – it includes actions related to places that will help you add useful shortcuts on the app.
- Documents – you can work with files, create folders, mark documents, create notes, to-do lists, edit texts, and more.
- Web – it offers web related actions, and you can expand an URL, search for GIPHY, use some tools and items from RSS feeds, etc.
- Sharing – it enables you to use all the sharing tools and actions to create an interaction of the apps on your device.
- Suggestions – Using this, the Shortcuts app will offer you suggestions from third-party apps and Apple based on your frequent actions.
- Select the Action you want from the available options and use any app’s functionality to see a new list.
- Click on the blue Parameter to make changes.
- Select an option for your Parameter and again click on a blue parameter to make settings.
- Hit the ‘+’ icon to continue adding actions on your shortcut list.
- Then tap on the three-dotted (…) button at the top right side of your screen.
- Give a name to the shortcut you created and select Done (twice) to save the settings and changes.
Despite creating shortcuts, you might find problems that will prevent you from installing some features on your device. In this case, you’ll find, “This shortcut cannot be opened because your Shortcut security settings don’t allow entrusted shortcuts” appearing on your screen. Your first response might be to check the settings for the Shortcut app, but there isn’t anything to tweak in the security settings. To solve this issue, you will have to enable ‘Allow Untrusted Shortcuts.’ Here are the steps to do it:
- Open the Settings app on your iPad or iPhone.
- Go to the Shortcut app settings.
- Turn on the toggle for Allow Untrusted Shortcuts.
This change will allow you to use Apple TV On, New Thing, Seasonal Tunes, and Audio Note features on your device.
Incorporating these steps will get you through the basics of the Shortcut app. It might need some time and practice to learn the procedure, but soon you’ll be able to customize every detail on the app. Please note that anything appearing in a blue-colored text on the app is a parameter that can be customized and changed into default settings.
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