7 iPhone Shortcuts That Will Automate Your Daily Routine

Apple’s Shortcuts app is criminally underused. Most people don’t realize their iPhone can automate tasks that eat up hours every week. Here are 7 shortcuts that will change how you use your phone.

1. Morning Briefing

Trigger: When your alarm is dismissed

This shortcut reads you the weather, your calendar events, and top news headlines — all hands-free while you get ready.

How to set it up:

• Open Shortcuts → Automation → When Alarm is Stopped
• Add: Get Weather, Get Calendar Events, Speak Text

2. Auto Low Power Mode

Trigger: Battery drops below 30%

Automatically enables Low Power Mode, reduces brightness, and sends a text to someone if you might go offline.

3. Commute Playlist

Trigger: Connect to car Bluetooth

Automatically opens your music app, starts your commute playlist, sets volume to 60%, and opens Maps with your work address.

4. Meeting Mode

Trigger: Calendar event starts

Silences notifications, enables Do Not Disturb, and sends an auto-reply to messages: “In a meeting, I’ll respond soon.”

5. Screenshot to PDF

Trigger: Manual (Share Sheet)

Select multiple screenshots, and this shortcut combines them into a single PDF — perfect for saving receipts or documenting conversations.

6. Water Reminder

Trigger: Every 2 hours between 8am-8pm

Logs water intake to the Health app and sends a gentle reminder notification. Simple but effective for building habits.

7. End of Day Summary

Trigger: 9pm daily

Compiles your screen time, steps walked, tasks completed, and spending into a quick daily summary notification.

Getting Started

The Shortcuts app comes pre-installed on every iPhone. Open it, browse the Gallery for inspiration, and start with one automation. Once you see the time savings, you’ll want to automate everything.

Pro tip: You can share shortcuts with anyone via iCloud links, so check Reddit’s r/shortcuts for community-created automations.

What would you automate first?