My focus app doesn't have app blocking so I made a DIY approach, which actually is more customizable.

It uses a Focus mode plus a Shortcuts automation so that when you try to open a distracting app during focus time, your phone just sends you somewhere else instead.

My setup:

1. Made a Focus mode for when I want to concentrate, set to allow notifications from basically nothing except for the focus app any maybe some VIP people. I called mine "FlowStack app blocking". You need to customize this in your Shortcut later if you have a different name for the focus mode.
2. Set the home screen during that Focus to a nearly empty page, so I'm not tempted to tap on any social media in the first place.
3. I created a Shortcuts automation for the apps I want to avoid (Instagram and TikTok in the example). The only way to break it, is to consciously turn the Focus off, which is the little bit of friction that stops the mindless tap. The Shortcut runs every time the social media apps are being opened, but only reroutes you (blocks you) if you're in the specified focus mode.

Here's the shortcut I made if you want to copy it:

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/814cbacb1bac4aa28bfc842348b83576

If your Focus mode is named something different, just open the shortcut and change the name inside it.

And change the shortcut to whichever apps you want to block.

I use my own focus app FlowStack: Focus & Routines but obv this works with whatever app you want.

I wrote up the full step-by-step with screenshots here if the short version isn't enough: https://flowstack-app.com/blog/how-to-block-distracting-apps-on-iphone-for-free-using-shortcuts-(no-app-blocker-needed))

Happy to get more tips around this, or to answer any questions.

This is a Mac or iOS shortcut that takes text or spoken input. It turns up the volume to 100% and chimes every 5 minutes to announce the current time and how much time you have left. You can give it either a specific time you need to leave or a specific number of minutes. It doesn’t need to be a round number; I tested it to make sure that if I needed to leave in 7 minutes, the shortcut wouldn’t choke.

I am not the best at shortcuts, so this took a lot of fighting, but if you have any problems or suggestions for improvements, please let me know.

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/825fb928d442468ea103fd1165308f97

This is a shortcut that closes a specific tab when you’re using Safari. (I used someone else’s shortcut from Reddit; I didn’t make it myself.) I’d like to be able to do the same thing with Chrome, too. Does anyone know if that’s possible?

Hey,
So I’ve been working on this shortcut for quite some time, and have finally got to a stage where it’s become useful, usable and would like to make it available for download once I have the last pieces of the puzzle. Please read so you can understand my intentions

Shortcut name: how many miles ?

Design**:** For long distance walkers or runners, for use with Apple Maps on iPhone in conjunction with Apple Watch and AirPods
What it does:for predefined start and end destinations, calculates distance between to points of interest using apple’s curated routes in maps, retrieves average walking time to said destination (based on a walking/ running speed as a pre-requisite), gives updates on walk/ running distance covered as a percentage, predicted ETA and distance to destination, based on said walking/running speed.

My aim: to integrate a custom walk/running route, created by the user in apple maps to the shortcut. The idea is to directly transpose the positional coordinates of a ‘create custom route’ route into the shortcut, thereby allowing it to draw information such as the real distance between the start and end destinations, as opposed to using apple’s curated routes pre-determined by maps.

If anyone can help it would be much appreciated. I can then make it available to download.

i have an iphone xr 16.0i try to launch the app but it crashes every time tried every thing and nothing works any suggestion

So I've recently been creating a shortcut for my partner and setting her alarms and reminders based on her shifts. It has gotten a bit long and complicated however due to me adding quite a few features, which is causing some lag when I edit it, so I was going to recreate it with each section being its own shortcut, and calling them like functions from the main shortcut. I know I could just send her them all individually but honestly that's just boring, so I've been looking at ways to send everything through in one shortcut so that they're just a few clicks away from being set up.

Obviously apple doesn't allow more than one shortcut through in one link for potential malware creation reasons, but it's annoying that even with full user action like through a menu or pop up, there doesn't seem to be any way to open the iCloud links of any other shortcuts.

The best I've found so far is creating a list with each shortcut link written into it, and it creates a notes document with all of the links pasted in, but the user has to click each link and install each one. I'm pretty set on the initial shortcut essentially being just the equivalent of those install disks for older large games, and having no other real function.

I probably will settle for the notes option because I doubt anything else will be available, but I'd love for the links to not just be the url of the link, but instead be able to click on "main program" to open the first url, which is something you can set up manually but can't find a way to automate to help with this.

I know this is incredibly unnecessary and I am massively over-complicating it, but honestly it's more just to be fun than anything. I presume this is the closest I'm getting to multiple installations with one link sent, but if anyone has any ideas or help with either of my points I'd love to hear them

i just want a way to lock myself out of my phone when i get to work. if this shortcut is set to start when i connect to the wifi, will it pause until i unlock the screen or keep running and error out?

is there a better way (or is it possible at all) to set up a shortcut that does this?

pretty self explanatory. if there are any apps/workarounds pls share them

So, does running a Shortcut from Services not pass any input? I write my screenplays with fountain syntax, so I wanted to make a shortcut that will take the currently open file (in TextEdit) and pass it to afterwriting-cli via a bash script.

It felt like it made the most sense to have it in the Services menu (so I can run it from TextEdit while actively editing a file), but there doesn’t seem to be any input. If I just create the shortcut, add a “Show Content Graph” action, and run it from TextEdit via Services, it shows an empty window. But if I run it by going File > Share > Shortcuts, I can see input. With “Show Content( Graph)” connected to a “Get File Details” action, it’s blank when run from Services, but shows the file path when run from the Share menu. What gives?

I had a shortcut that would shuffle play my liked songs on Spotify but it’s suddenly stopped working and throws the most pointless error.

Got the shortcut from here, but can’t seem to find a replacement. I know Spotify is useless with their compatibility, but any ideas how to make this work again?

Hi! I’m trying to make a shortcut to remind me to do a specific task and I’d like for a specific image to pop up with the notification. Is that possible? For example- I’m time blocking for certain hobbies- I’d like to include a picture so I can “see” what I get to do- if that makes sense?

Hey everyone, I’m very very new to Shortcuts but I would like to set up an automated response to any text message I receive regarding my business. I’ve looked at multiple tutorials online but they all seem to confuse me. Would anybody be able to show me how to set up this? I need it between 6 pm and 6 am every day. I’d be very grateful, thank you.

Link: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/9485cb93442941a6b033e36be836f7c3

It can check ping in various versions like for example:

Ping result, Average round-trip time minimum round-trip time, and even packet loss!

It can also check if servers are online using ping or the default action.

NOTE: THIS REQUIRES THE "ACTIONS" APP DOWNLOAD IT AND THEN GET THIS.

Remember to save this post for shortcut updates!

VERSION: 1.1

https://imgur.com/a/9x2sqyG

Structure:

1. I have to lists in Reminders. One is called "To Do List"
2. In that list, I have a Parent task called "Routine" with no due date that I use like a folder to categorize.

In my shortcut, I simply want to add the "Journal" reminder at the specific date shown in the photos to the parent task.

The Find portion finds the parent task but it ALWAYS adds the subtask as its own parent task (like a normal reminder task in the main part of that To Do List.

How do I fix this? I've tried for hours and cannot get it.

I need a shortcut to do a diffrent thing if it’s rab throuh automation than normal. Is there antway to do this? It needs to be ran when I plug in my charger.

I don’t like receiving notifications. Especially I wfh I like focusing at work or when I cook i just want to be in the zone. If there’s an emergency with our family, they can message my husband

Hi everyone! I’m looking for a way to randomly discover albums that I don’t already have saved in my Apple Music library or playlists. Ideally, I’d like to have a Shortcut that I can run and it would pick a random album, check if I already have it saved or added to one of my playlists, and if I do, skip it and pick another one. If I don’t have it, it would show me the album so I can discover and listen to it. Does anyone know if something like this already exists, or if it would be possible to create a Shortcut that does this? Thanks!

Seeing if there any ideas out there that might help me with my organization. Currently, I put my shortcuts into folders based on their intent. For example, I have folders named Apple Watch, iRobot, Control D, etc.

With Control D, I have several main shortcuts and a bunch of helper shortcuts that are basically modules or functions that the main shortcuts call. The helper shortcuts handle calling Control D's various APIs (ex. "GET Endpoint ID", "PUT Devices Status", "PUT Devices Profile"). I've changed all the helper shortcuts to be grey and use the puzzle piece icon so it's easy to identify those, yet it still feels a bit cluttered being mixed in with the main ones.

I'm thinking I might need to create a new folder called something like "Control D Helpers" to store these in. But still...there's no way to have nested folders or collapse them so they can be hidden. And if I have a 'Helper' folder for all the others, that adds up and not sure that it'll really solve the clutterness, especially on the All Shortcuts screen. I suppose if I go this route, I could put all the helper folders at the bottom of the list.

What do you do? Do you use a certain folder structure, naming convention, colors, icons, etc.? Something else?

I want to make a shortcut. This is actually the first “BIG” shortcut for me. I’ve dabbled with useful ETA from current location to work or home shortcuts. Even a good old special day countdown and the usual retrieve specific documents on the fly.

This big short cut I want consists on multiple apps; Apple Calendar, HomeKit Automation, and of course Shortcuts.
Now to the meats and potatoes.

On specific days I work, I want shortcuts to run and determine whether or not I work. (I subscribe to my work schedule so each month my schedule automatic syncs. I’m a nurse, so no week is ever really the same. Especially when I pick up days on the fly). Once shortcuts has determined if I work or not I want to toggle on a home automation that turns on my night table lamp. If I don’t work, I get to sleep in.

I have a shortcut which previously worked to let me import a project with tasks from a csv file into ToDoist.

I’ve not used this for some time and the api has been updated.

I managed to get the shortcut updated but I’m not able to get it working. All the final step will give me is a ‘network connection’ lost error. There is no other network issue with the phone and my shortcut settings have not changed.

I’m sharing the two shortcuts here but have removed my api key for privacy. ToDoist provides free api keys on their website.

The old shortcut is the old api call and the new one is the one which gives the network error.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Old

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/6c7b1af1b29f4501a4dc2bb84de7c77d

New
https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/dfcfa7070354400c9d4f6b7c15f242e3

I make a checkbook register app for iPhone and it ships with a Shortcuts action for logging a transaction. Nothing to download, no iCloud link. Install the app and the action is just there.

The whole point was logging a purchase without opening the app. It asks which account, then the amount, writes the row, and hands back a confirmation. From a home screen icon that's about ten seconds standing at a checkout.

The account list comes from the app itself, so you pick your own accounts instead of typing a name and hoping it matches.

Happy to get into how it's wired up if anyone wants that.

I've just discovered an unfortunate bug.

You can run the Find Calendar Events action to filter events, and then Save Variable to save the found events to a variable.
Then, by adding another Find Calendar Events to run over the variable's elements (which will turn it into a Filter Events action) action over the variable, IF THE VARIABLE IS EMPTY (aka no events were found in the first Find Calendar Events action), INSTEAD OF JUST RETURNING NOTHING (which is the logical answer; filter nothing will return nothing), IT WILL SEARCH THE ENTIRE CALENDAR AGAIN AND THEREFORE APPLY ONLY THE MOST RECENT FILTERS. Because of this, you might be accidentally deleting events you didn't intend to delete due to this stupid bug.

If that doesn't make sense, here's another analogy. I start from my entire calendar, with both work and personal events. Using the first Find Calendar Events filter, I find the personal events only, save to a variable, and with the second Filter Events action, I find only those in the next 3 days out of the events that have just been filtered by the first action.

In practice, if the first Find Calendar Events action doesn't return any events/no personal events in your calendar that match the criteria, the second action will NOT reason over nothing and therefore do nothing, IT WILL FIND THE NEXT 3 DAYS OF EVENTS OUT OF YOUR ENTIRE CALENDAR, despite it being supposed to only filter from the variable. If you got a Remove Events action next to it, this means it can inadvertently delete the next 3 days' worth of work events when you have explicitly filtered only for personal events in the first action, instead of doing nothing.

Here's a proof-of-concept.
We start with two events, one that is supposed to be caught and handled by the shortcut, one that is supposed to stay put and never ever be touched.

First scenario: the event "INCLUDE THIS" is supposed to be found and deleted by this shortcut. That works fine, because the first Find Calendar Events action has found at least 1 event and written it to the variable. (ignore double events shown in Shortcuts window; that's a different UI bug.) Only the "INCLUDE THIS" event is being deleted, so the shortcut works as intended in this scenario.

Second scenario: there is no "INCLUDE THIS" event, so therefore there is nothing to delete according to the filters. The first Find Calendar Events action won't find anything, so therefore the second Filter action should also find nothing from nothing and therefore Remove Events won't delete anything. THAT'S NOT THE CASE, THOUGH. The second Filter Action will instead will start from scratch, searching the entire Calendar, despite being instructed to filter only the events from the first action. Therefore, all filters you applied in the first Find Calendar Events action are meaningless and ignored in the second (which is entirely illogical), and you end up deleting an event that doesn't fit the filter criteria and should've never been deleted.

This makes zero logical sense.

The only way to avoid this is to check if the Calendar Events list returned by the first Find Calendar Events is empty before continuing on, so that you don't run a shortcut on data you never intended for it to reach.

Recreated using iOS (27) and macOS (both Tahoe and Golden Gate)

Hi guys, like the title says, I'm trying to have my background pull from a different album of pics for daytime hours versus nighttime hours. Does anyone know if that's possible? Thank you so much!