Transcription
iOS Shortcuts app can be an incredibly powerful way to improve your productivity. Today, I'm going to walk you through my 10 absolute favorite iOS shortcuts for productivity. These are automations I've set on my iPhone that literally save my time, energy, and mental clutter every single day.
I've already made a separate video explaining what the iOS Shortcut app is, how to create them, and how to use them. I'll leave a link to both of them in the description below. In this video, we'll dive straight into my top 10 productivity favorites. But don't worry, I'll also leave a downloadable link in the description where you can just download these shortcuts, customize it, and start using for yourself. Let's dive in.
Let's start with my morning routine shortcut. This one sets the tone for my entire day. Instead of waking up and immediately doom scrolling Instagram or emails, I just tap this shortcut. Here's what it does. "Good morning, Anja. The weather today is 54° Fahrenheit and cloudy. Your next appointment is lunch at Seattle, May 16th, 2025 at 1:00 p.m." First, it'll greet me with a nice good morning message. Then, it reads out my current weather so I know if I need a jacket or a sunscreen. Then it pulls my first calendar event of the day and reads it aloud. That alone helps me mentally prep before I get out of the bed. Then it plays my morning playlist of music to help me get ready for the day in the background on my HomePod mini speaker on low volume. Then it opens the notes app so I can jot down my intentions for the day or any to-dos that come into my mind. Some mornings I just write down three things that I'm grateful for. It's simple but really helps me feel grounded. Behind the scenes, the shortcut uses get weather conditions, get upcoming events, and open app actions. It runs automatically with one tap or voice command. I'm not going into indepth detail of creating the shortcut, but like I said, I'll leave a downloadable link to all the shortcuts I custom made in this video.
Now, let's talk about the shortcut I probably use the most. Quick note. Throughout the day, I get random ideas like video concepts, grocery items that I forget, or just a quick reminder. Instead of opening the notes app, tapping on new note, and getting distracted by old notes, I just tap this one shortcut. It opens a little pop-up window where I can type what's on my mind. Then it saves that straight into my notes app all in one step. That's it. No tapping around. No distractions. The shortcut uses ask for input, then create note actions. It saves to your default notes folder, but you can customize that if you want. I even have this shortcut pinned to my home screen as a [Music] widget.
Okay, let's be honest. Sometimes the fastest way to save something for later is to email it to yourself. And I do this a lot. This shortcut lets me type a quick note or paste a link. And with one tap, it emails it straight to my inbox. Here's how it works. You tap the shortcut. It asks you for input like a thought, link, or a reminder. Then it packages that into an email and sends it to my own address. The subject line is autofilled as "Note to Self," but you can change that. Since I have all the messages with the same subject, it's easy for me to find them later by searching. The information I send to my email can be accessed even if I'm traveling without my phone or laptop on other machines. This has come in very handy many times. [Music]
This one's a game changer. Especially if you're someone who likes saving receipts, articles, recipes, or research. With this shortcut, I can instantly create a PDF from any web page or selected photos. For example, when I find a great blog post or product page, I just hit share and run this shortcut from the sheet. It converts the entire page into a PDF and saves it to my files to a specific folder. I've saved dozens of recipes, blog posts which I want to refer back again later using this shortcut. The same shortcut can even convert my photos to a PDF and save it into my files. I do this for any receipts, screenshots of invoices which I don't want cluttering my photo library. Behind the scenes, it uses make PDF and save file or share actions. You can even have it name the PDF automatically using today's date.
Now, if you're like me and struggle to stay focused for longer periods, try this Pomodoro shortcut. You tap on it and it starts a 25-minute timer for deep work. Then when that's done, it gives you a 5-minute break. "Focus time complete." It's all automated. I even added an action to turn on Do Not Disturb for that full 25 minutes so I don't get any notifications. It uses set focus mode to enable Do Not Disturb, wait 25 minutes, and then optionally a second action to trigger the break timer. You can even add a spoken reminder like, "Time to take a break." This has honestly helped me stop multitasking and get real stuff [Music] done.
If you jump between calls or meetings, you will love this one. This shortcut is my 30-second meeting prep kit. It turns on Do Not Disturb mode, opens my next calendar event so I can quickly check the agenda, and even sends a pre-written message via iMessage or Slack saying, "Hey, heading into a meeting. I'll reply soon." On the days when I'm working from home and when I have to take a call, I have a similar shortcut where it'll set a Do Not Disturb, check my calendar event, and finally, instead of a message, it'll turn the lamp outside to red color, letting others know that I'm in a meeting. For this, you will need smart lights connected to Apple Home. If you like creating smart home automations using Apple Home, let me know in the comments below and I'll create a full video on it. It helps me stay present instead of scrambling. You can even schedule it to run a few minutes before your calendar event starts. It uses set focus mode, open app, calendar app, and then send message. Customize it with your go-to contact or tools.
Sometimes typing is in the move. This shortcut lets me speak my thoughts and instantly turns them into a note when I'm walking, cooking, or multitasking. I'll show you how it works. As usual, I have this shortcut shared to my home screen. When I have something to dictate, I just tap this and speak. "Remind me to pick Sneha at the airport at 3:00 p.m. today." My iPhone will automatically transcribe it for me. When I'm done, I hit stop and the transcribed note is saved to my Apple Notes. Great for quick ideas, reminders, or even journaling. It uses dictate text, create note. You can also set it to save in a specific folder or append to an existing note if you want all your thoughts in one [Music] place.
ChatGPT has truly become the true virtual assistant for me these days. I ask ChatGPT every random question that comes in my mind, even more than Google. And in most cases, I'm just looking for a single line answer rather than a whole conversation. For those quick one-line answers, I've created a very simple ChatGPT shortcut which will take my question and answer instantly and go away. Let me show you. When I launch this shortcut, it straight away asks me how it can help me. When I type in the question, ChatGPT will respond instantly to my question. I can immediately dismiss it and get back to working without skipping a beat. In fact, this shortcut just has one action: ask ChatGPT. That simple, but it's super [Music] powerful.
For quick signups, this shortcut generates a strong random password and copies it instantly. It uses random number and random character logic to create a 16-character password using letters, numbers, and symbols. It then copies that into your clipboard and shows a notification saying "Secure password copied." I use it when I'm signing up for any new app or websites. No need to come up with something new or use the same old fake password. When I enter the password, my Apple Password Manager app will automatically save it to my next login. Seamless yet very [Music] secure.
And finally, my Sunday ritual. Every weekend, I run this shortcut. It asks me to type in my top three goals for the week. Then it creates a note titled with the date, adds those goals, and opens my calendar and Notion dashboard so I can plan the week properly. It's like a personal check-in built into my phone and it helps me start my Monday with actual intention. This one uses ask for input, create note, open app, and open URL to load up all my Notion workspace. You can make it as minimal or as extra as you like.
So, there you have it. My top 10 iOS shortcuts that seriously boost my productivity. These aren't just cool tech tricks. They are tiny time savers that add up to a much calmer, more focused day. I've linked all of them in the description so you can download and try them out yourself. Let me know which one is your favorite or if you have a custom shortcut that I should try, drop them in the comments. And if you found this video helpful, don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe for more practical tech tips every week. Thanks for watching. I'll see you in the next one. This is Anja. Bye-bye.