Apple’s Shortcuts app is now built-in on iPhones and iPads with iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, a change that gives the automation app more integration and greater discovery. If you’re brand new to Shortcuts or want to take customization to the next level, there are two great resources out this month to help.
First up is an ambitious design project from the MacStories team for personalizing how specific shortcuts appear on your iPhone and iPad Home screen. MacStories Shortcuts Icons is a collection of 300 custom icons that can be used to create personalized shortcut launchers.
This level of customization is ideal for shortcuts that can effectively replace apps on the Home screen, and it requires a new capability introduced in iOS 13.1 and iPadOS 13.1. The just-released software updates introduce the ability to assign custom glyphs to shortcuts on the Home screen while preserving the assigned shortcut color from the Shortcuts app.
Simply save the MacStories Shortcuts Icons collection anywhere in the Files app, then the Shortcuts app will let you use it as an image selection source when creating custom icons for the Home screen.
More from the announcement:
You can view 40 minutes of the course for free here, or enroll in the full video tutorial for $29. For a limited time, promo code LAUNCHSHORTCUTS will bring the course price down to $24.
Get an automatic weather report for the location of tomorrow’s appointments
Block schedule an entire week
Put your iPhone into focus mode when you connect to a coffee shop’s WiFi
Build simple apps, like a self-creating packing list customized for you
Automate your meetings
Automate sending a message when you are running late with an accurate, automatically generated ETA.
These are just a few examples of what you can do with Shortcuts, and all of these examples (along with many others) are included among the many video lessons in this course.
