Amazing Shortcuts to Power-Up ANY iPhone!

[@PolarBlairTech]

This is the most thorough shortcuts/action button video I've seen so far. So many videos goes over the basics like "open the video camera" but never get into shortcut tailoring. Thanks, Snazzy

[@snazzy]

Thank you!!

[@sarhan_]

No worries!

[@DjangoGroen]

most do but not this deep. i love it. most of the shortcuts i don't like though. but he gets me on idea's to do.

[@TheLemon420]

"I bet you're not using it to it's full potential" oh buddy... if I showed my shortcuts app to my grandpa, his head would explode on the spot

[@User57655]

Let this KZbin user show you one weird trick to instantly find out if you’re in your Grandpa’s will

[@tdrg_]

Shortcuts Show and Tell I have 373 shortcuts. Truth be told most are for Siri or just leftovers from experimenting. Because I have a 14 Pro with no Action button, I’ve created a set of 20 shortcuts. Back Tap runs a shortcut that displays those 20 at a double- or triple-press on the back.

[@ronnxc]

@@tdrg_would you mind sharing your creations?

[@Arnav_1102]

​@@tdrg_please do share ur shortcuts.

[@eljeffepatron3211]

@@tdrg_pls share

[@StarlancerAstro]

I bought a 15 Pro max after being on droid for years and found shortcuts, as I started to explore, I couldn't figure out how this is not more prominently advertised, it's insanely powerful and love iOS even more now, my 15 PM is the best phone I've bought in years!

[@choilive]

Apple doesn’t market the power user features too heavily because the “mainstream” consumer won’t really care.

[@LillyMayhem]

@@choilive*and probably wont understand or be powe-user-enough to take advantage of it. Exactly my thought!

[@hiryuimajin]

Bro! Same here! And S24+ came out and I'm like did I make a bad decision? Absolutely not because I can't have a phone without the shortcuts feature

[@DoritosResidue]

OMG you can set up mere swipes to execute an action Samsung phones. I have 6 action swipes set up on my S24U I just bought . Apple action button is child's play . Apple needs to take advantage of the screen real-estate like samsung phones. Dang makes me realize a lot of samsung owners don't know thier own phones.

[@silentgrind34]

Shortcuts is child play compared to android

[@Tobi042]

I actually have the action button set to run a shortcut to simply play/pause media. I consume a lot of media on my iPhone and this makes pausing one-handed + one touch. Not a huge thing of course, but handy at times.

[@townc2824]

How can I set this up?

[@smallqwaro]

this is amazing

[@Tobi042]

​@@townc2824 Create a shortcut with the action "Play/Pause" and assign it to the action button. The action is built-in and you can find it under the "Playback" category :)

[@snazzy]

As simple as it gets, but nice! www.icloud.com/shortcuts/cef05b3676e843f1867efc5f6ec3bf11

[@figeon]

That’s the thing I miss the most. My iPod Nano had a volume rocker, which allowed volume up,down, play, pause, skip, back skip, rewind, forward with a single additional button. I wish iPhones had volume rockers!

[@nielskersic328]

Shortcuts are seriously powerful and made me switch to iOS. The only thing I dislike is that some Auromations require you to confirm, which takes two extra taps for some reason

[@snazzy]

Luckily, they’re rare as of iOS 17. Almost all I come across can be run without confirmation which is great.

[@prospekt_1]

@@snazzyAll the “events” under Automations can run without confirmation now

[@jmunt]

@@prospekt_1 by far the most underrated iOS 17 feature. My only remaining complaint is it still needs confirmation to lock my door automatically. I get needing confirmation to UN-lock... but just let me lock it automatically when I leave, come on lol. But yeah its so SO much better now and no one is talking about it so most people probably don't know

[@glujaz]

Honestly, iOS17 changed a lot, I can now execute an automation when connecting to a Bluetooth device automatically, thing which was not possible before without approving each time. I use this to turn off wifi and switch on battery saving and opens foreflight on on my iPad when my aviation headset is turned on and connecting to my iPad. And goes back to normal when turned off.

[@JZL003]

You switched from android to iOS for automations? If you root your android phone you can do so much more and even unrooted android can do very powerful automations without waiting years for apple

[@skatcat743]

TRIPLE CLICK for Magnifier can also make a simple flash light :). I was frustrated with backtaps unreliability.

[@satoshistacks7755]

I never comment on videos. This was such a great walkthrough and thoughtful approach to the shortcuts app. I saw you were bummed on Twitter and had to come here and let you know that this type of content is what I love about your channel. Great work and keep this long form, thoughtful, content coming!

[@snazzy]

Thanks so much. ❤

[@smallqwaro]

it will be great if apple can allow the action button to be changed by automation, for example, do a different thing when pressed in a certain app. This will increase functionality alot. btw forget back tap (I hate the accidental triggers), maybe use a widget on the lock screen if you can. (haven't tried it so don't ask how).

[@LPRD]

Or when you're in a certain location or in a certain time. On samsung that's super easy to accomplish

[@ekiM2K]

I'm switching from Android to iOS for the first time. I didn't know anything about shortcuts and was just assuming this video would be pretty basic. This has completely changed my idea of how a phone can even be used and I'm absolutely stoked to start trying some of these.

[@wateriver]

The four shortcuts you showed off in the beginning, are very useful, and I appreciate that you provided links to add to my own Shortcuts library. Every time I see one of these types of videos I’m amazed of what people come up with. Maybe a series you could do is to Showcase some of the shortcuts like on the monthly basis or something. Great video!

[@SpookySkeletonGang]

I'm on a Pixel, and gave my phone the option to hold the power button only while the screen is off to toggle the flashlight, and it has been the most useful feature I've added to my phone lol. I use it ALL the time.

[@brad1785]

You can simplify that flashlight focus shortcut btw. No need to do the variable stuff. Add "Get current focus" then the "if" and if you tap the "Current Focus" on the if statement, you can change it to the name which then allows you to match the same way as you did here with the variable.

[@snazzy]

It actually doesn’t let you select the name of the focus. Idk why, it’s bizarre. Try it.

[@JamesR624]

Nope. You cannot select "what focus". The only thing the IF statement allows there is "has any value" or "does not have any value", so only able to select whether any focus AT ALL is on or not, but not WHAT focus. So yeah, you need the variable since one for "focus" doesn't exist in iOS currently.

[@brad1785]

@@snazzy it's not the most intuitive, but you can get it to match the string of the focus name without having to use a variable. No way that I can find to actually pick from your focuses, which is annoying, but at least there is something. KZbin won't let me link, but here is the shared shortcut id: 60aaa227893b49089d254b3d143cae88

[@brad1785]

@@JamesR624 right, the if will allow an "is" comparison if you tap on the "Current Focus" and change it from "Focus" to "Name". Here's what you do: 1. Create a new shortcut 2. Add "Get Current Focus" 3. Add "If" 3. Tap on "Current Focus" in the If 4. At the bottom, select "Name" instead of "Focus" 5. Tap "Condition" and select "is" 6. Then tap the text field and put in the name of the focus

[@Potty8]

@@brad1785exactly

[@JahirFiquitiva]

I'd love to get those wallpapers you use in the lock screen depending on the charging state. Would you mind sharing them?

[@Reverie-nu1nb]

It’s crazy! Using the dopple tipping on the back to change the focus mode (which I use to change the appearance mode + widgets + background) and triple tipping to change it back! That’s such a nice way to do it. Thanks for this video!

[@MrBoomerhawk]

This is great. I created an auto message shortcut (pair of them) to handle sending schedule updates to my kids. One shortcut takes selected text and saves it to a Note, the other shortcut runs automatically on certain days after school gets out, finds the latest message and sends it to the kids.

[@Indrecius]

This is wicked. When I last tried backtap, it wasn't that reliable but perhaps it's time to give it another go and see if it's improved. In any case, this video is going to my "for future reference" playlist, for after I upgrade again a few years down the line. Much appreciated!

[@sinek808]

Flippity doo-da is super usefull but I changed it little bit when I press the button in portrait it runs action menu shortcut. I made a little change with action menu too 😂 I changed summary with flashlight now its better for me. This is the best video about action button.

[@developerpranav]

Just switched to an iPhone 15 pro max and I have to say, I dont miss my custom ROMs on android anymore after looking at what shortcuts and automations can do for ya. Especially that "Actions" app. I'm gonna have a lot of fun

[@caparalph]

I'm a first time iPhone user coming from Samsung S20. I am so frustrated that there are some features that I miss on Samsung like having a fixed back button, having the ability to flip the camera or pause it while on video and many more! I have to say however that using the action button and shortcuts combo made me enjoy my iPhone! It fulfills the tech geek in me. Thanks for the guide!

[@TerraCotton]

2:23 You don’t actually need the text box to get the current focus mode and then set another variable. Simply (1) Get Current Focus, (2) Get Variable, tap on Current Focus, tap on Current Focus AGAIN, underneath Type, change from Focus to Name, (3) if Name is Sleep, (4) and so on

[@16bosshoss99]

I would love to hear more about the custom link shortener! I have an extra domain that I would love to use with one!

[@perkulant4629]

The magnifier workaround is better than the action button and volume solution imo. Great find.

[@derekbarbosa]

Ever since shortcuts were introduced I’ve automated so many trivial aspects of my phone. I have one that toggles power save mode below “x” percent, but is dependent on whether or not the charger is plugged in. That’s a trivial example, but I have toggle prompts for alarms, and other nifty things. As soon as I saw the action buttons ability to be set to a shortcut, i was fairly enthusiastic!

[@JapmeetSingh]

When I lived downtown I used to use automations to trigger a 'drinking' mode whenever I connected to my regular pub's wifi. It was just a focus mode that took away a whole bunch of apps from the home screen and put a bunch of widgets on there and turned on DND. I also had an automation that when I left that geo-fenced location, it would turn off drinking mode. Pretty neat! Honestly, shortcuts and automation are very cool. Just wish there were more triggers that we could use for automating tasks/shortcuts.

[@black-n-gold]

The magnifier hack is galaxy brained and going to push this to its limits. (And since I have the action buttton I technically have two shortcuts (or 3 if the volume hack) now.

[@Dygear]

Excellent video. The turn off rotation lock automatically is a super helpful "One More Thing."

[@Frederik-xk8og]

do you have to unlock the phone first every time ?

[@adsmith_]

For the magnifier automation, I put 'go to homescreen' before the 'run action menu shortcut', there's a minor delay but it should help save battery and that extra swipe for going home.

[@ayehavgunne]

When I was using Android, Tasker was the same kind of thing as Shortcuts. So powerful. I automated so much stuff and it flawlessly transferred between phones. I carried the same Tasker config file around with me for years! I still can't believe that Apple, of all companies, built something like this.

[@snazzy]

They acquired a great app with an amazing team that they somehow convinced the bigwigs to make even more powerful and prominent. Pretty awesome.

[@paraparapampew]

There are bixby actions on samsung phones but may be they aren't that powerful.

[@curiousurick]

Siri Shortcuts is basically super intro to programming. I love it so much

[@jonasiliaens5937]

A Snazzy Labs video 2 days in a row? What a treat! 🎉

[@idontgetnotifiedaboutrepli2332]

Best, most in depth shortcuts video in a a long while. Thank you. Just came back to comment this because I felt like pushing the algorithm.

[@faiq_iftikhar]

Euphy as your sponsor seriously, and you’re talking about tech

[@methus9812]

takes some time to understand how it works, but once you know, its pretty cool. Made a shortcut that reports when i started charging my phone, how much it charged, and the time it took to charge it to that level with an option to store it as a log file.

[@Pressbutan]

8:57 that's a cool workaround. I used to use automations to toggle LTE/5G and set manual night shift to 15 minutes after/before sunset/sunrise. This is handy. I wonder if us pre-action button people can do something like this with the toggle mute switches?

[@Pressbutan]

9:45 lol realtime bugtesting

[@Pressbutan]

12:00 Back tap is still, after all these years, really wonky. Lots of accidental pocket triggers and failures to launch on command. Hit or miss for me

[@דודישמר-ז9ע]

Great video!!, When I try to make the “IF” to volume level I don’t get the option of “is not” … how do I find it?

[@conspickerous]

This type of content is why I am subscribed to you Quinn! BTW, one other workaround for us that don’t have the 15 Pro is to add the shortcut on the lock screen. It’s really pretty handy.

[@hazrulk6444]

Love iOS shortcuts. All should learn how to use it. It will get very complicated and fun!

[@JZL003]

Just on android so it has "double click on power button" -> action. I'd love to do something fancier but I use it as a flashlight and use it so much every day, it's amazing. Even better than an EDC flashlight bc it's in my hand

[@KennyLiang]

Cool to get users into a engineering thinking of if-then-else-while for the customizations

[@LJMOO7]

This video is amazing! One suggestion with the magnifier thing. You can chose new blank shortcut, then go to homescreen the run shortcut then your shortcut.

[@cheekymonkeync]

Do you have a link to the shortcut for your battery level/lock screen change?

[@eltonmenezes]

Fantastic video. I love it. I'm a Computer Engineer and an IT professional and it's awesome

[@jtd0542]

*bow down" omg Quinn, thanks for the smashing intro and tutorial to shortcuts. I just made my very first one to toggle between mobile data plans!

[@Shazlys]

This is just ridiculously valuable! Your videos are in a universe of their own, Quinn! Grateful

[@fulcrum8108]

all of this is going completely over my head 😭 i appreciate how in depth you got. time to learn!

[@golfgrouch]

Thanks! I would suggest making it clear at the very beginning of the video that the 3rd party app "Actions" needs to be installed first to be able to access certain shortcut functions.

[@Teub03]

These videos always get recommended to me right before I go to bed resulting in an entire night of making shortcuts and automations

[@georgejajji3700]

Hi I have a swedish iphone 15 pro max. When using shortcuts I'm missing several actions like for the Flippity Doo-da I don't have the device orientation action. I have the latest iOS and latest Shortcut app. What could the problem be?

[@NovianLeVanMusic]

Does iOS 17 still not have the smooth sliding flashlight control in Control Center? I read about it in leaks a while back, but you mention the 4 brightness modes.

[@NathanLewisVideos]

back tap works through a case.... its not looking for touch, it just uses the accelerometer

[@natios100]

you can add go to home screen for the magnifier trick!

[@gigsandguitars6921]

Been using the back tap for a while now! Use it to set my gym alarm and open up my gym booking app!

[@georgemalouf4298]

I never utilised back tap functionality, but I'm grateful to learn that you must remove your smartphone case in order to make it work.

[@MalyJohn3]

Woo, this motivated me to revisit Samsung automation routines. Thanks

[@ylihao]

The way Quinn enthusiastically demonstrates the shortcuts somehow gives that long lost Steve Jobs vibe

[@Karan_Thakkar]

In that flashlight shortcut, adding current focus to text then assigning that text to variable Focus is redundant :p you can directly assign current focus to the variable

[@elmedin26]

I love it how excited you are about all these shortcuts!!! 😁

[@chetinderjassar4715]

I have used the low power mode and its not going to its default settings 😭 Please 🙏🏻 help

[@krebsgewehr]

This is amazing and a lot. Definitely a great run through of things that this can do!

[@TheNativeOtter]

Adding the “double click” functionality that way is GENIUS

[@mastermike3940]

Very nice info. I've done a few actions before, but nothing like these. Thanks for sharing! Definitely wanting to try some out and make my own.

[@yonahf]

Could you give step by step guide how to set the dynamic wallpaper for charging vs not charging?

[@perkulant4629]

Nice workaround but it’s hardly a double press on the action button. Hopefully we get a double tap implementation properly in a few updates time.

[@leaveamarc]

I’m too smooth brained to utilize shortcuts properly, so i’m glad i can rely on you to at least explain what can be done!! awesome vid

[@SWinxyTheCat]

Oh my god I need to dig into the accessibility settings and shortcuts app. Amazing automation capabilities.

[@dr.coconut]

Back tap isn't based on actually touching your phone, so it doesn't matter if you have a case. It should still work. It's just using internal sensors in the phone.

[@snazzy]

Theoretically. But the reason I mentioned a case is that many cases dampen the effects enough that the sensors don’t pick up on it.

[@dr.coconut]

@@snazzy That makes sense, I just wanted to clarify the wording. Interesting video regardless, I'll have to try out the auto message and lower power mode

[@Me-ld8bt]

Apple allowing shortcuts with the action button is like allowing you to respond “grant me three more wishes” to a genie.

[@blakecwilson]

Been waiting for a video like this from you! You got me hooked on smart home stuff with your video from a couple years back and now I'm gonna dive further into shortcuts and action button stuff.

[@joaofernandes5649]

Can you make a step by step how to do that mute/unmute shortcut? I dont fine the action app that you talk about.

[@samuellong3934]

Incred video. Downloaded and installed a few already. Subscribed from a search that landed me here. You’re a LEGEND.

[@adiboy_223]

This is the single great video that has blown my mind the most.

[@Melchirobin]

Thanks for having chapters and not an entire video dedicated to a robot vacuum.

[@finnjacobs]

I use routines on my samsung, which has the same functionality as shortcuts on ios. A few shortcuts/routines I have: If I need to charge my phone overday, it will limit it to 85% so it doesn't hurt the battery as much, but it will allow it to charge to 100% overnight (which it is then connected to a 5W brick) so I always wake up with a full battery. I also have 8 versions of the same wallpaper, but all taken at a different time of day, it will cycle through the wallpapers so it matches the outside. so when it's midnight, it will be night, but when it's dawn it will also be dawn.

[@marvinjohn]

I use routines too and let me tell you, it is nothing like shortcuts. Shortcuts is soooo much more powerful. But routines is easier for most people to work with.

[@markdarc0448]

I want to send this to everyone who says the iPhone 15 doesn’t have any major changes. A button that lets you do basically anything is a MASSIVE change imo. This was highly overlooked in the Apple Watch ultra too. This is so useful and something that more people need to use

[@townc2824]

What about play/pause?

[@iankslife]

@@townc2824 you can do that in shortcuts

[@helloukw]

It would have been even better to leave the old button as well since it had a tactile feel no other button is able to replicate that easy and it was even accidentally toggle proof.

[@markdarc0448]

@@helloukw fair enough

[@markdarc0448]

@@townc2824 shortcuts can let you do pretty much anything including play pause

[@ionaspolitis]

You don't need to do the text variable thing anymore, because you can select to use the "get focus action" as the focus's name if you tap on the icon on the right, or when setting ypi the variable in use.

[@iam_Batman]

Don't get me wrong, but this is by far the best informative video you've made in some time. Thanks for the info as I can now use shortcut to do "something" on my iPhone 13 mini.

[@TechnologyGeek862]

Thanks for the tip to get past the triple click power button stuff. Now I can open my camera little bit faster than before 👌

[@vivekpujaravp]

My favorite vid of yours. Awesome breakdown of one of the iPhone’s most powerful capabilities. Please do more like this.

[@pastorjohn7771]

I don’t see where you listed some websites to find more shortcuts?

[@aimanarifi12]

One thing that always bothering me is to decide when should I wake up tomorrow. So, I made a shortcut automation which run every night, where it goes through my calendar, see the earliest event, set an alarm 3 hours before that time. It's been few month and I haven't open the clock app since then😎. I never knew about the backtap stuff. excited to experiment what can I do with that🤩.

[@wxracer23]

If you have a case you can use back tap by tapping around tue camera lens. 😊

[@calebrasak6941]

I’ve never really messed with shortcuts but this video inspired me to try them out. I hope in the future we can just ask Siri to build us shortcuts to simplify the build / tinkering process. Also what’s up Benjamin?!

[@anianii]

As a developer and someone who is very familiar with the shortcuts app after years of use, it's really annoying to see how much you could simplify in your shortcuts to do the same thing 😂

[@Mashnoor]

Do the simplifications for us 😌

[@drewlop]

Please do tell; or, if you implement your improvements please link 'em here :)

[@anianii]

I tried, but my comments with iCloud share links seem to get hidden automatically 😅

[@jmunt]

@@anianii you can't post any links in KZbin comments lol. but I'm a software developer and I agree, but some optimizations make things harder for beginners to understand and tweak for themselves so they may be built that way intentionally for share-ability. I've re-written some shortcuts to be less efficient to share with my friends for that reason

[@snazzy]

@@jmuntThis is why. This video is intended for beginners and doing things the long way is often the most logical.

[@daniwello]

Thanks for making the action button super useful!!!!!

[@jpkoskimaa]

Such a good video. Initially I thought it was only for the iPhone 15, but it's a good thing you changed the title (I believe the title was different at first?) because boy was there some good shortcut content in this one! Thanks!

[@SirPoofyPants]

Can u add undo and redo to the action menu so you don’t have to shake or back tap your phone?

[@garylovesbeer]

Hey, anyone know where I can download the "New Event" shortcut? Thanks,

[@ChromeJob]

Since learning more about Shortcuts during the pandemic, I've explored running some on my Apple Watch. Tl'dr: some do, some don't. With Watch OS 10 they finally allowed us to set volume on the Watch. \o/. Alerts/Notifications work a little differently on the Watch, likewise on MacOS. So it helps to have IF…THEN statements checking Device Model (e.g. "Ipad" "Mac"). There's even a dedicated "Device is Watch" readymade for Shortcuts you want to run on the Watch. For a Shortcut that runs on Mac, iPhone, AND the Watch, a little nested Russian doll of IF…THEN statements is required, but it can be done. Some of the actions are hidden gems. One of my recent faves, "Shutdown." You can shut down, or restart your your device from the shortcut. It can even prompt you each time. No more holding buttons and sliding pills. Made installing that Actions 3rd party utility a breeze.

[@TheNovgaihf7]

You were my favorite youtuber but after this i like you even more. Action button, shortcuts and automations are amazing. Thank you

[@Qeron]

I’m not very experienced with apple’s Shortcuts but now I got the Flippity Doo-da shortcut and when in portrait it will activate the action menu shortcut but I want it to activate for a few seconds like 600 milliseconds and than after that that it will automatically mute my phone so when no input it will automatically mute but can’t figure it out someone ideas??

[@jlnho1]

I use the action button for the rotate lock, cuz I hate auto rotate. But I still want to quickly open the camera app, with a double press, the volume hack is really great work around until Apple give use a double press option

[@kianostad]

Do you know any in-depth tutorials for the Shortcuts app? While there are many resources online explaining the basics like what it is, how to download or share one, and the necessity of installing shortcuts, I'm looking for a more advanced guide. Specifically, I'd like some insights into the inputs and outputs of actions, beyond just dealing with simple text. For instance, my camera captures both high-res RAW and low-res JPG images. I want to streamline my workflow by reviewing and deleting unnecessary JPGs (as they load faster) and then running a shortcut to swiftly remove RAW files without corresponding JPGs (e.g., abcd.jpg -> abcd.raw) to free up space. Do you think this is achievable?

[@ryanlavoie1888]

Do you think the automatic light mode/dark mode option is good?

[@davidc4162]

“Double press” not quite. Not only is the second press a different button, but if vol is at max you’d have to use the volume down button.

[@zavon]

Haven't gotten my phone yet, but how does your phone auto set the focus to sleep when you head to bed?

[@ssaaffuu]

Thx for making my weakened more fun snazzy

[@yashen12345]

this is why im subscribed to you. im so tired of other superficial as regurgitate the same ass reading off the apple marketing material ass videos. but not you, you are a true nerd. and thats what i wanna see

[@frazermountford]

I need one that will check to see if the iphone has had no input for x time and if true then go do home screen or lock screen. Some apps now ignore your lock screen timeout.

[@drdax]

Instead of using shifter I use the native bedtime and that works great