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![\"Adding](\"https:\/\/www.cultofmac.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Add-a-Shortcut.jpg\" "\\"Add")
<\/a>How to add (and get a preview of) a shortcut.Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/p>\n
The Shortcuts app was\u00a0already a powerful<\/a>\u00a0(if highly underrated) way to get things done on your iPhone, iPad or Mac. Using Shortcuts, you can automate repetitive or boring tasks with a simple tap or voice command. But in iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS 26,\u00a0Apple Intelligence<\/a>\u00a0makes the automation tool even more capable. Apple added\u00a0useful enhancements<\/a>, such as\u00a0new actions\u00a0and an\u00a0improved shortcut editor.<\/p>\n The free Shortcuts app comes preinstalled on recent Apple devices and lets you create your own custom shortcuts. But if you don\u2019t want to get into making your own, you\u2019re in luck.<\/p>\n The active user community keeps coming up with \u2014 and sharing \u2014 imaginative custom shortcuts.\u00a0Stephen Robles and the Shortcuts community<\/a>\u00a0created quite a collection.<\/p>\n I picked out 13 of the most interesting ones that I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll use every day.<\/p>\n Note: For each of these, you first need to download the shortcut itself. (If you have Shortcuts enabled to sync over iCloud, downloading it on your iPhone will add it to your iPad and\/or Mac.)<\/p>\n After downloading it to your iPhone, make sure you allow the shortcut to show up in the share sheet if it doesn\u2019t already. This makes it quicker and easier to run the shortcut from anywhere. After you tap Add Shortcut, tap \u22ef to open the shortcut, tap the \u24d8 icon at the bottom, and make sure you enable Show in Share Sheet.\u00a0You will need to do this for each shortcut individually if they don\u2019t come with that option baked in.<\/p>\n Now, let\u2019s get into it \u2026<\/p>\n Table of contents: iOS 26 shortcuts with Apple Intelligence<\/p>\n 1. Summarize documents<\/p>\n Summarize Doc AI is a nifty shortcut that will grant you\u00a0a three-sentence summary with key points for any document. You can use it with three LLM models: ChatGPT, On-Device and Cloud.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that the on-device and cloud models have a maximum character limit. So, if you need to summarize longer documents, choosing ChatGPT is your best bet.<\/p>\n To use this shortcut, tap and hold a document you want to summarize. Then, tap the Share button, and you\u2019ll find Summarize Doc AI in the share sheet. Activate it and you\u2019ll get a quick summary in no time.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0Summarize Doc AI<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.<\/p>\n 2. Brainstorm and dictate ideas\u00a0<\/p>\n The Brainstorm Ideas AI shortcut is great if you\u2019re the type to think aloud. Basically, you can freely\u00a0dictate your ideas,\u00a0and it will\u00a0format your speech as an Apple note.<\/p>\n You can save all your musings as a formatted note, with the date, a bullet point list and a full transcript. It\u2019s also really quick!<\/p>\n Additionally, the on-device LLM models work even without internet access.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0Brainstorm Ideas AI<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.<\/p>\n 3. Food tracker<\/p>\n If you\u2019re keeping a close eye on your diet, you should check out the Food Scanner to Health shortcut. It\u2019s a food scanner and tracker that makes it easy to get nutritional information about your food just by\u00a0scanning bar codes\u00a0and\u00a0taking pictures of food.<\/p>\n It uses the Open Foods API to look up the food and show you the macronutrients it contains. You can also log that information in Apple Notes and Apple Health.<\/p>\n And best of all, with the Today\u2019s Totals option, Apple Intelligence will calculate your macros for the day.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0Food Scanner to Health<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.<\/p>\n 4. Save for later\u00a0<\/p>\n If you have a habit of bookmarking links but always forget about them, you\u2019ll love the Save for Later shortcut. It can handle websites, social media posts, news articles and YouTube videos. In a nutshell, it will\u00a0save all the contents from the source to Apple Notes. You\u2019ll see the title, a quick summary and a link.<\/p>\n You can also save items in specific folders to keep things organized.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0Save for Later<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.<\/p>\n 5. Transcribe and summarize audio files<\/p>\n With the AI Transcribe and Summary shortcut, you can\u00a0transcribe and summarize audio files as an Apple note. You\u2019ll get a summary, a list of key points, and a full transcript.<\/p>\n Simply choose an audio file, then tap the Share option, and tap the AI Transcribe and Summary shortcut.<\/p>\n Again, you can choose between different LLM models. However, ChatGPT works best for longer transcripts, so keep that in mind.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0AI Transcribe and Summary<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.\u00a0<\/p>\n 6. Voice memo transcription<\/p>\n You can transcribe any voice memo on your phone with the Transcribe Latest Memo GPT shortcut. Similar to the previous tool, this shortcut will grant you\u00a0a detailed summary and a full transcript.<\/p>\n Note: The iPhone and iPad versions of this shortcut are less powerful than the Mac version. It can work with hours of audio on Mac, while on iPhone and iPad, it can handle recordings only up to 20 minutes long.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0Transcribe Latest Memo GPT<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.<\/p>\n 7. Screentime report<\/p>\n The Daily Screen Time Report shortcut will provide you with\u00a0a list of your most-used apps with usage time. You can customize it to pull activity for today, yesterday or a specific day, week or month.<\/p>\n Moreover, you can choose a target device, including devices from iCloud Family Sharing.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0Daily Screen Time Report<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.<\/p>\n 8. Describe images<\/p>\n Did you know that Apple Intelligence can recognize and describe images? The Describe Image AI shortcut is a must-have for users with any kind of visual impairment.<\/p>\n To use it, select an image, then tap Describe Image AI from the share sheet. It will then\u00a0tell you what it sees in the image\u00a0in great detail and with excellent accuracy.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0Describe Image AI<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.<\/p>\n 9. Recognize people in photos<\/p>\n You can ask Apple Intelligence whether there are people in your photos with the Are People in This Photo shortcut. You can change the output type for the answer to text, a number, a boolean (yes or no) and more. The shortcut will\u00a0scan the image\u00a0and\u00a0tell you what it sees.<\/p>\n Additionally, you can set it up so that all images without people in them go to your Landscapes photo album. Or, if the shortcut spots people in the pictures, you can save them to another album.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0Are People in This Photo?<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.<\/p>\n 10. Daily news report<\/p>\n If you enjoy your morning news, this is the shortcut for you. The News Report AI shortcut\u00a0pulls news directly from RSS feeds\u00a0and saves them to an Apple note. For example, you can tell it to get 50 items from the CNN homepage feed and filter them based on time.<\/p>\n Apple Intelligence will summarize all the articles and create a note with the header image, summary, full text and a link to the source.<\/p>\n You can automate it to run at specific times of the day. So, you could wake up and immediately enjoy your news in summarized form.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0News Report AI<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.<\/p>\n 11. Football schedule AI<\/p>\n Never miss a game with Football Schedule AI. This shortcut will look up the websites of your favorite teams and their schedules and turn the info into HTML.<\/p>\n Apple Intelligence will then create\u00a0a list of all your teams with their next scheduled games.\u00a0You can also keep track of whether they\u2019re playing today.<\/p>\n Download the\u00a0Football Schedule AI<\/a>\u00a0shortcut.<\/p>\n 12. Movie search and stream<\/p>\n The Ultimate Movie to Note AI shortcut will help you\u00a0find movies on the go. You can search for movies, find out where they\u2019re streaming, and choose the platform, all from one shortcut.<\/p>\n When you look up a title, it will pull the list of results from the Movie Database API. Choose the one you want, and you\u2019ll see several streaming options right in the shortcut. Finally, it will create an Apple note with the movie poster and a link to watch it.<\/p>\n<\/a>Make sure it\u2019s visible anywhere you see the share sheet.
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones\/Cult of Mac<\/p>\n