This guide shows you how to use an advanced shortcut powered by Apple Intelligence to send unique birthday messages to your contacts every year. This automation ensures your greetings are always fresh and personal by referencing past messages to generate new ones. You will need a contact with their birthday saved in the Contacts app to get started.
First, create a dedicated note for the shortcut to log sent messages. Open the Notes app and create a new note titled exactly 'Birthday Texts'. The shortcut will fail if the note has a different name.
Open the Auto Birthday Texts shortcut. This shortcut is designed to find contacts with a birthday on the current day.
Run the shortcut by tapping the play button. A list of contacts whose birthday is today will appear.
Select the contact you wish to message from the list and tap Done.
The shortcut will access your 'Birthday Texts' note, analyze any previous birthday messages sent to that contact, and use AI to generate a new, unique message.
A new message window will open with the AI-generated text pre-populated. Review the message and tap the Send button.
After sending, the shortcut automatically logs the new message in your 'Birthday Texts' note. This creates a history that the AI will use to generate a different message next year.
For complete automation, set this shortcut to run automatically every morning. Go to the Automation tab in the Shortcuts app, create a new 'Time of Day' automation, and select this shortcut to run daily. The first time you message a contact, the AI will generate a greeting from scratch, as there is no prior message history to reference.
This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to automate personalized birthday texts using an AI-powered shortcut. It covers the initial setup of a logging note, how to run the shortcut to find contacts, and how the AI generates unique messages by referencing previously sent texts, ensuring your birthday greetings are always thoughtful and original.