Most people use their iPhone for years without ever touching the Shortcuts app. They're missing out. With the latest updates to iOS and Apple Intelligence, Shortcuts has gone from a cool gimmick to a serious productivity powerhouse.
We've put together a list of 17 new shortcuts that actually solve real problems. We're talking about chatting with PDF manuals using AI, instantly finding food spots from Instagram screenshots, and organizing your files automatically. These aren't just novelties. They save you time every single day.
In this post, we'll break them down by category so you can grab the ones you need. We'll start with the food and travel tools, then dive into the heavy hitters like the AI Knowledge Base.
We've all been there. You see a great burger on Instagram, screenshot it, and then forget about it forever. Or you travel to a city you've visited before and can't remember that amazing coffee shop. This trio of shortcuts fixes that.
The Find Local Food Spots shortcut is magic. It uses Apple Intelligence to scan a photo—even if the location isn't tagged—and finds the business in Apple Maps.
Once you find a spot, use the Favorite Food Spots shortcut to rate it and save it to a personal database in Apple Notes. Later, when you're back in town, run Favorite Places When Traveling to instantly see your top-rated spots nearby.
This is arguably the most powerful tool in the list. Instead of scrolling through a 100-page PDF manual to find out how to reset your blinds or fix your car, you can just ask your phone.
It uses ChatGPT and Apple Intelligence to read your documents and give you specific answers with page references.
Pro tip: You can use the Get Contents of Folder action to pre-select your manuals folder so you don't have to navigate to it every time.
Stop scrolling through Netflix endlessly. We've built shortcuts that tap into databases to show you what's actually popular right now, not just what the algorithm wants you to see.
These are the "quality of life" upgrades. Simple actions that remove friction from your daily routine.
If your partner texts you a random list of items to buy, don't switch back and forth between apps. Run this shortcut from your Control Center while looking at the text.
It takes a screenshot, extracts the text using Apple Intelligence, and adds every item to your Reminders Grocery list. It even auto-categorizes them into Produce, Dairy, and Meat.
The People Met Database is perfect for conferences or networking. It asks you a few quick questions: Who did you meet? Do they have kids? What did you talk about?
It then saves a formatted note with the date, location, and all those details. You can even use another shortcut later to ask AI questions like "Who did I talk to about YouTube subscriptions?" and it will pull up the right person.
File management on iOS and Mac can be messy. These shortcuts clean it up automatically.
Finally, a couple of shortcuts to help you handle the weather and the holidays.
The Frost Alert checks the forecast overnight. If the temperature drops below freezing, it sends you a notification and sets a reminder to cover your windshield. No more scraping ice in the morning because you forgot to check the weather.
And for the holidays, the Auto Send Holiday Text lets you blast out a "Happy Thanksgiving" or "Merry Christmas" message to a specific contact group. It sends them individually, so it doesn't create a massive, annoying group chat.
There is a ton of power here waiting to be unlocked. Whether you just want to track your favorite restaurants or build a full personal CRM, these shortcuts give you the foundation.
Grab the ones that fit your workflow and give them a shot. You might be surprised at how much time you save.