What’s new in Shortcuts - Apple Support (2024)

Learn about the new features in Shortcuts for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS.

Get complete step-by-step instructions and information on all the features in Shortcuts:

Shortcuts User Guide >

New in iOS and iPadOS 16.5, macOS 13.4, and watchOS 9.5

This update includes enhancements to existing actions and reliability improvements to editing and running shortcuts.

Updated Actions

• Send Message now supports images and attachments when “Show When Run” is off

• Make Rich Text From Markdown now displays a preview instead of an HTML file on macOS

• Ask For Input now correctly uses the “Default Date” when asking for dates

• Calculate now correctly computes Modulus operations for decimal numbers

• Choose From List now supports “Select All Initially” when a dictionary is passed in as input, and works from Siri on watchOS when “Select Multiple” is on

• Open URL correctly handles URLs that contain variables, and now works from the Action Button on watchOS

• Take Photo runs more reliably when “Show Camera Preview” is off

New in iOS and iPadOS 16.4, macOS 13.3, and watchOS 9.4

This update includes new actions, enhancements to existing actions, and reliability improvements to the Shortcuts editor. A new option in the Shortcut editor allows selecting an app icon as an alternative to selecting a color and glyph for the shortcut.

New Actions

• Find Books searches your library for books or PDFs matching a given title, author, genre, purchase date, or content type on iOS and macOS

• Intercom broadcasts announcements to your home on iOS and watchOS

• Set VPN connects, disconnects, or sets the On Demand setting for any VPN on iOS and macOS

• Set AirDrop Receiving sets the AirDrop Receiving preference to Everyone, Contacts Only, or Nobody on iOS and macOS

• Set Stage Manager enables or disables and changes the settings for Stage Manager on iPadOS and macOS

• Set Announce Notifications toggles the Announce Notifications setting on iOS and watchOS

• Set Silence Unknown Callers toggles the Silence Unknown Callers setting on iOS

• Set Night Shift and Set True Tone toggle the display settings on iOS and macOS

• Set Always-On Display toggles the Always-On Display on supported iOS devices

• Find Apps finds and filters apps installed on macOS

• Find Displays finds and filters displays on macOS

• Shut Down, Restart, and Lock Display are now available on iOS and macOS

• Log Out, Sleep and Put Display to Sleep are now available on macOS

Updated Actions

For those building custom shortcuts, some actions have been updated:

• Move Window now allows moving a window to a display on macOS

• Ask for Input has a new “Allow Multiple Lines” option, which can be disabled for single-line text input

  See Also

  Intro to Shortcuts on iPhone and iPadWhat are iPhone Shortcuts and How Do I Use Them?How to Automate Your Life With Apple's Shortcuts App

• Find Photos can now find screen recordings

• Find Contacts now filters by birthday more accurately

• Get Device Details can now get the OS build number

• Get Device Details now rounds numbers, including the current battery level, volume, and brightness, to remove unnecessary decimal digits

• Set Playback Destination now works when run from Siri

• Play Music once again resumes currently playing music if no music is passed as input

• Run AppleScript can now produce dictionaries as output from AppleScript records

• Nothing now produces a variable with zero items, instead of producing no variable at all

• Repeat can now be set to run 0 times

New in iOS 16.3 and iPadOS 16.3, macOS 13.2, and watchOS 9.3

This update includes the ability to disable a shortcut from being run while the device is locked, enhancements to existing actions, and reliability improvements to editing and running shortcuts.

Updated Actions

For those building custom shortcuts, some actions have been updated:

• Find Reminders can now filter reminders due in the next or previous week

• Log Workout now supports Ask Each Time for workout duration

• Log Health Sample now supports Ask Each Time for values on watchOS

• Find Health Samples now supports searching for health types in the editor

• Get Contents of URL can now use variables for the file parameter for POST or PUT requests

• Configure Focus Filter actions now correctly set the Focus Filter on iPhone when run from watchOS

• Show Notes Folder action now correctly appears in the editor

New in iOS and iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1, and watchOS 9.2

This update includes new Books app actions, enhancements to existing actions, and reliability improvements to the Shortcuts editor and library.

New Actions

Books

• Open Book, Play Audiobook, Change Book Appearance, Change Page Navigation, Change View in Books, Open Collection, Search in Books, and Turn Page are now supported

More

• Switch Between Wallpapers sets the current wallpaper on iOS

• Get Wallpaper returns all of the wallpapers added to the Lock Screen on iOS

Updated Actions

For those building custom shortcuts, some actions have been updated:

• Set Wallpaper Photo can now set photos for wallpapers that use iOS 16’s new widgets and customization options

• Get Battery State can now check charging state (charging, connected to charger)

• Edit Calendar Event can now set invitee status (declined or accepted)

• Find Calendar Events can filter events by number of attendees

• Find Health Samples can now return sleep phases (core, deep, REM) on iOS

• Set Parked Car now accepts locations other than the current location

• Speak Text runs more reliably when a shortcut is invoked as a part of an automation

• Start Timer now prompts to select a duration when set to “Ask Each Time” and run via Siri

New in iOS and iPadOS 16.1, macOS 13.0, and watchOS 9.1

This update adds support for Share Sheet shortcuts on macOS, and includes new actions and reliability improvements to the Shortcuts editor and library.

New Actions

Clock

• Open Tab is now supported

• Create Alarm, Toggle Alarm, Get All Alarms, and Start Timer are now supported on macOS

Reminders

• Open Smart List is now supported on iOS and iPadOS

Safari

• Get Article using Safari Reader is now supported on macOS

More

• Get Current Focus enables checking current Focus status

• Configure Focus Filter actions allow setting Focus Filters for apps on macOS

• Search in Shortcuts allows starting a search in the Shortcuts app

Updated Actions

For those building custom shortcuts, some actions have been updated:

• Send Email now supports rich text on macOS

• Health actions can now run when the Health app is not installed

• Configure Focus Filter actions now support Ask Each Time

• Get Current Weather now correctly returns weather information when run from a Home automation

New in iOS and iPadOS 16.0 and watchOS 9.0

This update adds support for App Shortcuts to allow you to run shortcuts with no setup, and includes new actions and updates to the Shortcuts editor and library.

New Actions

Safari

• Open Tab Group, Create Tab Group, Open View, Find Bookmarks, Open Bookmark, Find Reading List Items, Open Reading List Item, Show/Hide Reader in Safari, Close Tab, Create New Tab, Create New Private Tab, Find Tabs, and Open Tab are now supported

Maps

• Get Parked Car Location and Set Parked Car are now supported

Clock

• Open Tab is now supported

Notes

• Delete Notes, Pin Notes, Open Notes Account, Change Notes Setting, Open Notes View, Create Folder, Delete Folders, Move Notes to Folder, Open Folder, Add Tags to Notes, Create Tag, Delete Tags, Open Tag, and Remove Tags from Notes are now supported

Mail

• Open Mailbox, Search in Mail are now supported

Voice Memos

• Search Voice Memos, Open Folder, Open Recording, Delete Folders, Play Recording, Create Folder, Change Playback Setting, Delete Recordings, and Create Recording are now supported

Reminders

• Create List and Search in Reminders are now supported

Files

• Search in Files is now supported

More

• Configure Focus Filter actions allow setting Focus Filters for apps

• Create Shortcut, Delete Shortcuts, and Open Folder are now supported with Shortcuts

• Optimize File Size of PDF compresses the images inside a PDF, resulting in a smaller file size

• Remove Image Background removes the background of images, keeping the subject only

• Set Flashlight can now control the flashlight on watchOS

• Set Personal Hotspot toggles the status of Personal Hotspot on iOS

Updated Actions

For those building custom shortcuts, some actions have been updated:

• Find Calendar Events filters events by invitee status (declined or accepted)

• Create Note and Append to Note now support Rich Text

• Find Notes no longer has a limit to how many notes can be retrieved at a time

• If conditionals now correctly match the “ends with” condition

• Shazam It can recognize music when a shortcut is invoked via Siri

• View Content Graph has an improved interface for content graph browsing

Shortcuts editor

For those building custom shortcuts, some changes have been made to the shortcut editor:

• New keyboard shortcuts are available on iPadOS for faster editing

• Icon search lets users find shortcut icon glyphs by name

• Quick controls in the shortcut document menu include: Rename, Choose Icon, Duplicate, Move, Add to Home Screen, and Export File

• Next Action Suggestions can now be dragged and dropped into a shortcut

• Improved performance and reliability

Published Date:January 10, 2024