iOS 12: 4 Genius iOS Shortcuts That'll Change the Way You Use Your iPhone
Put the "smart" in smartphone.
Apple’s Shortcuts app introduced with iOS 12 has breathed new life into Siri. The feature allows people to create their own voice commands and comes with a gallery of pre-made options to choose from.
The Gallery menu is packed with shortcuts that will do the job of photo editing, translation, and other surprising task-sequences all from your home screen. Instead of having to tap, swipe, and scroll through multiple apps to translate a phrase into French, for example, you can now just ask Siri.
Not all of these will work with the voice assistant. But you can still easily access them by adding the Shortcuts widget to your Today View. Swipe right on your home screen, scroll the bottom, tap Edit, and add the Shortcuts app to the list of apps housed in the menu.
Now you’re set to start cutting corners and using your iPhone and iPad like never before.
iOS 12 Shortcuts: Convert Burst to GIF
Turning a series of photos into a GIF takes some Photoshop skills or the help of an online service like Giphy. But the Convert Burst to GIF shortcut takes burst images you took with your camera app and strings them together in a matter of seconds.
Open your camera app and hold down the shutter button to take a burst photo. Then navigate to the Shortcuts app, tap the Convert Burst to GIF command, and watch the magic happen. It even gives you the option to share it with friends on social media or iMessage as soon as it’s done.
iOS 12 Shortcuts: Photo Grid
Shortcuts can also up your Instagram game by creating a collage of any number of photos you want, without the need of a third-party app. All you need to do is to tap the widget, select the photos for your collage, and voila your iPhone will organize them in a grid.
Photo editing apps have slowly been pushed out of the picture by tech companies integrating similar capabilities in apps like Snapchat and Instagram. For example, iPhones can do the same do roughly the same thing as Pic Stitch.
iOS 12 Shortcuts: Translate Text
There’s no longer any need to type out a phrase you want to learn how to say in a different language. Simply activate Siri, say “Translate text” followed by the phrase you want translated, and tap the language.
Duolingo defiantly isn’t getting dethroned by this feature, but it’s perfect if you ever need a quick translation when you’re traveling. No need to fumble with trying to open Google translate and then typing out what you want to say.
iOS 12 Shortcuts: When Do I Need to Leave By?
If you’re not sure when to leave for work, Shortcuts has your back. When you first install this shortcut it’ll ask you for your home and office address so you can quickly check when you should head out every morning.
Forget about plugging in the same address every day, now you can just swipe to your Today View and get an estimate.
