Does the iPhone have the capability to create shortcuts to ANY activity?

[paul]

Does the iPhone have the capability to create shortcuts to ANY activity?

This is just one example from today where someone asked for a way to change
how he powered off his phone (where a shortcut was used as shown below):
<https://i.postimg.cc/9fmLBPYD/onoff01.jpg>
<https://i.postimg.cc/MTXtCW4x/onoff02.jpg>

There are _many_ types of other shortcuts that can be created to many things
<https://i.postimg.cc/KzrX0Kdw/shortcut01.jpg> Custom shortcut icons
<https://i.postimg.cc/RFs4CPxv/shortcut02.jpg> Creating URL shortcuts
<https://i.postimg.cc/J4WzDQKc/shortcut03.jpg> Creating FOLDER shortcuts
<https://i.postimg.cc/MKmPDnKC/shortcut04.jpg> Editing shortcut icons
<https://i.postimg.cc/13RWYy8f/shortcut05.jpg> Choosing custom icons
<https://i.postimg.cc/N0SpMTpH/shortcut06.jpg> Squaring the custom icon
<https://i.postimg.cc/DybJkMNF/shortcut07.jpg> Finding icons to extract
<https://i.postimg.cc/fRn3wv4d/shortcut08.jpg> Extracting icons to PNG
<https://i.postimg.cc/GhQcYjVV/shortcut09.jpg> Net icon, before & after
<https://i.postimg.cc/43KZDRyR/shortcut10.jpg> Copy net icon to Android
<https://i.postimg.cc/JzFCcYq6/shortcut11.jpg> Select & edit custom icon
<https://i.postimg.cc/c4brT9qq/shortcut12.jpg> Custom screenshot icon
<https://i.postimg.cc/50b0jDzz/shortcut13.jpg> Set custom icon on Android
<https://i.postimg.cc/qqYQXB7Y/shortcut14.jpg> Sample custom shortcuts

Where the question here is whether or not an iPhone can create such things.
(Note: Apple might call them something other than "shortcuts" of course.)

If you're an apologist, I realize you'll play kindergarten cesspool one-word
games of "yes" or "no" but that simply proves what kind of person you are.

Do any adults here know if the iPhone can create these types of shortcuts?
How?
--
Alan Baker, Alan Browne, Chris, Haemactylus, Joerg Lorenz, Jolly Roger,
Lewis, nospam, Rod Speed, Savageduck, Wade Garrett, Wolffan, Your Name,
et al. are all ashamed and embarrassed when Apple facts are discussed.

[Joerg Lorenz]

Am 10.07.21 um 06:26 schrieb paul:

> Does the iPhone have the capability to create shortcuts to ANY activity?

> If you're an apologist, I realize you'll play kindergarten cesspool one-word
> games of "yes" or "no" but that simply proves what kind of person you are.
>
> Do any adults here know if the iPhone can create these types of shortcuts?
> How?

Badmouthing at any price? Nobody needs your useless postings.
You are an anti-social Troll.

[Ken Hart]

On 7/10/2021 10:11 AM, Joerg Lorenz wrote:
>> Do any adults here know if the iPhone can create these types of shortcuts?
>> How?
>
> Badmouthing at any price? Nobody needs your useless postings.
> You are an anti-social Troll.

What are you always doing on the Android newsgroup but often exactly that.
--
Ken Hart
kwh...@frontier.com

[badgolferman]

The only iOS shortcuts I’m aware of are Home Screen shortcuts to websites
created by Safari. I guess these are a form of bookmarks which are easily
available without opening Safari.

[sms]

On 7/10/2021 8:38 AM, badgolferman wrote:

<snip>

> The only iOS shortcuts I’m aware of are Home Screen shortcuts to websites
> created by Safari. I guess these are a form of bookmarks which are easily
> available without opening Safari.

Well as obnoxious as Arlen/Paul/Peter can be, he does have a valid point
about shortcuts. On my wife's Android phone I have set up several
shortcuts that have helped to reduce tech support time. This does not
appear to be possible under iOS (other than shortcuts to websites).

Even for jailbroken iPhones I didn't see a way to do shortcuts like you
can do on Android, but I did not search too hard for this.

I added this to the document as number 88.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23 iOS Features Some of Which [many] Android Users Wish they Had
88 Android Features Some of Which [many] iOS Users Wish they Had

<https://tinyurl.com/fzje7h9e> or
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JznrWfGJDA8CYVfjSnPTwfVy8-gAC0kPyaApuJTcUNE>

✓ Extensively Referenced and 100% Fact Checked ✓
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[paul]

badgolferman wrote on 10.07.2021 17:38
> The only iOS shortcuts I aware of are Home Screen shortcuts to websites

> created by Safari. I guess these are a form of bookmarks which are easily
> available without opening Safari.

Hi badgolferman,

Since you're an adult, a completely different conversation is possible with
you that isn't possible with Steve or the dozen apologists - where - for
them - the message has to be dumbed down to its essentials - and - even then
- they're too ignorant to understand and too unprepossessing to be helpful.

Thank you for being helpful, as I have an excellent memory, where I do
recall nospam claiming that I don't understand what Apple calls 'shortcuts',
which is part of why I asked (so that I could _learn_ more about iOS).

Hence, since nospam claimed (repeatedly) that I didn't understand shortcuts,
and, since Steve (in his android-to-iOS comparison) claimed iOS shortcuts
were the cat's meow, I figured I'd learn more about these iOS shortcuts.

To be perfectly up front and frank with you, as I always am, I'm well aware
of iOS website URL shortcuts, which as you may recall, I tested extensively
on iOS years ago, where I found you couldn't edit the names after the fact.
You could only edit the names during the process of creation.

Do you know if Apple has fixed that yet?

Or are the shortcut names stuck with the names that they defaulted to if you
forget to change them at the time of creation?

While that's a minor shortcoming, what this shortcut functionality question
was more about was whether in iOS we can create shortcuts to, essentially,
_anything_, which is what I do with Android all day, every day.
<https://i.postimg.cc/qqYQXB7Y/shortcut14.jpg>

Since I'm an adult, I back up everything I claim with reliable cites, which
show I have entire folders on Android with very many useful shortcuts to
1. Web pages (such as Google Maps in a web browser with real-time traffic)
2. Folders (such as a shortcut to my sdcard todolist folder)
3. Files (such as a specific shortcut to each of my sdcard todo lists)
4. Settings (such as a shortcut to the kill-9 list of running services)
5. Apps (such as a shortcut to the guts of any given app activity)
etc.

Also, on Android we can change the shortcut "look" by changing
a. The icon (where we can make our own icons or use icon packs)
b. The name (unlike iOS last I tested it, the name can be changed)
c. The font (the entire look and feel of the shortcut is editable)
etc.

In my next response (which will be to Steve), I will show what happened when
I google for how to learn more about the power of iOS shortcuts, but this
response to your purposefully helpful advice is already long enough for one
post.

Thank you for being a purposefully helpful adult on the iOS newsgroups.
--
Usenet should be purposefully helpful people learning from each other.

[paul]

sms wrote on 10.07.2021 18:58

> On my wife's Android phone I have set up several
> shortcuts that have helped to reduce tech support time. This does not
> appear to be possible under iOS (other than shortcuts to websites).

I'll ignore Steve's kindergarten cesspool comments to concentrate on facts.

With the information I found (see references below), Steve may need
to edit his iOS to Android comparison to add back some of what he
removed about what iOS can do with respect to shortcuts.

To be clear, the reason I had asked the question is I had told Steve (many times)
Android has shortcuts even as his original comparison list didn't seem to be aware
of that (as it claimed only iOS had shortcuts), and worse, when I did that,
nospam repeatedly claimed I didn't know what iOS shortcuts were.

If I don't know what shortcut are, then _that_ is why I asked this question.

I use shortcuts on Android and iOS every day so for nospam to repeatedly
claim that I don't know what they are, and for Steve to claim (originally)
that iOS had shortcuts but Android didn't have them - means something is wrong.

Either they're ignorant - or I am.
(Given their track record, it's far less likely I'm the ignorant one.)

But that's why I had asked.

Just in case nospam (magically?) was correct that shortcuts on iOS
mean different things than shortcuts on Android mean (where, for Android,
shortcuts give you the ability to create a custom homescreen icon to
almost anything that is a file or folder or action inside of almost
anything else).

The Android shortcuts are extremely powerful one-click access to stuff.
Since I always back up my claims with facts, here's a screenshot where
I'm turning on the CUPS printer inside of Android settings to print to
my old and ancient printer directly from my phone.
<https://i.postimg.cc/6qRSK6WY/printing11.jpg>

With Android, you can even _add_ customized steps to any given shortcut,
although I haven't played with that extensively enough yet to say more.

While Steve's item #88 points to an Android native capability to create
shortcuts to actions within apps, I prefer to use a free tool that does it
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rk.android.app.shortcutmaker>

> Even for jailbroken iPhones I didn't see a way to do shortcuts like you
> can do on Android, but I did not search too hard for this.

I just ran a search where shortcuts on iOS _may_ be more powerful than we
might yet know about, but we'd have to look up more details to know better.

*Apple Shortcuts User Guide*
<https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/welcome/ios>

*How to Automate Your Life With Apple's iOS Shortcuts App*
<https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-automate-your-life-with-apples-ios-shortcuts-app#>
"Apple's Shortcuts app can quickly and easily run a host of tasks on
your Apple Watch or iOS or iPadOS device. Here's how to create and use shortcuts for Siri."

*The 10 Best Shortcuts for iOS in 2021*
<https://www.getcloudapp.com/blog/ios-shortcuts>

*18 Best Shortcuts for Apple's iOS Shortcuts App*
<https://www.lifewire.com/best-workflows-ios-app-4153797>

*iOS Shortcuts: The Ultimate Guide for Resources, Examples, Libraries, Triggers, and More*
<https://thesweetsetup.com/ios-shortcuts-guide/>

*Try Out iPhone Automation with This List of 150+ iOS Shortcuts*
<https://lifehacker.com/try-out-iphone-automation-with-this-list-of-150-ios-sh-1833153395>

*10 Best iOS Shortcuts of 2020*
<https://iosninja.io/blog/best-ios-shortcuts-to-use-right-now/>

*21 ways you didn't know you could use Shortcuts on your iPhone*
<https://mashable.com/article/iphone-shortcuts-app-uses>

*7 Ways to Trigger Apple Shortcuts With NFC Tags*
<https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/7-ways-to-trigger-apple-shortcuts-with-nfc-tags>

--
Alan Baker, Alan Browne, Chris, Haemactylus, Joerg Lorenz, Jolly Roger,
Lewis, nospam, Rod Speed, Savageduck, Wade Garrett, Wolffan, Your Name,

et al. are purposefully unhelpful people.

Why?
I don't know why.

I suspect they hate facts which show what Apple is, and which therefore are diametrically opposed to what Apple & these dozen cultists "say" it is.

[badgolferman]

paul <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> badgolferman wrote on 10.07.2021 17:38

>> The only iOS shortcuts I¢m aware of are Home Screen shortcuts to websites

>> created by Safari. I guess these are a form of bookmarks which are easily
>> available without opening Safari.
>
> Hi badgolferman,
>
> Since you're an adult, a completely different conversation is possible with
> you that isn't possible with Steve or the dozen apologists - where - for
> them - the message has to be dumbed down to its essentials - and - even then
> - they're too ignorant to understand and too unprepossessing to be helpful.
>
> Thank you for being helpful, as I have an excellent memory, where I do
> recall nospam claiming that I don't understand what Apple calls 'shortcuts',
> which is part of why I asked (so that I could _learn_ more about iOS).
>
> Hence, since nospam claimed (repeatedly) that I didn't understand shortcuts,
> and, since Steve (in his android-to-iOS comparison) claimed iOS shortcuts
> were the cat's meow, I figured I'd learn more about these iOS shortcuts.
>
> To be perfectly up front and frank with you, as I always am, I'm well aware
> of iOS website URL shortcuts, which as you may recall, I tested extensively
> on iOS years ago, where I found you couldn't edit the names after the fact.
> You could only edit the names during the process of creation.
>
> Do you know if Apple has fixed that yet?
>
> Or are the shortcut names stuck with the names that they defaulted to if you
> forget to change them at the time of creation?

It doesn’t look like you can change the shortcut name. By the way, it looks
like iOS calls it a Bookmark.

[nospam]

In article <sccjk3$l5$1...@dont-email.me>, sms <scharf...@geemail.com>
wrote:

> > The only iOS shortcuts Iąm aware of are Home Screen shortcuts to websites

> > created by Safari. I guess these are a form of bookmarks which are easily
> > available without opening Safari.
>
> Well as obnoxious as Arlen/Paul/Peter can be, he does have a valid point
> about shortcuts. On my wife's Android phone I have set up several
> shortcuts that have helped to reduce tech support time.

a shortcut to reduce tech support time?? what does that even mean?

> This does not
> appear to be possible under iOS (other than shortcuts to websites).

not only is it possible, but it's vastly more capable than 'shortcuts
to websites'.

> Even for jailbroken iPhones I didn't see a way to do shortcuts like you
> can do on Android, but I did not search too hard for this.

what you mean to say is you didn't search *at* *all*.

shortcuts have been a key feature on ios for several years now and a
search will result in *many* hits.

> I added this to the document as number 88.

another erroneous item added.

[nospam]

In article <scckqm$2pj$1...@gioia.aioe.org>, paul <nos...@nospam.invalid>
wrote:

> Hence, since nospam claimed (repeatedly) that I didn't understand shortcuts,

you don't, and show no signs of having learned anything since then.

> and, since Steve (in his android-to-iOS comparison) claimed iOS shortcuts
> were the cat's meow, I figured I'd learn more about these iOS shortcuts.

you're incapable of learning anything.

if it doesn't fit into your narrow view of the world, it doesn't exist.

> While that's a minor shortcoming, what this shortcut functionality question
> was more about was whether in iOS we can create shortcuts to, essentially,
> _anything_, which is what I do with Android all day, every day.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/qqYQXB7Y/shortcut14.jpg>

proof that you have *zero* clue what ios shortcuts are or what they can
do.

[nospam]

In article <sccn9q$14e3$1...@gioia.aioe.org>, badgolferman

<REMOVETHISb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> > Or are the shortcut names stuck with the names that they defaulted to if you
> > forget to change them at the time of creation?
>
>

> It doesnšt look like you can change the shortcut name. By the way, it looks

> like iOS calls it a Bookmark.

those aren't ios shortcuts.

[paul]

badgolferman wrote on 10.07.2021 20:01

> It doesn't look like you can change the shortcut name.
> By the way, it looks like iOS calls it a Bookmark.

Thank you for that response, which, unlike most here, was meant to be
purposefully helpful, and which mirrors my experience last I checked them.

I could have tested changing the names of the shortcuts to web URIs, after
the fact, but lately I don't bother to update the iOS on my many iPads as I
basically only use the iPads as toys for the grandkids to play with.

The recent 128GB iPhone 12 I bought was given as a gift to a relative so I
only have access to it sporadically (since she doesn't live with us here).

To further the technical details for this thread, so that the adults on this
newsgroup can learn, in my response to Steve you'll see I listed a half
dozen articles which claim that the iOS shortcuts do seem to do things that
are more than just homepage links to URIs to pop up inside a web browser.

As nospam unhelpfully alludes to, what Apple may call "shortcuts" may not be
the same thing that Android calls "shortcuts", where I already showed some
of the power of Android's shortcuts to run any activity you can point to
(even if that activity is deeply embedded inside of any given app).

Here are those references again, where these "things" are what nospam
(always unhelpfully because he's essentially a despicable person) alludes to
in his rude response to you.

*Apple Shortcuts User Guide*
<https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/welcome/ios>

*How to Automate Your Life With Apple's iOS Shortcuts App*
<https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-automate-your-life-with-apples-ios-shortcuts-app#>
"Apple's Shortcuts app can quickly and easily run a host of tasks on
your Apple Watch or iOS or iPadOS device. Here's how to create and use
shortcuts for Siri."

*The 10 Best Shortcuts for iOS in 2021*
<https://www.getcloudapp.com/blog/ios-shortcuts>

*18 Best Shortcuts for Apple's iOS Shortcuts App*
<https://www.lifewire.com/best-workflows-ios-app-4153797>

*iOS Shortcuts: The Ultimate Guide for Resources, Examples, Libraries,
Triggers, and More*
<https://thesweetsetup.com/ios-shortcuts-guide/>

*Try Out iPhone Automation with This List of 150+ iOS Shortcuts*
<https://lifehacker.com/try-out-iphone-automation-with-this-list-of-150-ios-sh-1833153395>

*10 Best iOS Shortcuts of 2020*
<https://iosninja.io/blog/best-ios-shortcuts-to-use-right-now/>

*21 ways you didn't know you could use Shortcuts on your iPhone*
<https://mashable.com/article/iphone-shortcuts-app-uses>

*7 Ways to Trigger Apple Shortcuts With NFC Tags*
<https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/7-ways-to-trigger-apple-shortcuts-with-nfc-tags>

--
Alan Baker, Alan Browne, Chris, Haemactylus, Joerg Lorenz, Jolly Roger,
Lewis, nospam, Rod Speed, Savageduck, Wade Garrett, Wolffan, Your Name,

et al. all have one thing in common - they're all despicable people, all of
whom are devoid of any helpful intent - where their only purpose is to make
excuses for why Apple is never what they appear to believe it should be.

[Joerg Lorenz]

Am 10.07.21 um 16:35 schrieb Ken Hart:

> On 7/10/2021 10:11 AM, Joerg Lorenz wrote:
>>> Do any adults here know if the iPhone can create these types of shortcuts?
>>> How?
>>
>> Badmouthing at any price? Nobody needs your useless postings.
>> You are an anti-social Troll.
>
> What are you always doing on the Android newsgroup but often exactly that.

You must be the rookie here.