Turn your iPhone into a magic wand: double-tap the back of your phone → it does a task for you. Summarize an article, translate a screen, start focus mode, and more. All free, no coding, about 15 minutes. This guide assumes you have never used Shortcuts before — every tap is spelled out. 🖤

First, two things you need to know

What are "Shortcuts"?

Shortcuts is a free Apple app that's already on your iPhone. It lets you chain small actions into a one-tap task. Think Lego: each block is an "action" (take a screenshot, translate text…), and they run top to bottom.

What is "Back Tap"?

A hidden iPhone feature: tapping the back of your phone (double or triple tap) can launch a shortcut. That's how we'll run these — no app icon, no searching.

Works on iPhone 8 and newer, iOS 14+. You do not need the newest iPhone.

30-second crash course (how the app works)

1. Find the Shortcuts app: swipe down on your Home Screen, type Shortcuts, tap it. (Deleted it? Re-download free from the App Store.)
2. Make a new one: tap the ＋ in the top-right corner.
3. Add actions: tap Add Action → a search bar appears → type the action's name → tap it to add. Repeat to stack more. They run in order, top to bottom.
4. Variables: a "variable" is the result of a previous step. When you see a little chip like Shortcut Input or Clipboard in a text box, that's a variable. Insert one by tapping the variable button just above the keyboard. This is how we pass a result from one step into the next.
5. Name & save: tap the shortcut name at the top → Rename → type a name → Done.

That's everything. Now let's build the 5.

Shortcut 1 — Summarize the screen I'm reading 🧠

Long article? Double-tap → a clean 3-bullet summary.

Needs the free ChatGPT app (so its action shows up). No ChatGPT? Skip to #2.

1. Tap ＋ to start a new shortcut.