How to Use Siri Shortcuts in iOS 27: The Complete Guide for iPhone and Mac

Here is how to use Siri shortcuts: build a shortcut in the free Shortcuts app, give it a name, then say “Siri” or “Hey Siri” followed by that name. A shortcut bundles several actions into one command you run by voice, a tap, a widget or an automatic trigger, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Since iOS 27 and macOS 27 shipped on 14 September 2026, there is a faster way in: Describe a Shortcut lets you type what you want in plain words, and Apple Intelligence builds the shortcut for you.

This guide covers everything in order: creating your first shortcut, running it by voice and eight other ways, building one by description, adding an AI step with the Use Model action, and setting up automations, which moved in iOS 27. You will also get a quick fix list for when a shortcut stops working. If you are new to the assistant, our guide on how to use Siri covers the everyday basics first. And if the assistant itself goes silent, see why Siri is not working. You can also personalize the assistant by changing Siri’s voice. If Siri is not enabled yet, our guide on how to set up Siri gets you started. For everything else the update changed, see our iOS 27 guide.

The Key Takeaways

• A Siri shortcut is a set of actions grouped into one task you trigger by voice, tap, widget, or automation.
• You build shortcuts in the free Shortcuts app, and they sync across your devices when iCloud Sync is turned on.
• To run one by voice, say “Siri” or “Hey Siri” followed by the shortcut’s exact name.
• Describe a Shortcut, new in iOS 27 and macOS 27, builds an editable shortcut from a plain-language description on an iPhone, iPad or Mac that supports Apple Intelligence.
• In iOS 27 you add an automation from inside a shortcut, with Edit and then Automation, instead of from the Automation tab.

What Are Siri Shortcuts?

A Siri shortcut is a set of actions grouped into a single task you can trigger by voice, tap, or automation. You build shortcuts in the free Shortcuts app on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, then run them by saying “Siri” or “Hey Siri” plus the shortcut’s name. With iCloud Sync turned on, a shortcut you make on your iPhone shows up on your Mac automatically.

Each shortcut is made of actions, the individual steps that do the work. One action might open Messages, the next might insert a pre-written text, and a third might play a playlist. String them together and a single command handles a whole routine. The app ships with a Gallery of ready-made shortcuts, sorted into rows such as Essentials and Morning Routine, that you can add with one tap. It is the fastest way to see what is possible before you build your own.

The Shortcuts app is free and built into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, so there is nothing to download or pay for. The one catch is the AI layer: Apple puts daily usage limits on the cloud models that Shortcuts can call. Whether Siri itself is now a real AI assistant is a separate question, and our explainer on whether Siri is actually AI covers exactly what changed.

How to Create Your First Siri Shortcut

Creating a shortcut by hand takes about a minute. The example below builds a simple “Text Home” shortcut that messages a saved contact, but the same steps apply to anything you want to automate, and Apple’s official Shortcuts guide documents every action if you want to go deeper.

1. Open the Shortcuts app and tap the plus (+) button to start a new shortcut. On a Mac, click the plus button in the toolbar.
2. Tap Add Action and search for the first step you want, for example “Send Message.” On a Mac, search the sidebar and double-click the action to add it.
3. Fill in the details, such as the message text and the recipient, by tapping the highlighted fields.
4. Add more actions if you want the shortcut to do several things in a row, and they will run top to bottom.
5. Tap the down arrow next to the shortcut’s name, tap Rename, and pick something you can say out loud, like “Text Home.”
6. Tap Done to save it. The name you chose is now the phrase you say to Siri to run it.

That last point is the key one. In the Shortcuts app, the shortcut’s name is its Siri command, so pick something short and natural that you will actually remember. If the name matches one of Siri’s built-in commands, Siri runs your shortcut instead of the built-in one, so avoid names like “Set a timer” unless that is what you want. You can edit any shortcut later by tapping it, and you can reorder, add, or delete actions at any time without starting over.

How to Run a Shortcut with Siri and Other Methods

Voice is the headline method, but it is far from the only one. To run a shortcut by voice, say “Siri” or “Hey Siri”, or press and hold the side button, then say the exact name, for example “Text Home.” Siri runs every action in sequence. The table below shows the main ways to trigger a shortcut and when each one makes sense.

Most people start with voice and the Home Screen, then graduate to automations once they see how much time the routine saves. You can mix methods freely, so the same shortcut might have a Home Screen icon, a voice phrase, and a Back Tap trigger all at once.

Describe a Shortcut: Build One by Typing What You Want

Describe a Shortcut is the biggest change to the Shortcuts app in years, and it shipped with iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 on 14 September 2026. When you create a new shortcut, an empty editor opens. Instead of searching for actions, you describe in normal language what the shortcut should do, and the Shortcuts app builds and names it for you. Apple’s own example is “When I’m leaving work, message Pedro I’m on my way with my ETA.” The finished shortcut reads a stored address, works out the arrival time in Apple Maps, and sends the message.

How Describe a Shortcut Works

The generated shortcut lands in the same editor as a hand-built one, with every action visible and every setting accessible. To change it, you either describe the change in words or tap Edit and adjust the actions directly. Beginners get a working shortcut in seconds, and power users keep full control. TechCrunch covered Apple’s first demo of the feature at WWDC in June.

Describe a Shortcut needs a device that supports Apple Intelligence: iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone Air, any iPhone 16 or later, iPad mini (A17 Pro), MacBook Neo, and iPads and Macs with M1 or later. Apple notes that usage limits may apply. Unlike Siri AI, it is not English-only: Apple lists it in 16 languages, from Chinese to Vietnamese, and it is not available in mainland China.

Add AI to Any Shortcut with the Use Model Action

The Use Model action puts an AI model inside a shortcut, so one step can summarise, rewrite or sort the output of the step before it. You pick one of four models. On-Device handles simple requests on the phone or Mac itself, Cloud and Cloud Pro run on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute for longer and more complex tasks, and Extension Model sends the request to ChatGPT. Apple’s example adds Get Current Weather, then a Use Model step that turns the forecast into a short, funny summary. For more ideas, open the Apple Intelligence category in the Gallery and see how Apple built its own AI shortcuts.

When One Model in a Shortcut Is Not Enough

Use Model gives you Apple’s models or ChatGPT, and that is where the choice ends. When an answer looks off and you want a second opinion, Fello AI lets you ask Claude, Gemini, Grok or DeepSeek the same question without opening a new tab or paying for another subscription.

On a Mac, press ⌥ Space, ask, and keep typing in the document you were already in. Let Shortcuts run the routines and let Fello AI handle the thinking, on Mac, iPhone and iPad.

What Siri AI Changes for Shortcuts

Siri AI is a separate layer from Shortcuts, and it is still a beta. It runs inside iOS 27 in English only, you join a waitlist to get it, and it is not available on iPhones, iPads or Apple Watches in the EU or anywhere in mainland China. Apple promised French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish for October; as of 21 October 2026 Apple still lists Siri AI as English-only. Apple says Siri AI runs on “the next generation of Apple Foundation Models, custom-built in collaboration with Google and its Gemini models.” No Gemini model answers your request, though: as MacRumors reported from the post-keynote session, Craig Federighi said Apple uses “none of the models that Google deploys to their customers”. For the full breakdown of what was announced, see our WWDC 2026 recap.

If you want to get more out of the assistant beyond shortcuts, our guide on how to use Apple Intelligence covers writing tools, image features, and the new Siri side by side.

How to Set Up Automations

An automation is a shortcut that runs by itself when a condition is met. In iOS 27 and macOS 27 you add the trigger inside the shortcut: open an existing shortcut or create a new one, tap Edit, then Automation, and choose a trigger such as Time of Day or Arrive. The Automation tab now only lists the shortcuts that have an automation, filtered by on or off. Triggers include time of day, arriving at or leaving a location, connecting to a charger, opening an app, and more.

A classic example is a morning routine. You can set a time-of-day automation that, at 7 a.m. on weekdays, reads the weather, shows your first calendar event, and starts a news podcast, all without you touching the phone. Another favorite is a location trigger that switches your phone to silent when you arrive at the office and turns the ringer back on when you leave.

Two details trip people up. Some automations ask for confirmation before they run, and you can switch that off per automation so it runs without asking. Automations also belong to one device: iCloud backs them up, but they arrive on your other devices switched off.

The Water Eject Shortcut

Water Eject is one of the most searched shortcuts. It plays a low tone meant to push water out of your iPhone speaker after a swim or a spill. It is not in Apple’s Gallery: Water Eject is a third-party shortcut you add from the ShortcutsGallery.com website, and then you run it by saying “Siri, Water Eject.” It is a good first shortcut because it shows the whole add-and-run flow in under a minute.

Once you are comfortable, the next step is a curated set of ideas. Our roundup of the top AI shortcuts and automations for your Mac and our list of iOS AI shortcuts worth trying give you ready-made workflows to copy.

Using Siri Shortcuts on Mac

Everything above works on a Mac, and the Mac adds several ways to run a shortcut that iPhone does not have. You can assign a keyboard shortcut so a single key combination fires the whole routine while you work, and you can also run shortcuts from the Dock, from the Services menu, from the Actions pop-up menu in Finder, and from the command line.

With iCloud Sync on, the shortcuts you build on your iPhone are already waiting on your Mac, and vice versa. On a Mac, iCloud Sync is under Shortcuts > Settings > General. That makes the Mac a great place to design more complex shortcuts on a bigger screen, then run them by voice on whatever device is closest. macOS 27 has the same Describe a Shortcut builder, so you can describe a shortcut on your Mac just as you would on an iPhone.

Siri Shortcut Not Working? Quick Fixes

When a shortcut refuses to run, the cause is usually small. The most common issue is the name, since Siri runs a shortcut by its exact name, so a phrase that is too long, too similar to another command, or hard to pronounce will trip it up. Rename it to something short and distinct and the voice trigger becomes far more reliable.

If a shortcut does not appear on another device, the fix is almost always iCloud sync. Make sure every device is signed into the same Apple Account and that iCloud Sync is on, in Settings > Shortcuts on iPhone and iPad, then give it a minute. For a shortcut that opens but fails partway, open it and check whether an action needs a permission you have not granted yet, such as access to Messages, Photos, or Location. Granting that permission once usually clears the error for good. Finally, confirm Siri is listening: in iOS 27 that is Settings > Siri > Requests, where “Siri” or “Hey Siri” must be turned on. That is also where you would turn Siri off, so make sure it has not been disabled.

If a shortcut with a Use Model step or one made with Describe a Shortcut suddenly stops working, you may have hit Apple’s daily limit for its cloud models. Try again later, or switch the Use Model step to On-Device for simple tasks.

Conclusion

Siri shortcuts turn repetitive taps into a single command, and in iOS 27 they are easier to build than ever: describe what you want and Apple Intelligence writes the shortcut. Start with one ready-made shortcut from the Gallery, learn to run it by voice, then add an automation from inside the shortcut once you see how much time it saves. From there, browse our curated shortcut lists and add the ones that fit your day.

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