Ever since I put my Shortcut that opens Control Center on the Action Button of my iPhone 16 Plus, I have been obsessed with trying something. Could I fill the first screen with most of what I do when I pick my phone up? In order to do this, I kept track of what I did each time I picked up my phone. It did not take long, maybe a week, before I came up with the following set up…

What you see here is a combination of Shortcuts and utilities that cover at least 95% of what I do when I pick up my phone. Here’s a brief overview of each, by row…

Row 1: Overcast-podcast app of choice, Mail-my email needs are basic.

Row 2: Music Hub-a Shortcut I created that opens either Music, Sonos, or Sirius/XM, Notes-opens the Notes app.

Row 3: Tech News-a Shortcut that Federico Viticci created years ago that I love. It offers access to a variety of tech websites, Weight/BMI 1-a Shortcut I created that tracks my weight and BMI, posting it to the Gyroscope app.

Row 4: Focus Mode-self explanatory, I Love You Steph-Shortcut I created that sends a cute message to my wife.

Row 5: Sofa-this Control allows me to take a pinned book that I’m reading and add it to my logbook helping me keep better track of what I’m reading each day, CPI-this is a Control from my home security app, Flashlight-need I say more, QR Scan-Again, may I say more.

Row 6: Type to Siri-for times I do not want to invoke verbally, Drafts-opens the Drafts app for quick capture, Safari-for when I want to get on the Internet quickly, Messages-probably the most used app for me so, why not?

I love having all of this accessible via the action button and look forward to seeing how my set up evolves overtime.