LifestyleScripps News Life

Actions

Set your iPhone to wish your friends happy birthday automatically

Set your iPhone to wish your friends happy birthday automatically
Posted
and last updated

Never give a belated birthday greeting again. If you have an iPhone, you have a built-in birthday butler who will wish your friends and family “Happy birthday!” for you.

Here’s how it works:

First, go to your Contacts. Select the special people in your life that mean the most to you. Then, make sure you fill out their birthday details (just the date and the month are required). Now, iPhone will have the information it needs to get to work.

Then, go to Shortcuts and find the Birthday Today Shortcut. Or, click this link on your iPhone and it will take you to the Shortcut.

Screen grab showing Birthday Today Shortcut

Now, you can click the dots at the top of the Shortcut to customize your message. Pick what you want your message to say or stick with the automated text.

To make it run daily, tap Automation and Personal Automation within the Shortcuts app. Then, you can set up some rules, such as the time of day you want the message sent.

Screen grab showing Birthday Shortcut setup
Simplemost

MORE: Improve your iPhone’s battery life with this simple setting

TheBirthday Today Shortcut appears to have been developed last year by Redditor and Shortcut enthusiast u/AlphaToast.

There are also many other little-known Shortcuts that can simplify your life.

One popular Shortcut will save you from the dreaded experience of your phone unexpectedly dying on you when you are nowhere near an outlet. With the Battery Status Shortcut, you can get an alert whenever your phone needs to be charged. Choose the percentage you want to set the notification at as well as the custom alert you will get. It’s an easy hack if you are one of those people who always winds up with a dead phone battery at the most inopportune moments.

You just need to go into Shortcuts, and as before tap Automation, then tap Personal Automation. Choose Battery Action, then pick the percentage you want to set for your reminder.

Next, choose Add Action. This will tell your phone what action you want it to perform when your battery hits that low point. It could be Siri saying “Charge me!” or a text notification.

MORE: Duolingo will soon offer gamified music lessons

Any products or services mentioned above were selected independent of sales and advertising. However, Simplemost may receive a small commission from the purchase of any products or services through an affiliate link to the retailer's website.

This story originally appeared on Simplemost. Check out Simplemost for additional stories.