Shortcuts automations for your to-do list on iPhone and Mac

By Basil, maker of Alcove · Updated 8 October 2026 · 10 min read

Shortcuts can look after your tasks while you're doing something else: read out the day when your alarm stops, tidy up at night, catch a task with one button. Alcove: Tasks & Notes, which I make, adds its own actions to the Shortcuts app, under Alcove, and every recipe below uses only those and Apple's built-in actions. The same actions answer Siri; see every Siri phrase for Alcove.

Alcove's actions and what they pass on

Search for Alcove when you add an action. What an action passes on is what the next step can use.

A task that an action passes on carries its title, priority, due date, list and whether it's completed. Tap the variable in a later step to use one of those.

Three more things worth knowing:

• Repeating tasks roll on. Complete Task treats a repeating task the way the app does: it moves to its next date instead of finishing. See repeating tasks.
• Hidden lists stay hidden. Lists you've hidden from Overview stay out of Today's Summary and the due today and overdue counts, just as they stay out of Today.
• Finish Next Task is a control. On iPhone and iPad with iOS 18 or later, the Finish Next Task control ticks off the next task due today from Control Center, and on iPhone from the Lock Screen or the Action button, without opening anything. See the widgets guide.

Adding an automation

An automation runs a shortcut when something happens, such as an alarm stopping or a time of day. How you add one depends on your version:

• iOS 27, and macOS 27 on the Mac: create or open a shortcut, tap or click Edit, then Automation, and choose a trigger.
• iOS 26 and earlier: tap Automation, then Create Personal Automation (or the add button, if you already have one), and choose a trigger.

Automations ask before they run unless you change that; the last section explains how.

Hear today's tasks when your alarm stops

1. Add an automation with the Alarm trigger, choose your morning alarm, and choose Is Stopped.
2. Add Alcove's Today's Summary.
3. Add Speak Text, tap its text and choose the Today's Summary variable. Type "Today:" in front of it if you like.
4. Let it run without asking.

Speak Text reads out the names of today's tasks. For the fuller version, with how many are high priority and when the next one starts, ask Siri: "What's on today in Alcove". For more on starting the day, see how to plan your day.

Capture a task from the Action button

On an iPhone 15 Pro or later, the Action button can run a control or a shortcut when you press and hold it. Three good choices:

• Speak several tasks. In Settings, tap Action Button, swipe to Controls and choose Alcove's Speak Tasks (iOS 18 or later). Press and hold the button, say everything on your mind, check the cards and add them. See speaking your to-do list.
• Type one task. Make a shortcut with Ask for Input (Text), then Alcove's Add Task with the task set to Provided Input. In Settings, tap Action Button, swipe to Shortcut and choose it. Quick add's shorthand works, so "Call the dentist tomorrow 10am /Errands" sets the day, the time and the list, and Add Task creates the Errands list if you don't have one.
• Tick off the next task. Choose the Finish Next Task control, and the button finishes the top of today.

Move what's left today to tomorrow, every evening

1. Add an automation with the Time of Day trigger, set to 9pm, daily.
2. Add Adjust Date, set to add 1 day to Current Date.
3. Add Alcove's List Tasks. Leave List empty, show the extra options and set Due on to Current Date.
4. Add Repeat with Each, using the tasks from List Tasks.
5. Inside the repeat, add Alcove's Reschedule Task, with Task set to Repeat Item and To set to Adjusted Date.
6. Let it run without asking.

Each task keeps its time of day, so a 3pm task becomes 3pm tomorrow. Two limits to know: List Tasks passes on at most ten tasks, so on a crowded day, run the shortcut again for the rest; and it moves only tasks due today, not older overdue ones. Finished tasks stay where they are.

See your Home list when you get home

1. Add an automation with the Arrive trigger and choose your home address.
2. Add Alcove's List Tasks and set List to Home, or whichever list you keep for home.
3. Add Show Notification with the tasks from List Tasks.

Keep a dated work log

Useful for timesheets or a weekly report.

1. In Alcove, make a note called Work log.
2. In Shortcuts, make a shortcut that starts with Ask for Input (Text), asking "What did you just finish?"
3. Add Format Date for the Current Date, in the style you like.
4. Add Alcove's Add to Note, with Note set to Work log and Text set to - , then Formatted Date, a colon and Provided Input. The dash makes each entry a bullet.
5. Run it by saying its name to Siri, from a Home Screen icon, or on the Mac with a keyboard shortcut.

Turn shared or selected text into a task

On iPhone and iPad, you don't need a shortcut: Alcove is in the share sheet. Share text, a link, an image or a file to Alcove, then save it as a new task, attach it to an existing task, or save it as a new note.

On the Mac, make a shortcut:

1. Make a new shortcut, open its details, turn on Use as Quick Action and choose Services Menu. A step appears at the top for what the shortcut receives: set it to Text.
2. Add Alcove's Add Task, with the task set to Shortcut Input.
3. In any app, select some text, then choose the app's menu, Services, and your shortcut.

The shorthand works here too: select "Book the venue friday /Events" and it lands in Events, due Friday.

See what's due when your Work Focus starts

1. Add an automation with the Focus trigger, choose Work and When Turning On.
2. Add Alcove's Count Tasks, set to Due today.
3. Add Show Notification with the count, followed by "due today".

If Shortcuts asks before running this one, tap the notification to let it run.

On the Mac

The same actions are in Shortcuts on the Mac, and the Mac has its own ways to run a shortcut:

• A keyboard shortcut. Double-click the shortcut, open its details, click Add Keyboard Shortcut and press the keys.
• The menu bar. Click Control Center in the menu bar, then Edit Controls, Shortcuts and Run Shortcut.
• The Services menu, for shortcuts that work on selected text, as in the recipe above.
• Automations, on macOS 27, added the same way as on iPhone.

For typing a single task, Alcove's own quick add, ⌥ Space from any app, is quicker than any shortcut. See adding tasks from any app.

Running without asking, and what opens the app

• Only Speak Tasks opens Alcove. Every other action runs in the background and works with your iPhone locked. Speak Tasks opens the app because it has to show you what it heard before anything is added.
• Automations ask first unless you change it. Apple lists the triggers that can run without asking, including Time of Day, Alarm, Arrive and Leave. On iOS 26 and earlier, open the automation and turn off Ask Before Running. On iOS 27, open the shortcut, tap Edit, and under Privacy turn on Allow Running When Locked.
• Automations belong to one device. On iOS 27 they reach your other devices switched off; on earlier versions they stay on the device you made them on.
• Reminder types are set in Alcove. Set a Reminder chooses when you're reminded. Whether that's quiet, a notification or an alarm is set on the task in Alcove. See making a reminder ring like an alarm.
• They work during the free trial and once you've bought Alcove. If the trial ends without a purchase, the actions pause and say why. On the Mac, Alcove's settings also have a Siri and shortcuts switch, and an action tells you if it's turned off.

Sources

Checked in October 2026:

• Event triggers, Travel triggers and Setting triggers, Shortcuts User Guide, Apple
• Add automations (iOS 27) and Enable or disable a personal automation (iOS 26), Shortcuts User Guide, Apple
• Run shortcuts with the Action button, Shortcuts User Guide, and Use and customize the Action button on iPhone, iPhone User Guide, Apple
• Use Repeat actions and Run a shortcut from another app, Shortcuts User Guide, Apple
• Run a shortcut while working on your Mac and Add automations to Shortcuts on Mac, Shortcuts User Guide for Mac, Apple

Questions people ask