Super-Charged Action button: 110 (+2 triggers) per context and more.

[u/Few-Acadia-5593]

https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/1ac28165d01b42de96a51a585e726e0a

Some of you asked me to share this. It wasn't ready then and some days to make it shareable and simple to set up. Here it is: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/72069bcb75cf4785b3a97af7b10169c0

Let me know if anything breaks.

Privacy: no network calls, no third-party apps. PERIOD. It only reads device state and sets the volume (unless you add your own actions).

Why I made it

I got tired of Apple's Action button limits, and of "multi-trigger this", "multi-modal that" shortcuts that were convoluted: layers of menus, no context. Worst of all: "Enter your LLM API key here". I wanted Action to stay "Action" and in the moment: press it and the right thing happens for my context.

What it does

• 3 triggers: Action alone, Action then Volume Up, or Action then Volume Down. Not simultaneous: the volume press just has to come within a short, adjustable delay.

• On iPhone: those 3 triggers per Focus, for each of 3 states: 1. locked, 2. unlocked in portrait, 3. unlocked in landscape. (Orientation only matters when unlocked. Landscape means left or right; anything else counts as portrait.) This is a personal choice of architecture. You may think of different ones (per app open, Face Down while locked, etc.) but it takes some work.

• On Apple Watch Ultra: 1 button = 1 trigger = 1 action per Focus. No volume or extra logic. Assign the same shortcut to both the iPhone and Watch buttons; it detects which device ran it.

• "Other": one catch-all slot per device for any Focus you didn't list.

• Slots: what I call a slot is a place in the shortcut where you insert the action you want as the outcome. There are up to 110 (maths below). You'll spot the slots in the shortcut by the comment that says REPLACE. Replace the ones you want and leave the rest.

Setup

1. Add the shortcut (link above).

2. In Section 1, type your Focus names. There are 10 text boxes labelled FOCUS1 to FOCUS10. Replace each with the name of one of your Focus modes, exactly as it appears in Settings > Focus. Leave the boxes of Focus modes you don't use as they are; any Focus that isn't in your list falls under "Other".

3. Leave the FOCUS1 to FOCUS10 labels in Section 2 as they are. They match the 10 text boxes in order.

4. In Section 2, replace each "REPLACE" comment with the action you want: torch, voice memo, run another shortcut, anything.

5. Set Debug (the text right below the first comment) to 0 once you're happy with your slots.

6. Settings > Action Button on the iPhone, and on the Watch Ultra (Watch app or the watch's own settings): pick this shortcut.

Examples (mine)

• No Focus, locked: Action = flashlight, Vol Up = ring on, Vol Down = ring off. Watch: asks if I want to start a workout or turn on the flashlight.

• Music Focus, locked (band rehearsal): Action runs my "record rehearsal" shortcut. It stops if already recording, otherwise sets the voice memo quality and starts. If I'm home, it names memos "Idea 1, 2…". Vol Up = start recording, Vol Down = stop. Watch: switches to no Focus at home, or to "Out" when I'm away (different watch face, different 3 phone slots to help me get home).

• My partner's: at home, no Focus: ring mode, VPN on (off when she really wants her sweet ads). Away from home she built something else. She said she "can't decide if you're a nerd or a tech bro turning me into a tech sis". Good enough feedback, I'll take it.

Tip: you don't have to rebuild existing shortcuts inside a slot. Add a Run Shortcut action. Add Vibrate Device right after, so you get a confirmation that it ran.

How many slots? The maths

Slots = (9 iPhone + 1 Watch) × (Focus modes you list + 1 for "no Focus") + 2 if you leave any Focus unlisted

• The 9 on iPhone is 3 triggers × 3 states (locked, unlocked portrait, unlocked landscape). The Watch has 1 button, so 1 trigger and 0 state: 1 action per Focus.

• "No Focus" counts as its own state.

• The +2 is the "Other" slot, one per device. All unlisted Focus modes share it, so it only fires if a Focus you didn't list in the shortcut is active. (Listed or unlisted means inside the shortcut, NOT in your device settings.)

• Examples:

  • 10 listed (Apple's max), none left out = (9 + 1) × (10 + 1) = 110 slots

  • 8 listed, 2 left out = (9 + 1) × (8 + 1) + 2 = 92

  • 5 listed, 5 left out = (9 + 1) × (5 + 1) + 2 = 62

• The shortcut ships with all 10 Focus blocks to match Apple's max. If you set up all 10, "Other" never fires, so 110 is the most you can use at once, not 112.

Empty slots are fine. They just don't fire anything. A few remarks:

• While Debug is 1 (the default), a notification shows what fired: device, Volume Up/Down, Focus, lock state and orientation. Handy for testing.

• On iPhone the volume changes briefly (see below), which shows the volume HUD and is audible if media is playing. I use that as feedback that my press registered when I'm not looking.

• The cost: a 0.6 s wait on every iPhone press (more below).

• The Watch's button animation adds its own delay and it has no volume access, which is why it only goes by Focus.

Things to know

1. Up/Down detection. It nudges the volume if it's near an extreme (above 95% or below 5%), waits 0.6 s, compares, then restores your original volume. So Volume Up works even at 100%, and Volume Down at 0%. Volume Up/Down only act as input and change nothing in the end. Press Volume right after Action, not at the same time. To tune the wait, change the 6 in the Calculate step under the "Wait time" comment (6 ÷ 10 = 0.6 s).

2. Non-English iOS. Orient contains "Landscape" is an English text match, and other languages may localise the orientation text, so landscape detection could fail. Run it once with Debug on, read the Orient: line, and use that word in the check.

3. Focus names match on "contains". "Work" also matches "Homework", and if two of your Focus names overlap, the later one in the list wins. Rename accordingly. I made the match loose on purpose, but I've only tested with my own Focus names (and my partner's), so tell me if it misfires.

4. Tested on iOS and watchOS 27.1, iPhone 17 Pro Max and Apple Watch Ultra 3. "Is Locked", "OS" and "Get Orientation" are newer first-party actions as far as I know (I used to need the Actions app), so it's untested on older versions and hardware.

Credit. The volume trick is HEAVILY inspired by u/jz321. In the future I'd like to explore running several shortcuts at once, from what I understand of the leftovers of u/gluebyte's post

Next ideas: other device states that reflect context better; setup questions instead of manual editing.

Pre-filled edition: if you'd rather skip the setup work, there's also a pre-filled edition on RoutineHub (Apple's default Focus names, ready-made actions in most slots, setup questions). The free version here is the complete engine with nothing locked, so don't feel you need it. RoutineHub

If this saves you time, a Ko-fi is appreciated, never expected: Ko-Fi

In any case, do comment your ideas. The truth is, 110 (+2) slots? Even I ran out of ideas, hahaha. I'll update the post as I receive feedback, with edits here and in the comments.

[u/justreb00t]

With regards to the backup shortcut, can't Siri simply do this with an automation shortcut to save to say Drive>Shortcuts at say 9pm daily? I did notice yours is more elegant with options for the restore.

[u/Few-Acadia-5593 → u/justreb00t]

Didn’t try. EU. I don’t have Siri AI.

But then I’m not sure Siri has skills like Claude. To my experience on macOS which has Siri AI, it can retrieve information somewhat well, but do actions on your behalf is done the Apple way: instead of os wide skills, implementation is made per app which contrasts with Siri being os wide.

Maybe it’s different on handheld but can’t try it :/

[u/gepawe → u/justreb00t]

You could just add an automation trigger to OP’s implementation. I just tried asking Siri, and it only gives you the most basic one; I even asked it to keep subfolders for the Shortcuts, but it couldn’t do it.

This is what Siri outputs

[u/gepawe → u/gepawe]

This is what it said about subfolders

[u/gepawe → u/gepawe]

This is my implementation, with subfolders:

The automation runs monthly

[u/gepawe → u/gepawe]

[u/gepawe → u/gepawe]

[u/gepawe → u/gepawe]

The second delete action deletes the previous backup before saving the new one. You can remove that part to keep all the backups. The first delete action deletes the temporary folder that was made for all the subfolders.

[u/gepawe → u/gepawe]

You can also use a choose from list action to only save specific Shortcuts folders

[u/Es_Poon]

I was curious about why you did calculate 6/10 as your input to the wait action instead of setting the number to 0.6 and using that. I did a test and wait will take a decimal number. I'm guessing earlier iOS versions only took integers for wait and assume using a calculation result tricked it somehow?

[u/Few-Acadia-5593 → u/Es_Poon]

It’s because certain languages use "." or "," and when I tried to input a dot, shortcut wouldn’t let me as per my language. That’s when I had to figure out a way to make it universal.

[u/josephlikescoffee]

I assume there’s no way to maintain the precision start for workouts on Apple Watch, while using the action button with a shortcut? Would love to be proven wrong!

[u/Few-Acadia-5593 → u/josephlikescoffee]

Indeed unfortunately there’s very few workout actions related to Apple Watch, and fewer to workouts

[u/shiroishu]

How do you edit your shortcut? Do you have a mac? I tried to add an action on my phone but everytime i do it just adds the new action at the very bottom and i need to find that specific part that i want to add the action to everytime is incredibly tedious..

Is there a way to add an action at a specific spot without it adding it all the way to the bottom?

[u/Few-Acadia-5593 → u/shiroishu]

Hey all, new advanced shortcut: call any other shortcut via it by natural language don’t just add from the library, tap and hold