How to Add Shortcuts to Home Screen in iOS 12

Yes, you can easily add shortcut icons to your Home Screen in iOS 12. With the introduction of Apple's dedicated Shortcuts app alongside traditional Safari web clips, iOS 12 provides native tools to create one-tap access points for your favorite automated tasks and web pages. This guide walks you through the step-by-step process of adding both Siri Shortcuts and website bookmarks directly to your iPhone or iPad Home Screen.

Adding a Siri Shortcut to the Home Screen

To add an automated workflow from the Shortcuts app to your Home Screen in iOS 12:

  1. Open the Shortcuts app on your device.
  2. Find the shortcut you want to add to your Home Screen and tap the three dots (...) on its card to open the editor.
  3. Tap the Settings icon (represented by two sliders) in the upper-right corner beneath the "Done" button.
  4. Select the Add to Home Screen option.
  5. The Shortcuts app will open a unique webpage in Safari with brief instructions.
  6. Tap the Share button (a square with an upward arrow) in the Safari toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
  7. Swipe through the bottom row of the share sheet and tap Add to Home Screen.
  8. Confirm or edit the name for the shortcut icon, then tap Add in the top-right corner.

The shortcut will now appear as an icon on your Home Screen, allowing you to trigger the action with a single tap.

Adding a Website Shortcut to the Home Screen

If you want to create a shortcut for a specific webpage instead of a workflow:

  1. Open Safari and navigate to the webpage you want to save.
  2. Tap the Share button at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Scroll through the bottom action row and tap Add to Home Screen.
  4. Type in a custom label if desired, then tap Add in the upper-right corner.

The website icon will be placed on your Home Screen and will launch the URL directly in Safari whenever it is tapped.