I usually keep my family members as part of favourites on iPhone. But for work I need to call my work colleagues multiple times over the course of my day. I do not want them to be added to my favourites. But I do need a shortcut to be able to quickly call them when required. Well, Shortcuts to the rescue. I created a simple Shortcut that will show me a list of my work colleagues that I need to call and then call them looking up in the Contacts.
Here’s how I did it.
Download the Shortcuts app and open it. Create a new shortcut by tapping on the ‘+’ icon.
Tap on ‘Add Action’ and search for ‘List’. Tap to add it.
Once ‘List’ is added to you shortcut, add the names of people that you want to call. Make sure the name is same as they appear in your Contacts app. This is critical because if shortcut is not able to find the name in your Contacts, then it ends up showing Contacts search.
Add another action by tapping on the ‘+’ button. Search for ‘List’ again, but this time select ‘Choose from List’ option.
This will allow you to add a custom message to your prompt. Make sure the ‘Select Multiple’ option is turned off.
Add another action by tapping on the ‘+’ button. Search for ‘Contacts’ and tap on ‘Find Contacts’.
Configure the ‘Find Contacts’ action. Tap on ‘Add Filter’ to say ‘Name is Chosen item’. Limit the results to just one contact.
Add another action by tapping on the ‘+’ button. Search for ‘Call’ and tap on ‘Call’.
Once the action is added, your shortcut in done.
Run this shortcut and you will be shown list of people. Tapping on any of them will call them.