Trying to create a menu of choices in the Shortcuts app. My goal is to create a menu of actions to tie to the iPhone 16 Action button.

Mystified. Unsuccessful. Mildly frustrated.

Folks who know my writing know I strive for plain speaking, unambiguous instructions.

Have not yet found a written tutorial (including all the official Apple walkthroughs) that match with what I see on my screen.

Might just be me. Gonna keep working.

@matthewcassinelli
#Apple

@davemark @matthewcassinelli so you’re looking for a menu to pop up whenever you press the action button that you can choose from?

@frederik @matthewcassinelli Yes. Item 1, launch Messages to text my wife. Item 2, toggle Do Not Disturb.

Like that.

@davemark If you're just trying to create a list of simple toggle actions (like turning WiFi on/off etc.) that seems easy enough?

I have a menu for the action button which lets me turn WiFi on/off or mobile data on/off.

Would be happy to talk through if the result you're trying to achieve is something like that. If it's a bit more complicated set of actions, I might not be in a position to help but still willing to talk through 🙂

@davemark Here's what my menu looks like ...
An iOS screenshot showing the e…

@f Appreciate you, Fahim. In a car all day, will probably focus on this tomorrow

@davemark All I basically did was create a menu, set up menu options and then add actions to the same shortcut and drag those actions under each menu option, or rather, the menu option preview in the lower half ... That was it 🙂

@davemark @matthewcassinelli I don’t know if you’re going for something more sophisticated. But I just created a folder in Shortcuts and stuck a bunch of Shortcuts in there. Now when I hold the action button a menu like this appears. Yes I am a simple person.

@chartier @matthewcassinelli A fine solution!

@davemark @matthewcassinelli Depending on how many items you need you could instead of making a menu in shortcuts just have it open a folder. There’s a separate UI for opening a folder using the action button. Looks much better but is limited to 8 shortcuts

@davemark @matthewcassinelli I followed the tutorial here, and downloaded this guy’s template.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ibKSRF6SMNk

I then tweaked the template a bit, and, while I don’t fully understand shortcuts, it works fine.

@mcelhearn @matthewcassinelli 👀

@davemark @matthewcassinelli
Simplest path: create a folder in Shortcuts app of the shortcuts you want to trigger, then assign the Action button to a shortcut that opens that folder.

Better path: don’t waste your Action button on an action that requires looking at the screen to take an action, and assign that menu to a widget on the Home Screen, Today View, Control Center, and/or Lock Screen. A menu is just another Home Screen.

@Sumocat @matthewcassinelli Really good food for thought!

@davemark This is what I do with my Action Button as well. Just use the shoes from menu action and it will be obvious what to do. However, you can also make the action button do different things based on the orientation of your phone. I have mine silenced my phone and watch if it’s upside down, which means it’s in my pocket. I can just reach in and hit the action button and my watch and phone are silenced. Here’s what my shortcut looks like.