The free automations library.

Tap the link below on your kid's iPhone. Shortcuts opens and shows you what it does. Scroll to the bottom and tap Add Shortcut.
Get the Bat Signal shortcut

In their library, tap the three dots on Send The Bat Signal to open it. The last action reads Send Pick up message to Recipients, and Recipients is empty. Tap Recipients and pick you from their contacts.

The middle Text action is the code phrase and the message. Leave it alone for now. Changing it is covered at the end.

Tap the small arrow at the end of that Send action and make sure Show When Run is off. On, it opens a message sheet with their address on it for anyone nearby to read. Off, it just sends. Tap Done.

Run it once, now. Tap the shortcut in their library. The phone asks for permission to use their location and to send a message. Tap Allow on both. That question cannot come up the first time they actually need it.

You get a real text with their real address in it. That is the test.

Press and hold the shortcut, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. Name it whatever they want. Something that reads like nothing is the point.

Tap the link below on your iPhone, scroll to the bottom, and tap Add Shortcut. There is nothing to change inside it.
Get the Bat Signal Received shortcut

Tap Automation at the bottom of the screen, then the plus in the top right. Scroll down and tap Message.

Tap Sender and pick your kid. Tap Message Contains and type Bat Signal. Choose Run Immediately, and turn Notify When Run off. Tap Next.

Run Immediately is the setting that decides whether this works. Run After Confirmation waits for you to notice a notification and tap it, which is the whole thing you are trying not to depend on.

Under Do, tap Run Shortcut and pick Bat Signal Received. Tap Done.

Open Settings, then Focus. Open each one you use, Sleep and Do Not Disturb at minimum, tap People, and add your kid under Allow Notifications From.

Test the real thing. Put your phone on silent, turn on Sleep focus, lock it, and set it on the counter. Have your kid tap the icon. Your phone should ring within a few seconds with their address in Messages.

Then agree on the rule that makes this safe. If they tap it and hear nothing back in two minutes, they call.

Tap the link below on the iPhone you want it on. Shortcuts opens and shows you what it does.
Get the Handled shortcut

Scroll to the bottom and tap Add Shortcut. It is now in your library.

Press and hold the shortcut in your library, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen.

Name it something you will recognize in a hurry. Mine says Handled.

Tap Add. It sits on your home screen like any other app.

In your library, tap the three dots on Handled to open it.

Find the Remind me section. In the Add action, tap the list after the word to and choose the Reminders list you want these in.

Find the Add to calendar section. Tap the arrow at the end of that Add action, tap Calendar, and choose the one you want. If you skip this, events go to your default calendar.

Tap Done.

Find a reel with the sound you want. Tap Share, then Copy link.

Open Safari and go to igexport.com/en/audio-download. Paste the link in the box and tap Convert to MP3.

Tap Download MP3. When Safari asks, tap Download. The file is now in iCloud Drive, Downloads — that's where Files keeps it.

Record it in Voice Memos. Tap the three dots, then Share, then Save to Files. Choose iCloud Drive, then Downloads, then Save.

Open Shortcuts. Tap Automation at the bottom, then the plus in the top right.

Scroll down and tap Charger. Leave Is Connected selected.

Tap Run Immediately and turn off Notify When Run. Run After Confirmation means it waits for you to tap, which is the opposite of the point. Tap Next.

Tap Create New Shortcut.

Tap the search bar and type File. Under Files, tap the one that says just File — not Select File.

It drops in empty. Tap the blue File inside it, go to iCloud Drive, then Downloads, and tap your sound.

Search again and type Play Sound. Tap it — not Play/Pause. It should read Sound File: File. If it reads anything else, tap it and choose File.

Tap the checkmark. Then plug your phone in. That's the test.

Open Shortcuts. Along the bottom you will see Shortcuts, Automation and Gallery. Stay on the first one, Shortcuts, and tap the plus in the top right corner.

A blank shortcut opens with a Search Actions bar at the bottom of the screen. Everything you add comes from that bar.

Tap the Search Actions bar and type address. Several results come up. You want Street Address, the one with the small green pin.

Do not pick Get Addresses from Input. That one reads an address out of something else and will leave you with a blank.

Street Address is not one box, it is a small form. Tap it and you get Line 1, Line 2, City, State, Postal Code and Region.

Tap each line and fill in your home address. Line 2 can stay empty unless you have an apartment number. Region is your country.

This is where most people expect one box and get six. Filling them all in is what lets Maps find the place.

Back to the Search Actions bar. Type set variable and tap Set Variable. It lands underneath the address.

It reads Set variable Variable Name to Street Address. Tap the words Variable Name and type Home. Leave the rest alone, the to Street Address part is already correct.

A variable is just a nickname. You are telling the shortcut that when you say Home later, you mean this address.

Now do steps 2, 3 and 4 again for the place you are leaving from.

Add a second Street Address, fill in your work address, add a second Set Variable underneath it, and name this one Work.

You should now have four actions stacked up: address, Home, address, Work.

Search travel time and tap Get Travel Time. It arrives reading something like Get Driving time from ... to ... with two blanks in it.

Check the transport word says Driving. If it says Walking or Transit, tap it and change it.

Tap the first blank. A list of your variables appears above the keyboard. Tap Work. Then tap the second blank and tap Home.

This one action is doing the real work. It asks Maps about live traffic on that route, right now.

Search text and tap Text. Tap into its empty box and type your message, ending with a space:

On the way home. Be home at

Just above the keyboard there is a row of variables. Tap Travel Time to drop it into your sentence.

This is the step everybody gets wrong, so go slowly.

The thing you just dropped in says Travel Time. Left like that, your family gets a text saying be home at 22 minutes.

Tap it once. A panel slides up with a list of things it can show you instead. Choose Arrival Time.

Check your sentence now reads Be home at followed by a pill saying Arrival Time. If it still says Travel Time, tap it again.

Travel Time is how long the drive is. Arrival Time is the clock time you pull in. Only one of those is a number anybody can plan around.

Finish the sentence however your house talks. Mine adds let me know if we need anything while I'm out, because that question was coming anyway.

Search send message and tap Send Message.

Tap the message blank and pick Text from the variables. Then tap the recipient blank and choose the person from your contacts.

Tap the shortcut's name at the top of the screen, choose Rename, and call it On My Way Home. Tap Done.

Test it before you go any further. Find it in My Shortcuts and tap the tile once.

It sends a real text with a wrong number in it, because you are sitting at home and the drive is nothing. That is the point. You have now watched the whole thing work before handing it a trigger.

Send your person a heads up first if a surprise text is the kind of thing that gets you a phone call.

Tap Automation at the bottom of the screen, then the plus in the top right.

Scroll down the list of triggers to the travel ones and tap Leave.

Tap Location and search for your work address, the same one you typed into the shortcut. Pick it and tap Done.

Leave the time as Any Time, so it works whatever hour you get out.

You land on a sheet with three parts: Automation at the top, When, and Do.

Tap the setting next to Automation and choose Run Immediately.

This is the one that decides whether the whole thing works. Run After Confirmation asks your permission every single day, which is the exact thing you were trying to stop doing.

Under Do, tap and choose On My Way Home from your existing shortcuts. Tap Done.

That is it. Tomorrow you walk to your car and by the time you are on the road it has already sent.

Open Shortcuts, stay on the Shortcuts tab, tap the plus.

Search menu. Two results look almost the same. You want Choose from Menu, not Choose from List.

It arrives with a Prompt line and two empty options. Tap the Prompt line and type Where are you coming home from. That is the question you will see when you run it.

Tap the first option row and type Work. Tap the second and type School.

Tap Add new item twice more and type Grocery Store and Current Location.

If the rows look blank you have not typed into them yet. Tap directly on each one.

Notice the menu now has a labelled slot under each option. Whatever you put under an option only runs when somebody taps that option.

Tap into the space under Work, search address, and add a Street Address. Fill in your work address, all six fields, same as before.

Then add a Set Variable underneath it, still inside the Work slot, and name it Work Address.

Indented under the option is the whole game here. If it lands in a straight line with everything else, drag it up until it tucks under Work.

Do the same under School and Grocery Store. A Street Address filled in, then a Set Variable named after that place, School and Grocery Store.

Naming each one is what makes this easy to change later. When the school moves or you switch grocery stores, you open the shortcut and look for the one called School, instead of counting address blocks and hoping you picked the right one.

Under Current Location, do something different. Search current location and add Get Current Location instead of an address.

That one item covers everywhere you did not think of, and it is what stops this menu going stale the first week something unexpected happens.

Scroll to the bottom of the menu until you see the line that says End Menu. Everything from here down runs no matter which option was tapped.

Below End Menu, add a Street Address with your home address, then a Set Variable named Home.

Add Get Travel Time. Set it to Driving. Tap the first blank and choose Menu Result, tap the second and choose Home.

Menu Result is the piece doing the work, and it is the one thing on this page nobody guesses on their own. It means whatever you tapped. Tap the store and it measures from the store.

Add a Text action with your message, and drop the travel time variable in exactly as before.

Tap the pill and change it from Travel Time to Arrival Time. Same step, same trap.

Add Send Message, put the Text in, and pick your person. Rename the shortcut ETA and tap Done.

Press and hold the shortcut in My Shortcuts, then choose Add to Home Screen. Now it is one tap on the way to the car.

Open Shortcuts and go to the Automation tab.

Tap the plus and choose Alarm.

Pick your trigger: Is Snoozed, Is Stopped, or Goes Off. I use Goes Off, so if I turn the alarm off by accident instead of snoozing, I still hear the time.

Choose the alarm. I pick Any, since I run my real wake up plus a backup a little later, and this way it catches me either way.

Set it to Run Immediately, then tap Next.

Create a new shortcut.

Add the action Speak and choose Speak Text.

Tap the text field and choose the variable Current Date.

Current Date will ask for the date, time, or name. Choose Time, and save.

Open Shortcuts, tap the Automation tab, then New Automation. Choose CarPlay, select Is Connected, and pick Run Immediately with Notify When Run off.

Tap Create New Shortcut, then Add Action. Search Play/Pause, add it, tap it, and set it to Pause. Tap Done.

Make a second automation the same way, but choose Bluetooth as the trigger and pick your car. Add the same Pause action. Bluetooth connects a beat sooner, so the two cover each other.

Open Settings, tap Accessibility, scroll to Guided Access, and turn it on. Turn on Accessibility Shortcut too.

Tap Passcode Settings and set a passcode you will remember. This is what keeps little hands from ending it.

Open the app, click the side button three times, and tap Start. The phone is now locked to that app.

To get out, triple-click again and enter your passcode. Tap End to unlock, or Resume to keep them locked in.

Open Shortcuts, tap the plus, and create a new shortcut.

Add Get Latest Screenshot, keep it set to 1.

Add Ask for Input → Text → ask "What is this screenshot?" This is your searchable word.

Add Set Variable, name it Searchable word, set it to the Ask for Input.

Add Choose from Menu with two options: Folder and Running note.

Under Folder → Create Note → the screenshot and your word → Folder: Screenshots.

Under Running note → Append to Note → the screenshot and your word → your Screenshots note.

After the menu, add Delete Photos → the screenshot, so it clears from your camera roll.

Tap the i, turn on Show in Share Sheet, and name it.

To use it: take a screenshot → tap share → tap the shortcut → type your word → pick where it goes.

Open Shortcuts → Automation tab → New Automation → Message.

Set Sender to Any, so it works from any phone.

Set Message Contains to marco, then Done.

Choose Run Immediately → Next.

Add these four actions in order, searching each one in the bar at the bottom:

• Set Flashlight On — lights it up so you can spot it.
• Set Media Volume — drag it to 100%.
• Set Media Volume again — also drag to 100%, then tap the blue word Media and switch it to Ringtone.
• Play Music — pick a song you have already downloaded.

You add the volume action twice, once left on Media and once switched to Ringtone. Media is the volume that plays over silent mode, and Ringtone covers it when the phone is not on silent.

Tap Done → test it by texting yourself marco from another phone.

In the Reminders app, make a list called Grocery List.

Open Shortcuts → Automation tab → New Automation.

Choose Arrive → your store address → set the circle over the parking lot → Run Immediately → Next.

New Blank Automation → Add Action → Show Reminders List → Grocery List → Done.

Repeat for each store you visit. Two or three covers most of your week.

Open Shortcuts → Automation tab → New Automation → App.

Choose Instagram, TikTok, Facebook → Is Opened → Next.

Add Set Volume → 0%.

Choose Run Immediately → Done.