As someone who has a huge penchant for customizing the Lock Screen, iOS 18 Lock Screen customization has won me over. What has appealed to me more than anything else is the ability to choose the desired Lock Screen controls and remove the redundant ones. Courtesy of a massive library of controls, you have the flexibility to choose from a wide range of options – from a system action to an accessibility feature. Better still, there is also a way to add your favorite Siri shortcut to the Lock Screen on iPhone for a quick launching experience. Read on…
Launch a Siri Shortcut from the iPhone Lock Screen in iOS 18
So, how do you launch a Siri shortcut from the Lock Screen? As part of the Lock Screen customization, iOS 18 offers a “Shortcut” control through which you can select from the existing Siri shortcuts. Once added to the LC, you can trigger it through the long-press gesture.
- To get started, swipe down from the top of the screen or press the Side button to activate the Lock Screen.
- Once the Lock Screen has been activated, authenticate your device with the Face ID or Touch ID based on your device model.
- To proceed, long-press on the screen and tap on the Customize button at the bottom of the Lock Screen wallpaper.
- On the next screen, tap on “Lock Screen”.
- Now, you should see the tiny “Minus” button at the top of each control. Tap on the minus button at the top of the control that you want to remove.
- To add another control, tap on the “+” button.
- You can now use the search bar at the top to find the “Shortcut” control and select it.
- Hit the “Choose” option.
- Scroll through the list of Siri Shortcuts and pick the one that you would like to add to the Lock Screen. For the purpose of this guide, I’m going to add the “Water Eject” shortcut. As there is no restriction at all, you can pick your favorite Siri shortcut.
- To get out of the menu, hit the empty area of the screen.
- In the end, be sure to tap on the Done button at the upper right corner of the screen to finish.
From now onward, whenever you want to trigger this Siri shortcut, bring up the Lock Screen and then long-press on the shortcut icon to turn it on/off. To delete the control, go back to the same Lock Screen customization menu -> hit the minus button -> “+” button, and then select the needed icon.
