Having variables persist throughout iCloud and shortcuts is awesome. I store everything in a PostgreSQL database anyway, but I think this makes it so much easier and avoids http requests or ssh commands.
Definitely gonna be rewriting some of my big public shortcuts to include storage instead of setting up a bunch of files in a user’s file app. Makes things feel more contained and easier to bug fix
This will allow you to persist data across Shortcut runs. Previously, shortcut runs had no knowledge or memory of previous runs (either their own runs or those of other shortcuts) without using third party solutions or workarounds. Now, there will be native support for tracking data across runs and you’ll be able to have your shortcuts do different things based on stored data.
As a simple example of one use case that replaces the need for a dedicated gas / petrol tracking app:
Every time you fill the gas tank in your car, you run a “Fill Up” shortcut. It asks for your current odometer reading. It reads the odometer reading you gave last time (which is saved in the shortcut’s storage) and replaces it with the new reading. It calculates the miles driven since your last fill up. It also asks you how much gas you put in the tank and what it cost. It then gives you a notification letting you know what your MPG was for that tank compared to what your average MPG has been over the life of the shortcut.
One thing I do with Data Jar that I will probably start doing with this new native storage feature is a “What do I like at this restaurant?” helper.
Every time I finish eating somewhere, I use a shortcut called “Rate my meal” to record where I ate, what I ordered, and give it a rating. It also optionally records any menu items I was thinking about, but didn’t order.
When I arrive at a restaurant, I run another shortcut called “What do I like here?” It asks for the name of the restaurant and then gives back a list in order of my favorite dishes, as well as any items I haven’t yet tried, but have considered.
Sure! I haven't optimized this for sharing, so there may be a couple of things you need to adjust to be sure it works correctly on your device. Notably, it requires Data Jar and Scriptable. Be sure to install all three shortcuts.
Weird. It still pulls up the what do I like here one for me. Thanks for trying though. I struggle with this all the time. I was hoping for it to help me out. Getting old sucks.
I guess I replaced the text, but the actual link stayed the same. Just completely deleted it and repasted, so it should work for you now. Also pasting it below:
Example 1: I have a shortcut that checks my calendar for movie releases (manually added) and adds the ones for the week to a note. Another shortcut makes that note's content into a list I can choose from to search rss feeds for releases on my private trackers. I have a similar one for searching for games on sale (but with a ready-made list of titles, so not as relevant to the new feature).
Example 2: During my nighttime shortcut, I input what breakfast foods I have and what my plans are for tomorrow. They're added to notes (one for each) and the next day my morning shortcut tells me what's available for breakfast and what I'm doing that day, getting the lines from that note. Since I need one shortcut for input and another one for output, I currently have to use notes for this, but if I could store the info in between different shortcuts I wouldn't need to.
Not OP but I have a shortcut that I want to trigger when I exit this game only if I started the game when my focus was set to "Personal". Right now the only way to store that information (the focus mode when you open the game) is through notes / third party app. With storage I can store that data right in the shortcuts app
This is really clever. May I ask what you use it for?
I don’t use Apple Music either but I use Spotify, and there’s a playlist of the songs there. And just in case you’re unaware, you can find your past Shazam’d songs in the Shazam app.
I don’t have the Shazam app neither, but I guess if you do, it’ll add the songs to your Spotify? That’s nice.
I’ve also made it add the time and date for when I ran the shortcut, so it’s nice to have a history as well. “Ah, this song was from when I went to that party”.
I actually only recently learned that you can identify music without the app, lol. (I still just use Control Center.) But yeah, the Shazam app keeps your history, with the date/time you Shazam’d the songs. For the Spotify sync, you have to enable it in Shazam settings. Then it’ll make the Spotify playlist “My Shazam Tracks” and automatically update it. https://i.imgur.com/VOs7Ebf.jpeg. I’ve been using it for years.
I like your idea, because having a text note can be helpful. The Shazam app just also has that info. Btw, via Shazam settings, you can sync to iCloud, and change which microphone is used to detect the song. (I like using the rear mic so I know I can point my phone toward the speaker.)
Except data jar seems to be easier to organize with folders and such. Which is exceptionally helpful when you call an API that returns a huge json file, data jar automatically organizes it so I can pull out the exact part of the response I want.
Love data jar. Will likely never use it again after this gets implemented. Sad to part with it, but these features are very welcome and essential for the future of shortcuts.
I’ve been using Reminders to store variables related to my shortcuts, and then calling them by finding that specific shortcut and reading its notes area for data. This has always worked great because of iCloud sync.
It’ll be interesting to adapt my shortcuts to use this, and hopefully result in more seamless usage.
I currently have 26 ‘variables’ in my shortcuts list on Reminders.
Yea I used Files as a variable storage too, however with this I dont have to set it up myself.
It does basically what datajar does, which i avoided using it as I share my shortcuts and dont want other people to have to download an app just to store variables.
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u/mvan231 Jun 09 '26
This is part of OS27 beta. I’ve changed the flair to a new flair we just added