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Touchy Tip 010: Create a shortcut

Posted by Simon on 5 February 2010

2 Comments - Latest by Jason T

If you're like most people, then you probably have a certain set of websites that you visit on your iPhone every day - you might even visit them lots of times a day. You know, your favourite news provider, sports site or webmail application, for example. If you're clever, you've probably bookmarked these sites in Safari. However, while this saves you the time and effort of having to type in their URL each time you want to visit them, activating these bookmarks still requires an unnecessary amount of tippety-tapping. From the Home screen, for example, you have to tap Safari...Bookmarks...and then the frequently-visited site's name...which isn't exactly efficient now, is it?

Which is exactly why Apple made it possible to place a shortcut to any web page you like, directly on your Home screen. Here's how...

Start by opening the page you want to create a shortcut to. Now tap the + button at the bottom of the screen and then Add to Home Screen. At this point you can change the shortcut's name if you want to, by simply tapping it and editing it just as you would an email or SMS message. When you're done, tap Add to complete the process. Then, when you next press the Home button, you'll see the new shortcut - which in technical terms, is called a "Web Clip" - sitting right there on your Home screen. Tap it once thereafter and you'll automatically be taken back to the associated web page!

Changed your mind and want to get rid of it? No problem. Simply, press down on the icon and hold until all of the Home screen icons begin to wiggle; and then tap its X badge to consign it to history.

One final tip: You can turn a part of a web page into one of these Web Clips too! All you need to do is zoom and scroll the desired part of the page into view in Safari before you tap the + button. Then, later, when you open the Web Clip from your Home screen, you'll be taken directly to the part of the web page you specified! (Handy if you need to zone in on a stock ticker, weather doodah or any other type of in-page widget!)

Comments (2 so far)

Andy on 5 February 2010

Useful tip. Does anyone know if it is possible to create a shortcut to launch Bluetooth? Having to tap Settings > General > Bluetooth is a real pain.
Jason T on 5 February 2010

Is there any way of assigning your own icon to a shortcut? I hate the 'shrunken web page' icons that the iPhone uses by default.