iOS Shortcuts

Ayumi exposes App Intents that you can chain inside the iOS Shortcuts app to build your own recording and entry-creation flows. The tips below are practical patterns we recommend for everyday voice journaling.

Available actions

When you build a Shortcut, search for “Ayumi” to see these actions:

Action	What it does
Create Entry	Creates a new entry from text input. Location and weather are captured automatically.
Transcribe Audio File (called Create Audio Entry before 1.11)	Queues an audio file for transcription and creates an entry when processing finishes. The Profile parameter picks a transcription profile from a list — and with it the engine the profile pins — with Model Override available to force a different engine or Gemini model for that run.
Start Recording	Opens Ayumi and starts recording audio. Required to foreground briefly — see the note below.
Stop Recording	Stops the in-progress recording and queues it for transcription. Runs entirely in the background.

Sample Shortcuts

Ready-made Shortcuts you can add as-is or use as a starting point. Each one ends in an Ayumi action, so the entry gets the date, location, and weather like any other.

Shortcut	Actions	Download
Ayumi Text Entry	Ask for Input (text) → Create Entry	Ayumi Text Entry.shortcut
Ayumi Voice Entry	Dictate Text → Create Entry	Ayumi Voice Entry.shortcut
Ayumi Record Entry	Record Audio → Transcribe Audio File	Ayumi Record Entry.shortcut
Ayumi Transcribe Audio	Share sheet input → Transcribe Audio File	Ayumi Transcribe Audio.shortcut

• Ayumi Text Entry asks you to type a line and saves it.
• Ayumi Voice Entry listens until you pause, turns what you said into text with the system’s dictation, and saves it. No API key needed; dictation uses your device’s language.
• Ayumi Record Entry starts recording right away. Tap to stop, and Ayumi transcribes the recording and saves it as an entry with the audio attached.
• Ayumi Transcribe Audio appears in the share sheet. Share a recording from Voice Memos, Files, or another app to it, and Ayumi transcribes it the same way. Run it on its own and Ayumi asks you to pick a file.

The two audio Shortcuts hand the recording itself to Ayumi, so it is transcribed with your default transcription profile — including any prompt that summarizes or reshapes it. To use a different profile, edit the Shortcut and choose one in the Profile field of Transcribe Audio File. The entry appears once transcription finishes.

To add one:

1. Open this page on your iPhone or iPad with Ayumi installed, and tap the download link.
2. Tap Download, then open the file from the Downloads list in Safari (or from the Files app).
3. The Shortcuts app shows a preview. Tap Add Shortcut.

The same files also import on a Mac — double-click the downloaded file. Once added, rename the Shortcut, change the prompt, or assign it to the Action Button or Back Tap as described in Tip 2.

Tip

Not sure whether to dictate or hand Ayumi the audio? Tip 3 compares system transcription with Ayumi’s.

Tip 1 — Record in the background while you keep using your phone

Build a Shortcut with two actions, in order:

1. Start Recording (Ayumi)
2. Go to Home Screen (System)

Tapping this Shortcut starts recording in Ayumi and immediately drops you back to the Home Screen, so you can keep using your phone, walk around, or pocket it while the recording continues. The Live Activity in the Dynamic Island shows the recording is still running and lets you stop it from there. You can also build a separate Shortcut that runs Stop Recording for hands-free stopping.

Microphone permission caveat

The first action briefly foregrounds Ayumi, then Go to Home Screen runs automatically — this is intentional. iOS will not grant microphone access during a true headless launch, even with the audio background mode enabled, so the app must come to the foreground long enough to activate AVAudioSession. Once recording is running, the audio session keeps going while you use other apps. This is an iOS platform constraint, not an Ayumi limitation.

Tip 2 — Trigger recording with a hardware button

Pair the Shortcut from Tip 1 with a hardware button so you can start recording from anywhere on the OS without unlocking into the Shortcuts app.

• Action Button (iPhone 15 Pro and later): Settings → Action Button → swipe to Shortcut → choose your “Start Recording” Shortcut. One press starts recording.
• Back Tap (any iPhone with iOS 14+): Settings → Accessibility → Touch → Back Tap → Double Tap or Triple Tap → choose the Shortcut.

Combined with Tip 1, this gives you a single hardware press that starts recording and returns you to whatever you were doing.

Tip 3 — Use Apple’s native transcription instead of Gemini

Ayumi’s built-in transcription uses Gemini, but you don’t have to use it. The Shortcuts app has a built-in Transcribe Audio action that you can pipe into Ayumi’s Create Entry action instead.

Build a Shortcut like:

1. Record Audio (System) — or pass in an existing audio file
2. Transcribe Audio (System)
3. Create Entry (Ayumi) — with the transcribed text as input

Which transcription should you use?

	Native (Transcribe Audio)	Ayumi (Gemini)
Fidelity	Faithful to spoken words	Shaped by your prompt preset
Customization	Fixed output	Custom prompt presets (summary, reflection, structured journaling)
Connectivity	On-device	Requires a Gemini API key and network
Best for	Quick verbatim memos	Reflective journaling, summarization, formatted output

Pick the pipeline that fits the moment — both can coexist as separate Shortcuts. Use native transcription when you want exactly what you said, and use Ayumi’s Gemini-powered transcription when you want the AI to reshape it for your journal.

Tip 4 — Run these automatically with automations

Any of these Shortcuts can also run on its own — at a set time, when you arrive somewhere or leave, after a workout, or when you tap an NFC tag. See Shortcuts Automations for ready-to-build recipes.