A feature of the Shortcuts app is the ability to share shortcuts with others. So what happens when you see a warning about Untrusted Shortcuts?
Untrusted Shortcuts
Enabled by default, Untrusted Shortcuts is an alert you’ll see when you add a shortcut to your library from outside of the Shortcuts Gallery. It just means that the shortcut is outside of Apple’s control.
- To enable Untrusted Shortcuts, open Settings.
- Scroll down and tap on Shortcuts.
- You’ll see a toggle that says Allow Untrusted Shortcuts, which you can tap to turn on.
Now when you add a shortcut shared by someone else, the app will make you scroll through the list of shortcut actions to make sure it doesn’t do anything sneaky. In other words, it’s an important safety feature.
iOS 15
In iOS 15 Untrusted Shortcuts seems to have gone away. Now, in Settings > Shortcuts, you’ll see a toggle for Private Sharing. If you turn it on it lets you receive shortcuts directly from people in your contacts. Apple can’t verify the authenticity of shortcuts privately shared. There are also a few more privacy options found in Settings > Shortcuts > Advanced. In area you’ll find these controls:
- Allow Running Scripts – When enabled it lets you run actions such as Run JavaScript on Web Page as well as Run SSH Script Over SSH
- Allow Sharing Large Amounts of Data
- Allowing Deleting Without Confirmation
- Allow Deleting Large Amounts of Data
These options are nice because the shortcut can do these things, like deletions, automatically. When a shortcut first asks to delete something you’ll see options such as Delete Once or Delete Always. Good for automation since it removes a user step.