Key Takeaways
- Some iPhones lack the ability to use Apple Intelligence, but you can use ChatGPT and Shortcuts to create your own AI writing tools.
- Writing Tools in Apple Intelligence include summarization tools like Summary, Key Points, List, and Table.
- First copy your text, then run the shortcut from the Control Center, choose which tool you’d like to use, and then paste the resulting text into an app of your choice.
Only a handful of iPhones have the required amount of RAM to run Apple Intelligence. If your iPhone isn’t supported, you don’t need to miss out on Apple’s AI-powered writing tools. Using the free ChatGPT app alongside the Shortcuts app, you can recreate the summarization tools on any iPhone.
The Writing Tools feature in Apple Intelligence contains two main types of tools. The first are rewriting tools that are intended to change your text by correcting mistakes, changing the wording, or rewriting it to make it more friendly, more professional, or more concise.
It’s possible to emulate the rewriting tools on older iPhones as explained in a previous article.
The other tools available are for summarizing your text. The Summarize tool creates a short summary of the text. Key Points extracts the key points from the text, while List turns the text into a list. Unsurprisingly, the Table tool takes your text and turns it into a table.
If your iPhone doesn’t support Apple Intelligence, you can recreate what Writing Tools does, using the free ChatGPT app. You need to create a shortcut that copies text from your clipboard and sends it to ChatGPT with instructions to summarize it in one of the four ways.
The shortcut passes the edited text back to the clipboard. You can then paste it anywhere you want on your iPhone.
You’ll need to have the free ChatGPT app (available on the App Store) installed and set up on your iPhone for this shortcut to work.
Since there are four summary tools to choose from, the first step is to create a menu that lets you choose which tool to use.
Open the Shortcuts app and tap the “+” (plus) icon at the top of the screen. Tap “Search Actions”, type “Get Clipboard” and select the “Get Clipboard” action. This brings the text from your iPhone clipboard into the shortcut.
Search for “Menu” and select the “Choose From Menu” action. Tap “One,” delete the text, and type “Summary.” Tap “Two,” delete the text, and type “Key Points.” Tap the “Add New Item” button twice to add two more menu options.
Tap the first new menu option and type “List.” Tap the second new menu item and type “Table.” You should now see sections for each menu item beneath the menu.
The next step is to create each of the writing tools. Summary creates a short summary of your text. This part of the shortcut takes the text from the clipboard and passes it to ChatGPT with a prompt asking it to create a short summary of the text.
Tap “Search Actions,” search for “Text” and select “Text” from the results. Tap “Text” and enter the following: “Create a short summary of this text. Don’t answer with anything other than the summarized text:”
Tap “Select Variable,” scroll up to the top of the screen and select “Clipboard.” This will add the contents of the clipboard to the end of your text. Tap “Done” and drag the “Text” action up until it is below the “Summary” action.
Search for and select “Set Variable.” Drag the “Set Variable” action up until it is under the Summary “Text” action. Tap “Variable Name” and type “Prompt.”
The Key Points tool creates a summary of the key points of your text. This part of the shortcut asks ChatGPT to summarize the key points of the text in the clipboard.
Tap “Search Actions,” search for “Text” and select “Text” from the results. Tap “Text” and enter the following: “Create a brief summary of the key points of this text as bullet points. Don’t answer with anything other than the rewritten text:”
Tap “Select Variable,” scroll up to the top of the screen, and select “Clipboard.” Tap “Done” and drag the “Text” action up until it is directly beneath the “Key Points” action.
Search for and select “Set Variable.” Drag the “Set Variable” action up until it is under the Key Points “Text” action. Tap “Variable Name” and type “Prompt.”
The List tool transforms your text into a list. This part of the shortcut passes the text from the clipboard to ChatGPT with instructions to transform it into a list.
Tap “Search Actions,” search for “Text” and select “Text” from the results. Tap “Text” and enter the following: “Summarize this text by turning it into a list of bullet points. Don’t answer with anything other than the rewritten text:”
Tap “Select Variable,” scroll up to the top of the screen, and select “Clipboard.” Tap “Done” and drag the “Text” action up until it is directly beneath the “List” action.
Search for and select “Set Variable.” Drag the “Set Variable” action up until it is under the List “Text” action. Tap “Variable Name” and type “Prompt.”
The final tool is the Table tool, which converts your text into a table. Unfortunately, copying and pasting tables doesn’t work particularly well on an iPhone, so the best workaround is to generate a table in Markdown format that will display correctly in apps that support Markdown.
Tap “Search Actions,” search for “Text” and select “Text” from the results. Tap “Text” and enter the following: “Convert this text into a table. Use Markdown format. Don’t answer with anything other than the Markdown for the table:”
Tap “Select Variable,” scroll up to the top of the screen, and select “Clipboard.” Tap “Done” and drag the “Text” action up until it is directly beneath the “Table” action.
Search for and select “Set Variable.” Drag the “Set Variable” action up until it is under the Table “Text” action. Tap “Variable Name” and type “Prompt.”
How to Send Your Prompt to ChatGPT
The final stage is sending the prompt created in the shortcut to the ChatGPT app. Once ChatGPT has generated the new text, it is saved to the clipboard so that it can be pasted wherever you need it.
Search for “ChatGPT” and select “Ask ChatGPT.” Tap “Message,” select “Select Variable” and choose “Prompt” from beneath one of your actions. This will send the prompt text created by the tool you selected to ChatGPT.
Tap the arrow in the “Ask ChatGPT” action and toggle “Show When Run” off.
Search for “Copy” and select “Copy to Clipboard.” Ensure this action is directly beneath your “Ask ChatGPT” action. This will copy the output from ChatGPT to the clipboard, ready for you to paste your new text.
Search for “Vibrate” and select the “Vibrate Device” action. This will make your iPhone vibrate once ChatGPT has finished doing its thing, so you know that your text is ready.
Tap the name of the shortcut at the top of the screen and select “Rename”. Give your shortcut a memorable name. Tap “Done” to save it.
Your completed shortcut should look like the screenshots below. Ensure everything is in the right place, as otherwise, the shortcut may not work.
Creating a Control For Your Shortcut
You can add your shortcut to the Control Center to make it easy to access, even when you’re in another app.
Swipe down from the top right of the screen to open the Control Center. Tap the “+” (plus) icon. At the bottom of the screen, tap “Add a Control.”
Search for “Shortcut” and select the “Shortcut” control. Use the handle in the bottom corner to resize the control. Tap the shortcut and select “Choose”. Select your writing tools shortcut. Tap an empty part of the screen to save your control.
Now your shortcut is complete, you can emulate the Apple Intelligence Writing Tools feature. Write or find some text in any app on your iPhone. Triple-tap the text to select an entire paragraph and use the handles to select more text if necessary.
Tap “Copy” to copy the text to the clipboard. Swipe down from the top right of the screen to open the Control Center. Tap the writing tools control and select the writing tool you want to use from the menu.
ChatGPT will take a moment or two to process the request. You’ll know when it’s finished when your iPhone vibrates. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to close the Control Center. Tap where you want your summarized text to appear and select “Paste.”
The new text created by ChatGPT will appear.
Just because your iPhone can’t run Apple Intelligence, doesn’t mean you can’t create AI-generated summaries for text on your iPhone. By creating a shortcut that mimics the Apple Intelligence writing tools, you can generate a summary of any text you want, even on older iPhones.
