Log water, workouts, sleep, and mood without opening a single app. These seven shortcuts write directly to Apple Health — one tap each.
Apple Health is the most underused app on most iPhones. The data it tracks is genuinely useful for understanding patterns in your energy, sleep, and fitness. The problem is logging. Opening an app, finding the right field, entering a value — it's enough friction to make most people give up within a week.
Shortcuts remove that friction. A tap on your home screen, and the data is in Health. No app to open. No field to find.
1. Log Water Intake
The action is "Log Health Sample", category "Nutrition", type "Water". Set a fixed amount (250ml is standard) or add a menu at the start that lets you choose 250, 500, or 750ml. Add it to your home screen. Tap every time you finish a glass.
Apple Health tracks your daily total automatically. You just need the logging to not require effort.
2. Log a Workout
The action is "Log Workout". Choose activity type, duration, and calories. The simplest version asks you the duration when it runs. The smarter version uses a "Start Timer" action at the beginning, and logs the elapsed time when you tap it again at the end.
Works for any workout type: running, cycling, strength training, walking, yoga — all supported activity types in the action dropdown.
3. Morning Mood Check-In
Uses the "Log Mental Health" action (available iOS 17+). Add a "Choose from Menu" action first with options: Great, Good, Okay, Low, Rough. The selected value gets logged to the Mindfulness section of Health. Run it each morning. You get a mood trend over weeks and months.
4. Log Your Weight
Add a "Ask for Input" action set to Number. This is your weight input. Pass it to "Log Health Sample", category "Body Measurements", type "Body Mass". The value is stored with the current timestamp. Add to home screen. Tap after your morning weigh-in.
5. Sleep Bedtime Trigger
Not a manual shortcut — this one is an Automation. Set it to trigger at your target bedtime (say, 10:30pm). Actions: turn on Do Not Disturb, dim the screen to 20%, start a sleep timer, and send yourself a silent notification that says "Time to wind down." You don't tap anything. It just runs.
6. Log Caffeine
Action: "Log Health Sample", category "Nutrition", type "Caffeine". Set a fixed amount per cup (95mg for a standard coffee). Add a menu if you want to distinguish between coffee, espresso, and tea. Tap every time you have a drink. Health tracks your daily total and can warn you when you're over your limit.
7. End-of-Day Health Summary
This one reads your data back to you. Actions: Get Steps, Get Sleep Analysis from last night, Get Water intake for today. Combine them into a text string. Speak it aloud or show it as a notification. Set it as an Automation that runs at 9pm. No input required.
The Health Tracking Bundle
All seven shortcuts above, pre-built and ready to install. Plus three more for nutrition logging and workout analysis.
View bundlesA note on permissions
The first time you run any Health-logging shortcut, iOS will ask permission to write to that category. Tap "Allow" for each one. This is a one-time step. After that, logging is instant and silent.