A new iOS build drops and you want to know right now, not a day or two later when your iPhone finally surfaces the badge. That gap is exactly what this shortcut closes: it checks for the latest released version itself and pings you the moment one appears, well ahead of the Settings reminder most people wait on.
What it does
The shortcut pulls the current iOS version from an online feed and compares it against what’s actually out there. It splits each version number into three parts (major, minor, patch) and checks them one at a time, so a jump from 18.0 to 18.0.1 registers correctly. Shorter numbers like “18.0” get padded to “18.0.0” before the comparison, which keeps the math honest no matter how Apple formats a given release. If something newer than your reference exists, you get a notification.
Installing it
- Tap Add Shortcut on this page to load the shortcut into the Shortcuts app.
- Scroll the preview to the bottom and tap Add Shortcut to confirm.
- Run it once and grant the permissions it asks for, including network access.
- From version 3.4 you can list any versions you’d rather skip, so betas or builds you don’t care about stay quiet.
Putting it to work
Running it by hand works, but the point is to let it watch for you. Set up a daily Personal Automation in the Shortcuts app under the Automation tab, point it at this shortcut, and turn off “Ask Before Running” so it fires silently. Once a day it wakes, checks the feed, and only bothers you when there’s genuinely a newer version to install. The author’s own note is blunt about it: this is meant to run automatically, every day. Version 3.4 also added a check that confirms the RSS feed is reachable before it tries to read a version, which cuts down on the false alarms an unreachable source used to cause.
Quick answers
Does this actually beat the official update prompt?
In practice, yes, because it reads the version feed directly instead of waiting for Apple’s staged rollout to reach your specific device. The built-in notification can lag a day or two; this one fires as soon as the feed lists a higher number.
Do I need any other apps for it to work?
No extra downloads. It runs entirely inside the Shortcuts app and just needs network permission, which you grant on that first manual run.
Why did it warn me a version was excluded?
You (or a past you) added it to the skip list that landed in 3.4. Open the shortcut, find the excluded-versions field, and remove the entry to start getting alerts for it again.
