Working out your exact age in days, hours or minutes means a calculator, a calendar and a fair bit of patience. Since I Born skips all that by doing the date math for you, either for yourself or for someone else whose birthday you enter.
What this shortcut does
When you run it, the shortcut opens a small menu with two choices: Since I Born and Since Other Person Born. Pick one, give it the birth date, and it shows how much time has passed since then, broken into numbers that are surprisingly fun to read. Seeing your age as a five-digit count of days hits differently from “34 years old”.
The second option is the one people tend to forget about. It turns the shortcut into a quick way to check how long a partner, a child or a friend has been around, which is handy for birthday cards and anniversary messages.
This is an older project that its author still maintains. The latest release, 1.3.1, only touched the About page, so the core calculation has been stable for a long time.
Putting it to work
Open the shortcut, choose whose age you want, then enter the date of birth when asked. Results appear right away. Run it again tomorrow and every number has moved on, which is part of the appeal.
Under the hood, Shortcuts has a built-in action that measures the time between two dates in units from seconds up to years. A shortcut like this one puts that action to work and saves you from building the menu and formatting yourself.
Use cases
- Find out the day you turn 10,000 days old. That milestone lands at roughly 27 years and four months, and plenty of people celebrate it.
- Check when you’ll pass one billion seconds alive, which happens about eight months after your 31st birthday.
- Add a personal number to a birthday message, like “you’ve been around for 12,000 days”.
- Settle a family argument about who is older by exactly how many days.
Limits
It sticks to the two menu options and the time readout. There are no reminders for milestones, no way to save several people, and no widget, so expect to type the birth date each time you check someone other than yourself.
FAQ
Does it count leap years correctly?
Shortcuts itself handles the date math using real calendar dates, so leap days are included in the totals.
Can I check my dog’s age with it?
Sure, Since Other Person Born doesn’t care who the birthday belongs to. Enter any date and you’ll get the time that’s passed since then.
Why is a shortcut this simple still getting updates?
Its author keeps a whole family of older shortcuts current. Recent releases have been small polish passes rather than new features.
First time adding a shortcut from a website? Here's what each prompt means.
