Cannot make my app appear in “Share with App” action in Shortcuts – How to allow receiving images from Shortcuts?

Question

Timor_qq OP

Created 21h

Replies 2

Boosts 0

Participants 2

Hi, I’m trying to integrate my iOS app with Shortcuts. My goal is:

In the Shortcuts app → Create a shortcut → Select an image → Share the image directly to my app for analysis.

However, when I try to add the “Share with App” / “Open in App” / “Send to App” action in Shortcuts:

My app does NOT appear in the list of available apps.

I want my app to be selectable so that Shortcuts can send an image (UIImage / file) to my app.

What I have tried

My app supports receiving images using UIActivityViewController and Share Extension.

I created an App Intents extension (AppIntent + @Parameter(file)...) but the app still does not appear in Shortcuts “Share with App”.

I also checked the Info.plist but didn’t find any permission related to Shortcuts.

The app is installed on the device and works normally.

My question What permission, Info.plist entry, or capability is required so that my app becomes visible in the Shortcuts app as a target for image sharing?

More specifically:

Which extension type should be used for receiving images from Shortcuts?

App Intents Extension?

Share Extension?

Intent Extension?

Do I need a specific NSExtensionPointIdentifier for Shortcuts integration?

Do I need to declare a custom Uniform Type Identifier (UTI) or add supported content types so Shortcuts knows my app can handle images?

Are there any required entitlements / capabilities to make the app appear inside the “Share with App” action?

Goal Summary

I simply want:

Shortcuts → Pick Image → Send to My App → App receives the image and processes it.

But currently my app cannot be selected in Shortcuts.

Thanks in advance for any guidance!

Boost

Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

7h

I created an App Intents extension (AppIntent + @Parameter(file)...) but the app still does not appear in Shortcuts “Share with App”.

I suggest going the App Intent route, but the way you invoke it from a Shortcut is a bit different. When your app is installed, iOS will be informed of the intents in your app, and will display them as dedicated actions in the Shortcuts app that you can choose to use in a Shortcut. It replaces picking a system action like Share with App, and will likely give your customers the most flexibility with how they can interact with your app through Shortcuts.

As to making your app appear in the Share with App menu, take a look at implementing an Action Extension.

— Ed Ford,  DTS Engineer

1

Answer 2

Timor_qq OP

6h

Hi Ed,

Thank you very much for your previous guidance.

Our current app requirement is to allow users to run a Shortcut, share an image to our app, and then immediately receive some chat-based suggestions after we process the image.

When using App Intent, I noticed that we cannot process the image directly within the invoked UI. It appears that this is restricted by Apple’s privacy protections—any attempt to handle the data immediately results in the background privacy indicator showing a blocked status. Therefore, App Intent does not seem to meet our need to process user-provided images directly.

Following your advice, I added an Action Extension to the project. This successfully adds our app to Shortcuts as an available action. However, when I try to use the “Share with App” feature from the share sheet, our app still does not appear in the list. The only options shown are: Notes, Health, Reminders, and Freeform.

Could you help us understand why our app does not show up in the “Share with App” menu, even though the Action Extension is present? Is there an additional configuration or entitlement we may be missing?

Thank you very much for your help and guidance.

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