# Donating Shortcuts Tell Siri about shortcuts to actions that the user performed in your app. ## Discussion Siri can predict shortcuts to actions that a user may want to perform using your app, and suggest those shortcuts to the user in places such as Spotlight search and the Lock Screen. Siri learns about the shortcuts available for your app through donations that your app makes to Siri. Users can also use donated shortcuts to add personalized voice phrases to Siri. To learn more about adding phrases to Siri, see . ### Donate Shortcuts at the Right Time Donate a shortcut each time the user performs the action in your app. Make one, and only one, donation per action at the time the user performs the action. If the user performs the same action again, make another donation. For example, if the user can order soup from a restaurant using your app, donate a shortcut for the *order soup* action after the user places their order. If the user places another order, then make another *order soup* donation. However, don’t make more than one shortcut donation for an action at the time the user performs the action. Additionally, don’t make donations for actions the user hasn’t completed in your app; if the user never places an order for soup, don’t donate a shortcut for the *order soup* action. Your app can make donations using one of the following objects: - . Donate the shortcut using a user activity when the action involves a view within your app, such as displaying recent transactions in a banking app. - [`INInteraction`](/documentation/Intents/INInteraction). Donate the shortcut using an interaction when the action involves a task the user accomplishes with your app, such as recording activity in a ski and snowboard tracking app. > Important: > In iOS 17 and later, the Journal app encourages people to reflect and write about their day-to-day experiences. If your app donates activities or interactions to SiriKit, the subject matter of the interaction may appear as a suggestion in the Journal app, or other apps that utilize the  framework. ### Donate a User Activity provides a lightweight approach for making a donation that also integrates with other Apple features such as Handoff and Spotlight search. To make a donation using , define the activity as a type in the `NSUserActivityTypes` array in your `Info.plist`. The activity type should be a reverse domain name that’s unique within the list. In your app, create an instance of and set its , , and with information that your app needs to resume the activity at a later time. Also set the property to and the to a unique string value, which you need in order to delete the donation (see ). You can also suggest the voice phrase that a user may want to use when adding a phrase to Siri by setting the property on the user activity. Next, call the method on the user activity object to mark it as current, which donates the activity to Siri. Alternatively, you can attach the object to a or object, which also marks the activity as current. To handle the action at a later time, implement the method in your app delegate. ### Donate an Interaction You can also make a donation using an [`INInteraction`](/documentation/Intents/INInteraction) object. For this type of donation, you provide the interaction with an intent that represents the action (or task) that the user wants to accomplish using your app. This type of donation has an advantage over ones made with a user activity in that Siri can deconstruct the donation into its intent parameters allowing for more intelligent predictions. Before diving into the source code, look through the list of system-provided intents to see if one exists that’s suitable for your action (see Standard Intents). Use an intent that best describes the action; otherwise, create a custom intent. To donate the intent, create an instance of the intent class. Set its parameter values and add images to the parameters as needed. To recommend a voice phrase that the user may want to add to Siri, set the intent’s [`suggestedInvocationPhrase`](/documentation/Intents/INIntent/suggestedInvocationPhrase) property to a string containing the phrase. > Important: > Siri reads the Intent Definition file to determine the intent and parameter combinations that an app supports for prediction. In order to help Siri make the best possible suggestions, add all the system-provided and custom intents your app supports and their parameter combinations to your Intent Definition file. After creating the intent, create an instance of [`INInteraction`](/documentation/Intents/INInteraction) and call its [`donate(completion:)`](/documentation/Intents/INInteraction/donate(completion:)) method, passing in the intent. This tells Siri about the shortcut. To handle the shortcut, implement the method in your app delegate. When the time comes to handle the action, the system opens your app. To provide a better user experience—one where opening your app each time to handle the shortcut isn’t necessary—provide an Intents App Extension with your app. The extension handles the shortcut in the background without needing to open your app, providing a richer experience that occurs within Siri. For more information on Intents App Extensions, see . Even if you provide an Intents App Extension, you should always implement the method in your app delegate. Certain user activities—such as tapping a shortcut in Siri—open your app, and the user expects the app to handle that shortcut. Your app is also responsible for handling shortcuts that can’t run in the background; for example, when your apps needs to ask the user for additional information before completing the action. --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. 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