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Automatically play daily MP3s on an iPad every morning

Given a folder containing 365 MP3s in the Files app with names like:

2001-04-30...mp3

play the one matching today's month/day (ignoring the year) each morning at 9:00.

Create the shortcut

  1. Open the Shortcuts app
  2. Tap + in the top-right corner
  3. Tap the name field at the top (it says New Shortcut)
  4. Tap Rename
  5. Enter "Daily MP3"
  6. Tap the blue Return key

Action 1: Current Date

  1. Tap Search Actions
  2. Search for and tap Date
  3. Leave it set to Current Date

Action 2: Format Date

  1. Tap Search Actions
  2. Search for and tap Format Date
  3. Leave the input set to Date
  4. Tap the dropdown arrow to the right of Date
  5. Tap Short to the right of Date Format
  6. Tap Custom
  7. Change Format String to -MM-dd
  8. Tap the blue Return key

Action 3: Get Contents of Folder

  1. Tap Search Actions
  2. Search for and tap Get Contents of Folder
  3. To the right of Get contents of, tap Formatted Date → Clear Variable → Folder
  4. Browse to and select your MP3 directory

Action 4: Filter Files

  1. Tap Search Actions
  2. Search for and tap Filter Files
  3. Tap Add Filter
  4. Change File Size to Name
  5. Change is to contains
  6. Change anything to Formatted Date
  7. Tap the blue Return key

Action 5: Set Volume

  1. Tap Search Actions
  2. Search for and tap Set Volume
  3. Tap 50% and change to desired playback volume

Action 6: Play Sound

  1. Tap Search Actions
  2. Search for and tap Play Sound
  3. Tap the dropdown arrow to the right of Play sound
  4. Tap Choose Variable
  5. Select Files (which is the output of the Filter Files action; Shortcuts labels it by output type, not by action name)

The shortcut should now look like this. Happily, the Play Sound action works even when the device is locked (perhaps the Apple dev who generously and sagaciously decided that can fix another issue).

Create the 9 AM automation

  1. Tap the back arrow at the top left
  2. Tap the Sidebar button at the top left if the sidebar is hidden
  3. Tap Automation
  4. Tap + in the top-right corner
  5. Tap Time of Day
  6. Set the time to 9:00 AM
  7. Make sure Repeat is set to Daily
  8. Change Run After Confirmation to Run Immediately
  9. Tap Next
  10. Under My Shortcuts, tap Daily MP3

❧ 2026-04-30