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How to Generate a UUID in Shortcuts on iPhone and Mac

With Actions

  1. Install Actions, and open it once.
  2. In your shortcut, add the “Generate UUID” action of Actions. It has no options.
  3. Use its result, “UUID”, in the next action, like in the name of a file, or as the ID of a new row in a table.

Each run gives a new UUID, in capital letters with hyphens.

Get Actions

Additional actions for the Shortcuts app

Download on the App Store

Free

Platforms
macOS, iOS, visionOS
Requires
macOS, iOS, or visionOS 26 or later
Category
Utilities
Released
October 2021
Privacy
No personal data collected
Updated
June 2026
Version
4.2.0
Size
29 MB
US App Store rating
4.8/5 (529 ratings)

More about Actions

Without an app

On Mac, Shortcuts can run the uuidgen command of macOS:

  1. In your shortcut, add the “Run Shell Script” action.
  2. Type uuidgen in the action.
  3. If the shortcut cannot run the script, choose “Shortcuts › Settings”, click “Advanced”, and turn on “Allow Running Scripts”.

The result is the same kind of UUID. This is fine for a shortcut that only runs on your Mac. iPhone and iPad have no “Run Shell Script” action, so a shortcut that must also run there needs the action of Actions.

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