Hyperswan - iOS Shortcut to send links to macOS

Inspired by Sindre Sorhus' Hyperduck app I created 2 simple Shortcuts & 1 Automation that allow you to send a URL from any Apple device and have it automatically opened in your default browser on 1 (or multiple) macOS devices.

Features#

• Devices don't need to be powered on, nor online to send links.
• No need to be on the same WiFi.
• Works with cellular data.
• Could even work with a shared iCloud folder.

How it works#

The first Shortcut "Send to Hyperswan" (you can call it whatever you like) receives URLs from any app and stores them in a simple .txt file in a specified iCloud folder, in my case "iCloud/hyperswan/inbox" with the current date & time as name (including couple random characters to reduce the risk of collision).

The second Shortcut "Hyperswan Receiver" gets the default browser (tho this is an Action provided by the free app Actions also by Sindre).
It then gets all the files in the "inbox" folder, opens them in the default browser and moves them into "iCloud/hyperswan/archive/(year)-(month)".

How To#

Receiver#

On any macOS device with the Shorcuts App installed.
You could create the action on iOS devices as well, but the needed Automation is only supported on macOS.

iCloud Install Link

Or manually:

1. Create a new Shortcut. I called mine "Hyperswan Receiver"
2. (Optional) If you have the "Actions" app installed, you can start by adding the "Get Default Browser" action.
3. (If you want history) Add "Create Folder" action selecting the iCloud/Hyperswan/archive folder in the first variable field, which you can create from within the folder selection window. Then changing the second field to "Current Date", I've set mine to "Custom" with this format: "yyyy-MM" (without the quotes, which gives you year-month folrders like 2025-09, which sort naturally and aren't too granular, but you can choose whatever format suits you
4. Add Action "Get contents of Folder", choosing the iCloud/Hyperswan/inbox folder.
5. Add "Repeat with Each" action, which has to point to the result of the former action, which should happen automatically, if not select the output of the former action / Folder Contents.
6. Within the "each-block", so before the "End Repeat" action, add the "Open URLs with App" if you have the "Actions" app selecting the result of the "Get Default Browser" action for the app part, or alternatively the native "Open URLs" action. In any case, choose "Repeat Item" as URL to open.
7. (If you want history) Add the "Mobe File" action right after the open action, still within the Repeat block, select "Repeat Item", and select the formerly created date folder for where to move it.

Send to Hyperswan#

On any Apple device with the Shorcuts App installed. iCloud Install Link

Or manually:

1. Create a new Shortcut. I called mine "Send to Hyperswan"
2. In the Info tab of the Shortcut select "Show in Share Sheet", which adds a "Receive .. from Share Sheet" action to the main tab, where you have to change the Shortcut Input to only include "URLs". I also set it to "Get Clipboard" in "If there's no input".
3. Add "Create Folder" in "iCloud Drive" at "hyperswan".
4. Add "Repeat with each" using the Shortcut input.
5. Add "If" Action, setting it to 'If "Repeat Item" "begins with" "http"'. (You can remove the "Otherwise" block)
6. Place all the following Actions within the "If" block.
7. Add the "Get URLs from Input" action.
8. (Optional) If you have the "Actions" app installed and want to have an extra insurance to prevent overrides (shouldn't happen, but still) you can add the "Generate Random Text" of 4 characters action.
   You could also use the built-in "Random Number action.
9. Add a "Text" action containing: "Current Date"_"Random Text".txt
   Set the current date to a file-path-safe custom format like: "yyyy-MM-dd_HH-mm-ss" (without the quotes)
10. Add "URL Encode" action set to "URL Encode URLs"
11. Add "URL Encode" action set to "URL Decode URL Encoded Text"
12. Add "Save File" action, selecting the result of the last action which should read "URL Encoded Text" to "iCloud Drive", open the little arrow, enter "hyperswan/inbox/Text" into "Subpath", where "Text" is a variable pointing to the result of 6., deselect "Ask Where To Save".

Automation#

Automations can't be shared so you have to create it manually, but it requires even fewer steps:

1. Go into the "Automations" tab of the main "Shortcuts" app window.
2. Create a new Automation.
3. Select "Folder"
4. Select the Hyperswan/inbox folder
5. Select "Added" under "When Any Item Is"
6. Select "Run Immediately"
7. Click "Next"
8. Select your "Hyperswan Receiver" Action
9. Done!

You can add this Automation to any macOS device that has access to the same iCloud Drive folder.

And use the "Send to Hyperswan" Action from the share sheet of all your Apple Devices.

It's possible to use across multiple Apple IDs with a shared iCloud folder.

Note#

The receiver only works with links in the inbox that have been created after the automation has been enabled; it won't process files created before that.

You can, of course, omit the archival and just delete the link files from the inbox, or don't even use the inbox subfolder.

References#

• This Reddit comment helped me fix the URL sending logic:
• Actions App
• Hyperduck