How to Automatically Create Half-way Timer with Shortcuts

by Rian

I’ve dreamt of baking in an oven that doesn’t need turning half-way, but it seems such creature is thing of a myth. Even professionals comment they turn their sheets half-way for consistency. My oven, which I often bake in convection mode, should have less cold spots and hot spots, but I can still visibly see the difference on the final products.

Unfortunately, if you are using your iPhone or iPad to keep the timer, iOS has one of the most fiddly Clock app available on the App Store. As of iOS 17, an iOS device can now keep track of multiple timers, but it means rolling number barrels again. The shortcut I’ve created is to fix that issue exactly: a. use numpad, and b. set a half-way timer automatically.

1. Download the shortcut through the link.
2. Upon running the shortcut, it will ask for a number in minutes. The shortcut will set two, one in actual and one in half-way.

For example, entering 60 would create 60 minutes timer and 30 minutes timer concurrently.

To better explain what it does, here’s a longer example. A recipe calls for 60 minutes long bake time, and the baker wishes the turn the pan half-way, which is 30 minutes. With this shortcut, it will create two timers that are running simultaneously, one rings at 30 minutes and the other rings at 60 minutes.

If you wish to open the shortcut from the Home Screen, simply press share button (upward facing arrow from a square icon), then choose “Add to Home Screen”. That’s how I keep mine next to a recipe manager app I use.