Following recent news that older iCloud links used by iOS automation fans to share their Shortcuts workflows with others have stopped working, Apple has now promised a fix.
Update (03/25/2021): Apple has fixed the issue. As a result, all older links sharing Shortcuts should be fixed.
The original article continues below.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
- Older Shortcuts share links no longer working.
- Shortcuts shared before March 20 are failing.
- Apple will restore old Shortcuts links.
- Newly shared shortcuts are available.
- iCloud share links expire after a limited time.
Blame it on expiring iCloud share links
Links shared before March 20 no longer seem to be working properly, while new shortcuts shared after Mach 20 are currently available. This is likely because iCloud share links apparently become invalidated after a limited amount of time, but it’s just speculation on our part.
Thankfully, the company has now confirmed that it will restore old shortcuts in a statement to Matthew Cassinelli, one of the original people to highlight the problem.
We are aware of an issue where previously shared shortcuts are currently unavailable, Newly shared shortcuts are available, and we are working to restore previously shared shortcuts as quickly as possible.
A cursory check at the time of writing revealed that several older shared shortcuts that weren’t working yesterday are now available to download. This is hopefully going to be fixed soon so that people could again download custom workflows via popular Shortcuts repositories.
It seems shortcuts’ links dating as far as last week have all been invalidated. Tested on iOS 14.4, 14.5b4 and 14.5b5. Links created today seem to work, though.@mattcassinelli @mralexhay @viticci, have you noticed that? Do any of you know any faster way to export 160 shortcuts?
— Rodrigo Araujo (@rodrigoaraujo) March 24, 2021
The issue is impacting all older iCloud links, based on the complaints being shared on social networks and from the original report. Some folks have said that links for shortcuts created just a week ago weren’t functioning properly, as well as older links.