Safari Home Screen shortcuts on iPad

iOS
#1

Trying to create two Home Screen shortcuts from Safari which should be easy enough but I’m having some issues. With a desktop OS you obviously have more flexibility but I’m wondering if it’s still possible to achieve the same thing on an iPad.

1st URL:

  • what I want: URL and icon of my choice
  • what I get: redirected URL and wrong icon
  • the url I want redirects and it’s possible the redirected url could change hence I want to save the non-redirected url, otherwise I may in future have to recreate the shortcut
  • the favicon does not save as the shortcut icon, instead I get a screenshot of the website which is unhelpful
  • is it possible to choose an image from Photos to save as the icon for a website shortcut?

2nd URL:

  • is a filemaker link so has a fmp:// prefix
  • when you enter the address in Safari, you don’t get the option to save it to the Home Screen, you’re prompted to open the page in FileMaker Go [Cancel|Open].

So what is and what is not possible?

#2

Turns out the 2nd one (FileMaker shortcut) is actually a configuration profile created in Apple Configurator, so that’s one problem sorted.

#3

FWIW, both of these are possible using Shortcuts.

#4

I think you need to dream on. For example, if making homescreen shortcut for this site, the icon you get is the logo. I don’t see any way to change that.

#5

Oh thats interesting… shortcuts are something I have ignored.

#6

I did look at Shortcuts, maybe it can do exactly what I want, not sure. I was able to call up a favour from a friend who did both using Apple Configurator and sent me two .mobileconfig files. They worked perfectly.