This shortcut lets you find the very best movies on Netflix or Amazon Prime

When it comes to movies and TV shows, streaming services offer more content than you could ever watch in a lifetime so finding the very best movies and TV shows is essential. If you’ve ever struggled to pick what to watch on those services, this handy shortcut lets you effortlessly find the best movies streaming on Netflix or Amazon Prime.

Welcome to Shortcuts Focus, iDB’s column dedicated to iOS automation scripts for the Shortcuts app. We strive to surface inspiring shortcuts created by users from all around the world that save time and boost productivity. Some of the scripts we’ve covered let you enforce PiP on YouTube, bypass article paywalls, get Dark Mode on any website, turn on your Apple TV, bulk-message multiple recipients, add Apple Music albums to the Home screen and more.

The cool Pick a Movie shortcut by Alex Hay brings up a handy list of the very best movies currently streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support other popular streaming services so keep that in mind.

Start by opening Safari on your iOS device.

Next, navigate to the iCloud download page for the shortcut and tap the button Get Shortcut. If asked, confirm that you’d like to open the file in the Shortcuts app. When you import the script into Shortcut, it will be synchronized across all your devices via iCloud.

I’ve embedded the video right ahead showing Pick a Movie in action.

Don’t have the Shortcuts app installed on your device? Download it for free from App Store.

Now run the shortcut by tapping the Library tab in the Shortcuts app, then tap the tile labeled with the text Pick a Movie to run the shortcut. You can now search for specific movies, directors or actors and the shortcut will tell you whether the results are currently streaming on Netflix or Amazon Prime.

Feeling lucky? Pick a top-rated movie with lucky dip, shown at right.

Complex searches are possible, too, such as the top 30 classic horror movies on Netflix or the top 30 new sci-fi movies on Amazon Prime. Your search results include various details about each listed film, including the official trailer as well as the short description and average ratings taken from Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Metacritic and Letterboxd. You can hide rentals with ease and it’s also cool that search results can be filtered by streaming service.

You can set your service region and more.

If the movie you searched for is found, a tap opens it in the Netflix or the Amazon Prime app. As you can see, this is a very accomplished shortcut but we’re not done yet – Pick a Movie even lets you add a handy reminder about the flick to either Bear or Reminders.

According to the author’s post on Reddit, the aforementioned features are possible because the shortcut takes advantage of the awesome Flickmetrix API.

For more on iOS automation, check out our Shortcuts Focus archive!