Surprise Rickroll
A birthday wake-up call that is, in fact, Rick Astley.
Download shortcut⏱ 50s setup
Open this page in Safari on an iPhone. The file goes straight into Shortcuts.
What happens
At 7 AM on their birthday, Never Gonna Give You Up starts playing, followed by a notification: “Happy birthday. You’ve been rickrolled.” Every other morning it checks the date and goes back to sleep.
Setup
- Open the download on their phone (or AirDrop it over) and tap Add Shortcut.
- While importing, it asks for their birthday (MM-DD) and which music app they use (
appleorspotify). Fill it in before tapping Add Shortcut. - Long-press it in Shortcuts → All Shortcuts → Rename and call it Morning Helper, so it doesn’t give itself away.
- Shortcuts → Automation → + → Time of Day, set 7:00 AM, Daily, select Run Immediately, tap Next and choose the shortcut.
- Run it once now and tap Always Allow (it only plays on the birthday).
Undo
Open Shortcuts → Automation, swipe left on the automation and tap Delete. Then delete the shortcut.
Variations
- Apple Music needs a subscription to play the full song. On Spotify it opens the track and Premium autoplays it.