Add to I Want I Need from your phone's share sheet

See something you want in a shop's app, a message or any website? Share it to I Want I Need and we'll fill in the name, price and photo for you. Then you choose the list.

On an iPhone

iPhones don't let websites appear in the Share Sheet, so we use a Shortcut: a small recipe in Apple's Shortcuts app (it's already on your iPhone). It adds I Want I Need to the Share Sheet. When you use it, it opens the Add page in Safari with the link you shared, and the details fill in.

You need to be logged in to I Want I Need in Safari. If you aren't, you'll be asked to log in first, and then the add carries on where you left off.

The one-tap “Add the shortcut” button isn't ready yet. It takes about two minutes to build the shortcut yourself.

Once you have it, share any link, or any text that has a web link in it (from Safari, a shop's app, Messages or WhatsApp), scroll down the Share Sheet past Copy and the other actions, and choose I Want I Need. You can also put the shortcut on your Home Screen, which just opens the Add page.

Build the shortcut yourself

Four actions, no typing except one web address. The names below are the ones in Apple's Shortcuts app; the wording and layout can differ a little between versions of iOS.

Open the Shortcuts app and tap + (top right) to make a new shortcut. Give it the name I Want I Need.
Put it in the Share Sheet. Tap the information button (the small i in a circle), turn on Show in Share Sheet, then tap Share Sheet Types. Leave only URLs and Text switched on, and tap Done. The first action should now read “Receive URLs and Text input from Share Sheet”.
Tap Add Action, search for URL Encode and choose it. Its input should say Shortcut Input, and it should be on Encode. (This turns the shared link into something safe to put inside a web address.)
Add the Text action. Type this exactly, with nothing after it: https://app.iwantineed.co.uk/add?text=. Then, with the cursor at the end, tap URL Encoded Text in the bar above the keyboard to put it after the =.
Add the Open URLs action. Its input should be the Text from the step before. Tap Done (or the play button to try it).

To try it, open a product in Safari, tap the Share button, scroll down the list of actions and choose I Want I Need. To bring it to the top, scroll to the bottom of the Share Sheet, tap Edit Actions and add it to your favourites. For the Home Screen, open the shortcut's information button again and tap Add to Home Screen.

How it works: the Add page picks the web link out of whatever you shared, even when it comes with words around it, such as “Check out this kettle on Argos”, and uses those words for the name if the shop won't let us read its page. What you share is only used to fill in the Add page, and nothing is saved until you add the item. See Privacy.

If something goes wrong

It asks me to log in

That's normal the first time, or if you haven't used I Want I Need in Safari before. Log in, and you'll be taken straight back to adding what you shared. If you also put I Want I Need on your Home Screen as an app, that app keeps its own login, separate from Safari's.

Safari or the Shortcuts app asks me something

The first time, your iPhone may ask whether the shortcut may open a web address. Choose Allow (or Always Allow). It only opens https://app.iwantineed.co.uk.

Nothing happens, or I can't find it in the Share Sheet

Check the shortcut has Show in Share Sheet switched on and that URLs and Text are ticked under Share Sheet Types. In the Share Sheet, scroll to the bottom, tap Edit Actions and add it to your favourites. Some apps only share pictures or files, and a shortcut for links won't show for those: use the app's own “Share link” or “Copy link” instead.

It opens the Add page, but the details are blank

Some shops don't let us read their pages. If you shared words with the link, we use them as the name; otherwise type it in yourself. The link is kept, so the Buy button will work for your friends.

It opens a page that says there's no link

What you shared had no web address in it. Open the item in the shop's app or website, use its Share button and pick Copy link or share the link itself, then try again. You can also paste a link on the Add page.

Still stuck?

Email hello@iwantineed.co.uk and tell us what you shared it from.

On an Android phone

Android needs no shortcut: once I Want I Need is installed on your phone, it appears in the Share menu by itself.

Open https://app.iwantineed.co.uk in Chrome and log in.
Tap the menu (the three dots), then Install app (or Add to Home screen, then Install). It has to be installed, not just bookmarked, or Android won't offer it for sharing.
Share a product link from Chrome or any shop's app and choose I Want I Need. If it isn't in the first row, tap More. If you installed the app a while ago and it still isn't there, remove it and install it again so Android learns about the Share menu.

If you aren't logged in, you'll be asked to log in first, then the add carries on.

Make your own list or log in.