Update on shortcut issues... the only solution that is reportedly working is detailed below. This has been used to fix both the reappearing shortcuts issue and/or the keyboard shortcuts crash on iOS.
(1) On any affected iOS device go to Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Content And Settings
(WARNING this will obviously delete everything so you must be willing to go this far with no guarantee)
(2) If you also have a Mac(s) proceed to step (3) otherwise skip to step (6)
(3) On Mac, go to System Preferences > Keyboard >Text Tab and delete ALL the shortcuts you have there.
(4) Using Terminal app on your Mac, the following command will place a “Real iCloud Drive" folder on your desktop which will allow you to see ALL the hidden items in iCloud Drive:
ln -s ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/ ~/Desktop/Real\ iCloud\ Drive
(5) Open this new iCloud Folder alias (you must choose to view it in a Finder window as list view). Inside this folder is the folder called "Settings" and inside that, "Dictionaries.” Delete the “Dictionaries” folder and empty trash.
(6) Set up your iOS device(s) as NEW. Meaning, you must manually reinstall any apps, settings, etc. Do NOT restore from iTunes or iCloud backup as that will just leave you with the same corrupted issue. Before going through all the time that takes, start with singing into your device with your Apple/iCloud ID and see if the shortcuts issue seem to be fixed and when you enter new ones they sync between devices and/or Mac.
- This solution was suggested to me by a developer and it seems to have worked for my iOS shortcuts crashing & syncing debacle. The issues have not reappeared for the last week and all the shortcuts are properly syncing between an iPhone, iPad and 2 Macs. Please don’t get angry with me if you try this and it doesn’t work for you. I’m just sharing an option.
- I continue to submit feedback to Apple about the issue and have still been having followup calls with AppleCare. They just keep saying “a fix will be in an upcoming iOS software update.” They’ve been saying that to me me since iOS 8.0 and we are now at 8.1.3…