GoKawiilThe Shortcuts app has always been an amazingly powerful automation tool for users who know what these very words mean. But now, it may finally become an approachable tool that delivers on its true potential for users of all kinds. Here’s why.
Starting with the customer experience and working backwards to the technology
Even before Apple acquired Workflow in 2017 and turned it into Shortcuts in 2018, this app was one of the most impressive tools ever released on iOS.
It abstracted away much of the complexity that made macOS’s excellent Automator so intimidating to some users, while preserving a level of firepower and inter-app connection that had always felt impossible (or even forbidden) on the iPhone and the iPad.
And while Apple has continued to improve on Shortcuts over the years, including its recent integration with AI models, much of its functionality and benefits have remained limited to a subset of users.
Once you learn how Shortcuts works, and particularly if you’ve got (or develop) some familiarity with programming, you can just make magic with it. Just ask Federico Viticci and the MacStories team, and Stephen Robles, who have spent years showing just how far Shortcuts can go. I couldn’t possibly begin to describe just how much I’ve learned from them.
But as appealing as it is to believe that any regular user is just a nudge away from becoming the next great Shortcuts master, that has just never quite been true for the larger iPhone, iPad, and now Mac user base. Which is frustrating.
But that doesn’t mean these less technically inclined users don’t have needs that go beyond “turn these photos into a GIF” and “turn off the living room lights when I leave home”. In fact, the workflows they could benefit from might be the kind even the most advanced Shortcuts users would find challenging to build.
That’s why a report from Bloomberg today made me even more excited for next month’s WWDC. When mentioning an upcoming upgrade to Shortcuts, the report noted:
The version now in testing lets users create shortcuts simply by describing what they want them to do. Currently, users need to manually build shortcuts within the app or download them from Apple’s gallery. In the updated app, users are presented with a prompt asking, “What do you want your shortcut to do?” along with a text field to describe the request. The system then automatically builds and installs the shortcut on the device.
... continue reading