GoKawiil
Tech News
Apple detailed a major update to its Shortcuts app coming with iOS 27, introducing more than 35 new actions covering Messages, Reminders, Photos, VPN and shortcut storage. The update also improves existing actions, including expanded logic support for 'If' statements, Markdown support in Notes, group chat messaging, and enhanced AI model capabilities in 'Use Model'.
Apple's Shortcuts automation tool, available on Mac since macOS Monterey, gains a new AI feature called Describe a Shortcut in macOS 27 Golden Gate. The feature lets users type out what they want a shortcut to do and have the app assemble the actions automatically, rather than manually selecting and linking each action.
Raymond Chen recounts that Windows 7 added a right-click context menu to the classic vertical scroll bar, including a 'Scroll Here' option letting users jump directly to a clicked position instead of dragging the thumb. A lesser-known companion shortcut, holding Shift while clicking the scroll bar, does the same thing. He notes that most modern app frameworks have replaced native Win32 scroll bars with custom ones that only partially preserve these features: Chromium-based apps support Shift+click but not the context menu, WPF supports both, and WinUI supports neither.
Developers digging through the iOS 27.2 beta code have found unreleased features beyond what's already visible in testing. Discoveries include a live countdown timer for upcoming Apple Music album releases, expanded third-party app support for Shortcuts' 'Describe a Shortcut' AI tool, and a new 'Drive Mode Theme' option for CarPlay Ultra that adjusts gauge styles, colors, and ambient lighting.
Apple's Shortcuts app can be used to build a CarPlay automation that plays a custom audio clip whenever an iPhone connects to a vehicle's infotainment system. The feature works alongside, not in place of, a car's built-in startup chimes, and relies on a short audio file stored in the Files app.
WIRED's Reece Rogers tested iOS 27's rebuilt Shortcuts app, which now includes an Apple Intelligence feature called 'Describe a Short' that lets users create automations by typing plain-language requests instead of manual scripting. Rogers, a longtime Shortcuts skeptic, says the tool successfully generated useful daily automations, including a habit-breaking shortcut that questions him whenever he opens Instagram, though some glitches occurred during beta testing.