iOS 27 might resolve a major annoyance with the Shortcuts app, and I’m eager to see it.
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“Hey Siri, please create a shortcut that takes a picture of my food, logs the nutritional content, and reminds me to burn calories after six hours.”
Rachit Agarwal / Digital Trends
For many years, the Shortcuts app on the iPhone has been one of the most frustrating aspects of the user experience. On one side, it is an incredibly powerful tool for automating tasks and performing multi-step functions quickly. On the other hand, developing a shortcut has often been quite complicated and has tested users' patience.
It seems that Apple has finally heeded the feedback from iPhone users and is set to make significant functional improvements to the Shortcuts app with the upcoming iOS 2027 release. According to Bloomberg, Apple will allow users to articulate the shortcut they desire in natural language, and the AI will generate it for them.
What’s changing?
“The version currently in testing enables users to create shortcuts just by stating what they want them to do. Right now, users must manually construct shortcuts within the app or download them from Apple’s gallery,” the Bloomberg report states. “The system then automatically builds and installs the shortcut on the device.”
At present, navigating the Shortcuts app can feel like a maze of functions, calls, and app integrations concealed behind complex commands, even though most are compatible with the pre-installed Apple apps. However, limitations arise when attempting to create a shortcut that interacts with a third-party application.
Moreover, the restrictions with third-party apps are just part of the problem. The overall user experience can be quite overwhelming for the average person looking to create their own automation within the app. With iOS 27, it appears that Apple will finally allow users to simply express their desired shortcut into existence, provided they understand the command flow and the expected outcome.
It’s not revolutionary
This is positive news as Apple finally addresses a significant pain point concerning the Shortcuts app. However, this isn't the first effort of its kind. After introducing AI capabilities to iPhones, Apple also embedded AI automation into the Shortcuts app. Currently, users can choose between an on-device local model or an AI model that is managed on Apple’s private cloud servers. Still, these AI models are limited, and incorporating them into a new shortcut is often cumbersome.
This isn’t the first initiative of this sort. For instance, Anthropic’s Claude AI allows for the creation of artifacts or even entire applications by merely describing them. Similarly, users can engage in natural language conversations to build custom GPTs for ChatGPT or develop complex skills for Google’s Gemini AI. It seems Apple is drawing inspiration from these competing AI chatbots and is finally enabling users to formulate multi-step shortcuts through natural language prompts.
Nadeem is the Managing Editor at Digital Trends.
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iOS 27 might resolve a major annoyance with the Shortcuts app, and I’m eager to see it.
Apple is getting ready to implement a significant update for the Shortcuts app in iOS 27. With the help of AI, users will at last be able to create multi-step shortcuts just by describing them in natural language.