As I wrote earlier this summer, App Shortcuts is Apple’s big bet on Siri, moving from a top-down model of defining “intents” to specific categories that Apple had to create in advance and carve out a path for certain types . apps to work with Siri. Now, the App Intents feature that empowers App Shortcuts puts developers in control, defining every way to use their app with Siri and automatically creating each permutation of that action as individual shortcuts for the user. With iOS 16 now live (and our iOS 16 review ready for you, er, to check out) and developers releasing their App Shortcuts into the wild, here’s how you can expect to see more Siri Shortcuts as ‘ throughout your experience, as well as the best advantage possible.
App Shortcuts
(Image: Future) The new App Shortcuts found in the Shortcuts app under the newly renamed Custom Shortcuts section will appear below the icons for apps that have supported the new APIs — if your app doesn’t support App Shortcuts, be sure to request the feature directly from the developer. Developers define the set of functions that App Shortcuts will support, and each function can have multiple variations of the same term — in theory, this means you can say the same trigger phrase with different keywords to Siri, and ideally the application should be set to the correct option.
(Image: Future) Each set of App Shortcuts has a prompt to add the set to Siri, which is also available to turn on/off again under the About icon on the same screen. Additionally, if you tap the “…” button on the shortcut, you can tap Use on the new shortcut to add it as a custom shortcut, where you can add additional steps, change the name, and then place it in Shortcuts widgets.
Siri Tips
(Image: Future) In order to discover your App Shortcuts in the native app experience, Apple has also provided Siri Tips to developers to appear somewhat subtly at relevant times, such as after the action used in the shortcut is performed. Developers can also set up custom pages in their app settings to display all their shortcuts, and Apple has provided a stylized Shortcuts button to link back to the App Shortcuts page for that app. Additionally, you can control which shortcuts are available from any app by asking Siri “What can I do here?” and will respond with the possible options.
Search in focus
(Image: Future) App shortcuts are also a prominent addition to Spotlight Search, which is much more central thanks to Apple’s replacement of home screen indications with a Search field on iPhone. In iOS 16, individual shortcuts from an app’s App Shortcuts will appear in search results, occupying a small bar below the main app results — this gives iOS a command line-like tool to type precise commands and press enter to take this action.
It’s now a world of Siri shortcuts
Whether you’re used to Siri or a Shortcuts user, it’s clear that Apple continues to push Siri Shortcuts as a system feature. Not only has Shortcuts as a platform expanded to the Mac, but Apple has followed up the initial release of Siri Shortcuts with a refined version that avoids pre-installation, integrates more natively into app experiences, and works much better with Siri overall. Indeed, it was confusing enough with Apple launching the feature as Siri Shortcuts, and then mostly just talking about the Shortcuts app as an automation platform, to dramatically boost the Siri side again. This year, Apple really reminded us that Shortcuts is part of Siri, and the entire toolset is more than just a feature reserved for power users who take the time to set it up — Siri Shortcuts is for everyone, for every app, for every device. Now, I can’t wait to see where Apple goes next.
