I could be wrong, but I don't think there'll be an app. I know that Scott was debating whether to use Siri shortcuts in Weather Gods. From what he said, you'd be able to ask `Hey Siri what's the weather in Cupertino California?` and she'd use Weather Gods as your default weather app instead of say the weather channel. Or you could say stuff like: `Hey Siri, check the temperature in Cupertino California using Weather Gods.` He talked about some of the features that could be used in a forum topic asking for feedback from users. If you go to his page/profile on here, you could find it. Or if you search for him and use the forum topic filter, you should be able to find it. I'm like you, and cannot wait to see what I can do with the Siri Shortcuts, as I use Siri a lot!
Just to clarify, there is a standalone Shortcuts app. essentially it's an updated and improved version of Apple's existing Workflow app.
I've not personally seen any indication yet as to whether it will be preinstalled when you update to the public release of iOS 12, or if you will need to download it via the App Store. My guess is that it will be the latter, as it's not preinstalled on the GM release of iOS 12.
Something I should have mentioned in my previous reply, is that the Shortcuts app is only required if you want to create more complex and powerful Siri Shortcuts.
Out of the box, iOS 12 will natively use it's machine learning capabilities to suggest Siri Shortcuts that it thinks you will find useful. These suggestions will be displayed in 3 possible locations:
1. In Settings > Siri & Search.
2. In Spotlight Search.
3. On the Lock Screen.
These suggestions will, however, be simple ones such as:
Google News, Read about Apple
CARROT Weather, Check weather
Open web page AppleVis.com
Phone Fred.
If on the Lock Screen or Spotlight Search, double tapping one of these suggestions will run it.
In Settings, a double tap will take you to a screen where you can record a spoken phrase which will enable you to trigger the shortcut at any time using Siri.
If you want to do anything more complex - such as stack actions or add variables, or have full access to all of the actions and events available to Siri Shortcuts - then this is when you will need the standalone Shortcuts app.
If you already have Workflow on your device, then the Shortcuts app will appear as an update to Workflow and will automatically include all tasks you previously created with that app.
Oddly, the app is still being called Workflow on my home screen after the update, even though it is called Shortcuts within the app itself.
Great. I would like the shortcuts that you are creating. I have a suggestion for a feature if you have it. Air quality be nice. Saw that the apple weather will have this also. Be good to have it and a shortcut for this. Specially in areas that the air is bad such as California and New York.
Would love to offer air quality, unfortunately, the data source is quite expensive, however, we are looking at sources other than IBM, so we might be able to do something.
WeatherGods is not the only one implementing Siri Shortcuts, so is Pandora. they updated their app to include some Siri Shortcuts, but I haven't tried it yet. I will soon.
I haven't gotten suggestions for shortcuts but have only been using the update for a few hours. I want to see what I can do. can anyone get the shortcuts/workflow app? I put it that way because of the debated name. I will love those weather gods shortcuts and cant wait till the new version comes out. I love weather gods and almost my whole ios family uses the app. Accept for maybe my sighted husband. but hey I may get him into it but he likes wtforcast and our local tv station here. I like them for news but they have accessibility issues. I have trouble getting people to listen to me when it comes to local media about accessibility. I can't wait for these shortcuts.
As an incredibly heavy Workflow user who's just upgraded to Shortcuts, I just wanted to comment that the voiceover support if anything is even better than Workflow.
Ability to delete/rename/duplicate/drag from the rotor and having voiceover tell you things such as when you're inside repeat loops etc are two of my favourates so far.
Ok, I installed iOS 12 and the Shortcuts app. I perform the following 2 actions every morning when I get up, so I thought I'd try setting up a shortcut for these actions.
Turn Do Not Disturb Off
Get New Messages
However, I cannot figure out how to insert these actions into a shortcut. Can anyone help me with this? Thanks.
Hello Jeff. As a new user of the Shortcuts app, I'm not prepared to actually answer your original question. However, the one thing I can tell you is something I've observed, with regard to Do Not Disturb. After iOS12 update, I now see the Do Not Disturb icon appearing on the Lock Screen. I also use Do Not Disturb overnight and having this actionable button right on the Lock Screen is wonderful for me.
Other than mini Shortcuts pre-made by so many people who do not know their way home, is there a user guide available? I’m looking for more complex things then turning on my flashlight or tweeting the last photo taken, etc.
I am not a computer programmer, so I am looking for something in plain English. Thanks
I have been really interested in using this App but there still seems to be a lot of confusion about how and when the App can be used. In talking with my local Apple store, I was informed that you can't create a shortcut for any App until that App grants permission/codes the App properly to be used with shortcuts. This remains confusing to me because I thought shortcuts would work similar to workflow in that I could program steps into the shortcuts for any App to perform a task and then create a Siri command. For example, program the steps to turn down my thermostat (that doesn't currently work with Siri) and I would have s shortcut but that apparently is not possible until my thermostat App generally allows shortcuts to be accessed and then maybe I can create a shortcut. This aparently is due to some sort of security reason . This limitation does not apply if your App already can be used in home kit. So, even if your App has not been set up for shortcuts but it can and is in your home kit App, you can use the home kit App to set up a "scene" and then use the shortcuts App to operate that scene. For example, I now have a short cut command to both open my garage door and unlock my front door with one shortcut command, but only because both of these Aps were already in my home kit App. Unfortunately, I can't explain for anyone how to set up a scene like this because a tech at the Apple store did it for me. Notably, this tech was great but he did not initially know how to do it and wasn't sure it could be done but just kept working on it and figured it out. Lastly, I think a key for this is that Apple Stores are going to have to have some scheduled training sessions to better explain everything that can and can't be done with the shortcuts App. Please take everything here with a grain of salt because I am by no means an expert but wanted to post my understanding and what I have discovered so far in the case that it helps anyone.
Once you open the shortcuts app you have some pre-made shortcuts you can fool with. These are in the gallery. The "library" are your own shortcuts. There's a button called "create shortcut". If you select that you are now in a wizard sort of screen that lets you do just that.
From this screen you pick "actions" and there is a long list sorted by categories. I did not see a way to toggle do not disturb, or for that matter, Bluetooth in that list. You can navigate by headings among the categories.
There is a Help button on that screen, but once you start selecting actions it disappears. It is a complete shortcuts user guide, an Apple web page, so you might want to bookmark it.
Back in the shortcuts editor, you pick each action you want and it is added as a step to a shortcut. If you find this confusing, you can see how shortcuts in the gallery are created and look at their individual steps.
You can also create shortcuts from siri in settings -- there you see a list of things you've recently done using siri with the idea that you can add a short phrase. So if you said "look up directions for 1982 Fern lane" you can now rename it to "take me to school".
I am still playing with actions and will try to put together a guide when I know more.
Do not disturb and Bluetooth are both there, under scripting. The search button can be helpful when you're looking for something specific, that's a long list, ☺️
As a developer I can confirm that what you say is correct. The app is supposed to 'donate' shortcut to Siri at the point when a user performs the action. So before that you can't have an option to create the Siri shortcut. Technically the app can do this at startup without user performing the action and it would work, but that isn't how it should be implemented and such an app may not pass the certification.
However this probably isn't for security reasons, as far as I can tell it is because Siri should guess the moment when you want to do something and offer it at your lock screen, and it can't guess that unless it knows when you are actually performing the activity.
At least those are my experiences while adding Siri shortcuts to my text to speech app Speech Central.
I would like to ask you a question. I installed iOS 12 on my iPad a while ago and I would like to find the Siri shortcuts in TuneIn radio. Does this app have any Siri shortcuts that I can use or not? Where can I find the settings for this app in order to enable these shortcuts? Does the free version of TuneIn radio support these shortcuts or not?
Cheers,
André
Comments
I don't think there'll be an app
I could be wrong, but I don't think there'll be an app. I know that Scott was debating whether to use Siri shortcuts in Weather Gods. From what he said, you'd be able to ask `Hey Siri what's the weather in Cupertino California?` and she'd use Weather Gods as your default weather app instead of say the weather channel. Or you could say stuff like: `Hey Siri, check the temperature in Cupertino California using Weather Gods.` He talked about some of the features that could be used in a forum topic asking for feedback from users. If you go to his page/profile on here, you could find it. Or if you search for him and use the forum topic filter, you should be able to find it. I'm like you, and cannot wait to see what I can do with the Siri Shortcuts, as I use Siri a lot!
Clarification
Just to clarify, there is a standalone Shortcuts app. essentially it's an updated and improved version of Apple's existing Workflow app.
I've not personally seen any indication yet as to whether it will be preinstalled when you update to the public release of iOS 12, or if you will need to download it via the App Store. My guess is that it will be the latter, as it's not preinstalled on the GM release of iOS 12.
A little more about Siri Shortcuts
Something I should have mentioned in my previous reply, is that the Shortcuts app is only required if you want to create more complex and powerful Siri Shortcuts.
Out of the box, iOS 12 will natively use it's machine learning capabilities to suggest Siri Shortcuts that it thinks you will find useful. These suggestions will be displayed in 3 possible locations:
1. In Settings > Siri & Search.
2. In Spotlight Search.
3. On the Lock Screen.
These suggestions will, however, be simple ones such as:
Google News, Read about Apple
CARROT Weather, Check weather
Open web page AppleVis.com
Phone Fred.
If on the Lock Screen or Spotlight Search, double tapping one of these suggestions will run it.
In Settings, a double tap will take you to a screen where you can record a spoken phrase which will enable you to trigger the shortcut at any time using Siri.
If you want to do anything more complex - such as stack actions or add variables, or have full access to all of the actions and events available to Siri Shortcuts - then this is when you will need the standalone Shortcuts app.
Update to Workflow
If you already have Workflow on your device, then the Shortcuts app will appear as an update to Workflow and will automatically include all tasks you previously created with that app.
Oddly, the app is still being called Workflow on my home screen after the update, even though it is called Shortcuts within the app itself.
Weather Gods Shortcuts
As Dawn said, we are adding some shortcuts to Weather Gods - they will be in our next release which I hope is in a week or so.
We're adding shortcuts to :
- Listen to the sound of the weather for your current location
- Ask if it will rain
- Ask if it will snow
- Ask if you need Suncream
The actual development (especially getting voiceover to work) was more complicated than I expected, so this is a toe-dipping exercise.
If the feedback is good then I plan to add more :)
Nice job Scott
Great. I would like the shortcuts that you are creating. I have a suggestion for a feature if you have it. Air quality be nice. Saw that the apple weather will have this also. Be good to have it and a shortcut for this. Specially in areas that the air is bad such as California and New York.
Air Quality
Hi Holger,
Would love to offer air quality, unfortunately, the data source is quite expensive, however, we are looking at sources other than IBM, so we might be able to do something.
shouldn't the app directory
shouldn't the app directory entry for workflow be deleted? or the comments moved into the entry for shortcuts.
Pandora also has shortcuts
WeatherGods is not the only one implementing Siri Shortcuts, so is Pandora. they updated their app to include some Siri Shortcuts, but I haven't tried it yet. I will soon.
How do I try these shortcuts I have pandora and such
I haven't gotten suggestions for shortcuts but have only been using the update for a few hours. I want to see what I can do. can anyone get the shortcuts/workflow app? I put it that way because of the debated name. I will love those weather gods shortcuts and cant wait till the new version comes out. I love weather gods and almost my whole ios family uses the app. Accept for maybe my sighted husband. but hey I may get him into it but he likes wtforcast and our local tv station here. I like them for news but they have accessibility issues. I have trouble getting people to listen to me when it comes to local media about accessibility. I can't wait for these shortcuts.
As an incredibly heavy
As an incredibly heavy Workflow user who's just upgraded to Shortcuts, I just wanted to comment that the voiceover support if anything is even better than Workflow.
Ability to delete/rename/duplicate/drag from the rotor and having voiceover tell you things such as when you're inside repeat loops etc are two of my favourates so far.
Creating shortcuts
Ok, I installed iOS 12 and the Shortcuts app. I perform the following 2 actions every morning when I get up, so I thought I'd try setting up a shortcut for these actions.
Turn Do Not Disturb Off
Get New Messages
However, I cannot figure out how to insert these actions into a shortcut. Can anyone help me with this? Thanks.
RE: Creating shortcuts
Hello Jeff. As a new user of the Shortcuts app, I'm not prepared to actually answer your original question. However, the one thing I can tell you is something I've observed, with regard to Do Not Disturb. After iOS12 update, I now see the Do Not Disturb icon appearing on the Lock Screen. I also use Do Not Disturb overnight and having this actionable button right on the Lock Screen is wonderful for me.
HTH
Siri shortcuts user guide?
Other than mini Shortcuts pre-made by so many people who do not know their way home, is there a user guide available? I’m looking for more complex things then turning on my flashlight or tweeting the last photo taken, etc.
I am not a computer programmer, so I am looking for something in plain English. Thanks
siri shortcuts
open the 'Shortcuts' app
information on my experience
I have been really interested in using this App but there still seems to be a lot of confusion about how and when the App can be used. In talking with my local Apple store, I was informed that you can't create a shortcut for any App until that App grants permission/codes the App properly to be used with shortcuts. This remains confusing to me because I thought shortcuts would work similar to workflow in that I could program steps into the shortcuts for any App to perform a task and then create a Siri command. For example, program the steps to turn down my thermostat (that doesn't currently work with Siri) and I would have s shortcut but that apparently is not possible until my thermostat App generally allows shortcuts to be accessed and then maybe I can create a shortcut. This aparently is due to some sort of security reason . This limitation does not apply if your App already can be used in home kit. So, even if your App has not been set up for shortcuts but it can and is in your home kit App, you can use the home kit App to set up a "scene" and then use the shortcuts App to operate that scene. For example, I now have a short cut command to both open my garage door and unlock my front door with one shortcut command, but only because both of these Aps were already in my home kit App. Unfortunately, I can't explain for anyone how to set up a scene like this because a tech at the Apple store did it for me. Notably, this tech was great but he did not initially know how to do it and wasn't sure it could be done but just kept working on it and figured it out. Lastly, I think a key for this is that Apple Stores are going to have to have some scheduled training sessions to better explain everything that can and can't be done with the shortcuts App. Please take everything here with a grain of salt because I am by no means an expert but wanted to post my understanding and what I have discovered so far in the case that it helps anyone.
A few tips
Once you open the shortcuts app you have some pre-made shortcuts you can fool with. These are in the gallery. The "library" are your own shortcuts. There's a button called "create shortcut". If you select that you are now in a wizard sort of screen that lets you do just that.
From this screen you pick "actions" and there is a long list sorted by categories. I did not see a way to toggle do not disturb, or for that matter, Bluetooth in that list. You can navigate by headings among the categories.
There is a Help button on that screen, but once you start selecting actions it disappears. It is a complete shortcuts user guide, an Apple web page, so you might want to bookmark it.
For your convenience it's:
https://support.apple.com/guide/shortcuts/welcome/ios
Back in the shortcuts editor, you pick each action you want and it is added as a step to a shortcut. If you find this confusing, you can see how shortcuts in the gallery are created and look at their individual steps.
You can also create shortcuts from siri in settings -- there you see a list of things you've recently done using siri with the idea that you can add a short phrase. So if you said "look up directions for 1982 Fern lane" you can now rename it to "take me to school".
I am still playing with actions and will try to put together a guide when I know more.
Do not disturb and Bluetooth
Do not disturb and Bluetooth are both there, under scripting. The search button can be helpful when you're looking for something specific, that's a long list, ☺️
RE: information on my experience
As a developer I can confirm that what you say is correct. The app is supposed to 'donate' shortcut to Siri at the point when a user performs the action. So before that you can't have an option to create the Siri shortcut. Technically the app can do this at startup without user performing the action and it would work, but that isn't how it should be implemented and such an app may not pass the certification.
However this probably isn't for security reasons, as far as I can tell it is because Siri should guess the moment when you want to do something and offer it at your lock screen, and it can't guess that unless it knows when you are actually performing the activity.
At least those are my experiences while adding Siri shortcuts to my text to speech app Speech Central.
Siri shortcuts in TuneIn radio
Hi,
I would like to ask you a question. I installed iOS 12 on my iPad a while ago and I would like to find the Siri shortcuts in TuneIn radio. Does this app have any Siri shortcuts that I can use or not? Where can I find the settings for this app in order to enable these shortcuts? Does the free version of TuneIn radio support these shortcuts or not?
Cheers,
André