It seems like a big step forward from slowly adding 2-3 specific Siri domains per year as they’ve done in the past, and involving the user in setting up the Siri query seems necessary since you can’t just let apps start adding their own voice commands to Siri ad-hoc, it would be impossible to manage. The open-ended approach of letting apps expose their actions and letting the user choose which they’d like to use and how they’d like to phrase their Siri requests isn’t what I expected, but I think it might be a great solution. With the Shortcuts app, all of these customizable edits can be added and connected to an invokable Siri phrase.Īpple gave another example where a person created a Shortcut from the Kayak app, connecting their hotel address with the Siri phrase 'Travel Plans.' So, when they quickly needed to get the address all they had to do was say 'Travel Plans' to Siri and it came up immediately.įar more intricate Shortcuts will be available, with one Siri phrase able to do things like adjust HomeKit thermostats, text a friend, read the news, and more, by simply saying something like 'Hey Siri, I'm heading home.' Other examples include creating a Shortcut to automatically open an app when you get to the gym every day, turning on Do Not Disturb at the movies, calling a family member on their birthday, and more. For example, the Tile app will let you add a shortcut to Siri so you can say 'I lost my keys,' activating Siri and showing Tile actions right in the Siri UI. Apple has revealed a collection of Siri improvements coming to iOS 12, centered around a new app called 'Shortcuts.' Shortcuts will let users connect certain third-party apps to Siri to greatly streamline voice controls.

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