Apple Details Siri Updates Alongside 'Shortcuts' App to Create Customized Voice-Controlled Workflows

[Dryland]

Forgetting sunscreen is a common problem for a great number of people. And just an example.

I don't need sunscreen, but my daughter does. Cool to have a reminder when we plan a beach trip. We have forgot countless times and end up buying some on the road. Sometimes a brand we are unsure about instead of brining the one from home we know works.

 

[dhruveonmars]

I hope these custom commands work across iCloud devices, especially the HomePod (where supported obviously)

 

[NorfolkMustard]

is the Siri Suggestions app in the iOS12 beta released today?

 

[macduke]

The share button is in the editor (looking at the app from the keynote video). Also saw a scripting button along with some familiar actions.

SCRIPTING? Did you say SCRIPTING? I'm going to faint.

 

[Jessica Lares]

SCRIPTING? Did you say SCRIPTING? I'm going to faint.

Yeah, it's probably just the same thing we have already (like asking for input).

 

[Mtmspa]

This was my favorite feature. Having an automated home, this is going to be very useful for me. Thanks Apple for the open ended approach. Makes this so much more useful.

 

[Gorms]

I'm well into this. And the app suggestable shortcuts especially.

 

[thefourthpope]

This seems very powerful. 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. 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 ‘Shortcuts’ workflow app does seem very power-user centric, but the way they showed typical everyday apps presenting the user with an option of adding a Siri action seemed very reasonable and simple . . .

Well said.

I’d hope for a near-term future when we can tell Siri to do these things.
“Hey Siri, when I say ‘I’m shopping’ you should open ‘shared groceries’ in ‘AnyList’”
“Hey Siri, when I say ‘I’m going for a bike ride’ play ‘Sunshine by Atmosphere’ then shuffle playlist ‘riding’”
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Amazon already did this better. Get a Starbucks Amazon Dash button and stick it on your dashboard. Far safer than using a smartphone when driving too (even handsfree, which Apple's solution still isn't).
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The disappointing thing for me is it's as if Apple are expecting or asking their customers to live such repetitive lives that they can be summarised by a simple scripting language.
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I don’t disagree that Siri needs loads of work, but so does your argument.
Your first response lauds the Dash button, while your second decries the idea of repetition.
I don’t own one, but my understanding of Dash buttons is that repetition is all they do.

 

[Khedron]

I don’t disagree that Siri needs loads of work, but so does your argument.
Your first response lauds the Dash button, while your second decries the idea of repetition.
I don’t own one, but my understanding of Dash buttons is that repetition is all they do.

Point is if it's something as simple as the repeat coffee order then Amazon has had the functionality beat for years with either the push of a physical dash button, or a voice command to Alexa to repeat the last order (neither of which I use BTW, fortunately my schedule isn't so sensitive I can afford a few extra seconds considering if I'd like a different order or browse any new options).

Apple's solution of making your own script improves nothing. Perhaps if you have exactly the same thing every day at the same time from the same place then this script will end up saving you a couple of minutes of phone use over a year.

Retuning to the surfing example. If people are apparently so forgetful about sunscreen wouldn't it be better to program Siri to automatically recognise any time the weather report is for sun and a GPS route is plotted to an outdoor area that a reminder is triggered, rather than to have the user create and then activate this "surf script"?

 

[Jimpilot]

is the Siri Suggestions app in the iOS12 beta released today?

I'm not finding it

 

[Ap0ks]

Amazon: Alexa has skills
Apple: User needs skills

AI is not magic, Alexa has skills because developers have created them, which seems to be what Apple are now trying to do here but with more customisation for the end-user.

Seems silly to hate on the feature when nobody has really tried it out properly and everybody is screaming for Siri to be able to do more...

 

[mazz0]

Bull. There’s no way to account for all use-cases. Shortcut actions gives users access to countless use-cases, by setting actions specific to them. Hey Siri, upload to Imgur. Etc.

Certainly I can see how this would be a useful tool for users with niche requirements, but not mainstream. If you tell Siri to upload something to Imgur Siri should search for installed apps and APIs called Imgur, and find their upload functionality, you shouldn't need to set that up. I think that's a bad example though as I don't imagine you will need to set that up, I imagine the Imgur developers will built that in.

The example they used as a presentation is the dodgy one. It was basically three tasks - plot your route, text someone your ETA and start an app (the radio one). If you do that often enough to need an automation for it why hasn't Siri noticed that and plotted it automatically? We know it can do that at a very simple level as with the coffee order.

 

[javanni]

Rather seems like making the user do themselves what the AI isn’t smart enough to do itself.

This.

This custom shortcut-based approach looks dated in this day and age of machine learning. Who can ever be bothered to sift through a store of shortcuts or worse still, fumble around to create their own. We are not in 2010 anymore.
I appreciate the sheer power of the tool, but it needs too much micromanagement.

For sure, people who complain about the lack of customizations on iOS will rejoice, but me, I would've just liked some basic set of shortcuts to Apple's (or Siri's) liking. I may very well be getting old, but wasting hours optimizing my workflow on a stupid phone is not high on my list.

 

[doc james]

Not that important but any guesses what Siri Shortcuts was called right up until the last moment? Craig stumbled over the wording EVERY single time he mentioned it

 

[Krayzkat]

Not that important but any guesses what Siri Shortcuts was called right up until the last moment? Craig stumbled over the wording EVERY single time he mentioned it

I remember thinking at the time he is stumbling over some words, but i can't remember which now. What were they?

 

[doc james]

I remember thinking at the time he is stumbling over some words, but i can't remember which now. What were they?

"Shortcuts"

 

[RoboCop001]

I'm guessing that Siri will only recognize the exact phrase. I wonder if you can set up multiple phrases for each task? Because otherwise you'd have to remember the exact phrase for every single shortcut that you set up. Like for the lost keys example, it would be annoying if I set up "I lost my keys" but in the moment I just said "where are my keys?" and then Siri wouldn't understand what I meant.

 

[KrispE00]

Point is if it's something as simple as the repeat coffee order then Amazon has had the functionality beat for years with either the push of a physical dash button, or a voice command to Alexa to repeat the last order (neither of which I use BTW, fortunately my schedule isn't so sensitive I can afford a few extra seconds considering if I'd like a different order or browse any new options).

Apple's solution of making your own script improves nothing. Perhaps if you have exactly the same thing every day at the same time from the same place then this script will end up saving you a couple of minutes of phone use over a year.

Retuning to the surfing example. If people are apparently so forgetful about sunscreen wouldn't it be better to program Siri to automatically recognise any time the weather report is for sun and a GPS route is plotted to an outdoor area that a reminder is triggered, rather than to have the user create and then activate this "surf script"?

Even if your life isn’t routine, you have to know that most people’s lives are very routine. And procrastinators like myself will appreciate being able to save a min by automating a list of actions that I perform manually every day. Example: When I get in my car, siri will navigate to work, shuffle my songs, and order my Starbucks.

Surfing: First, sunscreen is also needed when it’s cloudy. And what if you need a reminder for something other than sunscreen. This allows you to customize everything to your needs. AI isn’t smart enough yet on any platform to correctly predict what each individual wants to do in every instance. Until AI knows you better than you know yourself, this bridges the gap.

 

[thefourthpope]

Retuning to the surfing example. If people are apparently so forgetful about sunscreen wouldn't it be better to program Siri to automatically recognise any time the weather report is for sun and a GPS route is plotted to an outdoor area that a reminder is triggered, rather than to have the user create and then activate this "surf script"?

That would be very handy and I wish Siri was there.

But there are other use cases. For instance, if the weather report is for sun and we’re just planning to hang out in the back yard, Siri wouldn’t necessarily have the info to warn me. “Siri what’s the UV” could activate a script that gives me a UV report for the day.