Apple Launches Beta Version of New Siri Shortcuts App for iOS 12

[Suckfest 9001]

They are gonna have to simplify it more. Workflow was a bit too complicated for me and this doesn’t have appeal unless they can SIMPLIFY SIMPLIFY SIMPLIFY

I for one hope they don't take the only advanced feature set they developed in years for iOS and dumb it down for people who can't be bothered to learn technology in the 21st century.

You have a simple choice:

• Learning how to use it
• Ignoring its existence

Telling Apple "please make this simpler for everyone because I don't get it" isn't fair.

 

[sanook997]

Google and Alexa can’t do this but they can do everything else 100% better than Siri

Interesting how many of you are experts in all three......

 

[kingpushup]

Can shortcuts now open specific Safari bookmarks? I have an office document that requires this periodically! Thank you

 

[tkne]

Lot of people seem not to understand why Siri is not on par with Alexa, Google Assistant and others.
The reason for this is Apple's views on privacy. While you talk to Alexa and GA, they get smarter and get to know you, because the data is sent back to their servers where all your data is processed in order to make those assistants understand you. Apple doesn't do that; everything happens on the phone exclusively. And every time you talk to Siri, it's basically like the first time you talked to Siri and therefore Siri doesn't know you and won't be able to guess what you might ask and so on.

That being said, Siri Shortcuts is Apple's approach to make Siri smarter, without changing their stance on privacy. In short, the better Siri Shortcuts gets, the better Siri will be. (beside Apple working on Siri in their realm of possibilities...)

 

[DarwinOSX]

Too complicated for the average user, unfortunately.

Depends on how you use it. An app can suggest a shortcut to a user and they can just agree to it.

 

[danmart]

Can shortcuts now open specific Safari bookmarks? I have an office document that requires this periodically! Thank you

You can do this in Workflow now, so I would assume yes...
[doublepost=1530864598][/doublepost]I’ve been using Workflow for a while and find it pretty cool. I’ve created a few flows that let me do things like calculating MPGs and writing that information out, opening a highlighted post code in maps and more. There is a community ‘store’ where people can share workflows, so even if you aren’t confident building your own there are hundreds to use.

With a bit of a boost in capability, opening this up to more devs to link in their apps, and the addition of voice triggers this will be very powerful.

 

[Elijen]

They need to focus on making Siri work properly before trying to extend it.

What do you mean? The main problem of Siri is the lack of the features. By opening API to developers and allowing people to create custom shortcuts it will improve by orders of magnitude.

I think the voice recognition is good enough and it's improving too.

 

[gwhizkids]

You can do this in Workflow now, so I would assume yes...
[doublepost=1530864598][/doublepost]I’ve been using Workflow for a while and find it pretty cool. I’ve created a few flows that let me do things like calculating MPGs and writing that information out, opening a highlighted post code in maps and more. There is a community ‘store’ where people can share workflows, so even if you aren’t confident building your own there are hundreds to use.

With a bit of a boost in capability, opening this up to more devs to link in their apps, and the addition of voice triggers this will be very powerful.

Is the “community store “ you reference the official gallery or is there a separate place to find useful workflows? I’ve always found the official gallery a bit wanting. I don’t really want to send my playlists to friends or log how much water I’ve consumed today. But I figure people have come up with some really useful ones. Plus, it’s a good way to learn Workflow—by seeing how others created theirs.

 

[danmart]

Is the “community store “ you reference the official gallery or is there a separate place to find useful workflows? I’ve always found the official gallery a bit wanting. I don’t really want to send my playlists to friends or log how much water I’ve consumed today. But I figure people have come up with some really useful ones. Plus, it’s a good way to learn Workflow—by seeing how others created theirs.

That’s the one, and I agree it’s a bit weak at the moment. But I found some useful stuff in there, and learned how to make some more.

Plus, bundling into the core will naturally increase usage, and so sharing, dramatically.

 

[Muzzakus]

Can we control Spotify with this?

 

[Phogro]

For those that take the time to learn and use this it's going to be powerful. However, I do see a learning curve that many iOS users simply won't be bothered to learn. It's definitely not the "it just works" Apple people are used to. That said, this is a welcomed addition for those who are willing to learn, it's something for the power users out there who want a lot of control over customizing Siri. Workflow was an awesome App without access to the secrets inside Apple's walls, and this is just the first iteration of what it can become after gaining that access. Very excited to see it get fleshed out and developed as time goes on.

 

[Rogifan]

I for one hope they don't take the only advanced feature set they developed in years for iOS and dumb it down for people who can't be bothered to learn technology in the 21st century.

You have a simple choice:

• Learning how to use it
• Ignoring its existence

Telling Apple "please make this simpler for everyone because I don't get it" isn't fair.

A way around that would’ve been to keep Workflow app for power users and make a Shortcuts app (basically a simpler version of Workflow) for everyone else. If Apple removed features to create Shortcuts they’ll hear about it loud and clear from devs/power users like Federico Viticci.
[doublepost=1530881088][/doublepost]

Lot of people seem not to understand why Siri is not on par with Alexa, Google Assistant and others.
The reason for this is Apple's views on privacy. While you talk to Alexa and GA, they get smarter and get to know you, because the data is sent back to their servers where all your data is processed in order to make those assistants understand you. Apple doesn't do that; everything happens on the phone exclusively. And every time you talk to Siri, it's basically like the first time you talked to Siri and therefore Siri doesn't know you and won't be able to guess what you might ask and so on.

That being said, Siri Shortcuts is Apple's approach to make Siri smarter, without changing their stance on privacy. In short, the better Siri Shortcuts gets, the better Siri will be. (beside Apple working on Siri in their realm of possibilities...)

So an ML/AI assistant can’t learn unless everything is processed server side? I find that hard to believe.

 

[penajmz]

Can we control Spotify with this?

I don’t think anyone here has gotten access yet.

 

[Newton1600]

Excited to try this. But why can’t we set multiple timers???

 

[gwhizkids]

I don’t think anyone here has gotten access yet.

That's a good question: Has anyone who hit the "Request" button gotten an invite yet? Reply if so.

 

[ipponrg]

So an ML/AI assistant can’t learn unless everything is processed server side? I find that hard to believe.

It's not that it can't learn, it's just that server side can do so much more with big data sets. Google collects data from all its users to understand behavior to provide a better experience. You can only imagine how large these data sets are.

Machine learning / AI requires a lot of data to parse, extrapolate, and correlate. Servers can process large sets of data much faster than our phone can. Because Apple loves to tout privacy, they don't collect a lot of data on us, so they probably have a generic ML model that they apply to most of its users. It's one of the reasons why Apple's ML success is paltry compared to its competitors.

 

[memoriess]

anyone gotten the email ?

 

[Websnapx2]

Lot of people seem not to understand why Siri is not on par with Alexa, Google Assistant and others.
The reason for this is Apple's views on privacy. While you talk to Alexa and GA, they get smarter and get to know you, because the data is sent back to their servers where all your data is processed in order to make those assistants understand you. Apple doesn't do that; everything happens on the phone exclusively. And every time you talk to Siri, it's basically like the first time you talked to Siri and therefore Siri doesn't know you and won't be able to guess what you might ask and so on.

That is incorrect — Siri absolutely does learn your behaviours as well and takes steps to predict what you will do. That's why Siri recommends I open Flipboard in the morning and my "good night" homekit scene at the end of the day. Siri knows what apps you use at different times of the day as well as who you might contact at different times, just as an example. The only difference between how Google and Amazon do it compared to Apple is that Apple does it on device and the others do it server-side — and that's due to their push for privacy. However I can see a future "Siri in the cloud" that ties all the devices together without actually processing on the server — similar to how they were able to make "Messages in the cloud" sync across devices while still having the information encrypted.

 

[jonblatho]

That's a good question: Has anyone who hit the "Request" button gotten an invite yet? Reply if so.

It seems to be different compared to the Swift Playgrounds beta a couple years back where I was able to request access and got an email almost instantly. I requested access early yesterday afternoon (minutes after it opened up) and still have nothing as of this morning.

Update: Just got my invite about 15 minutes ago. Installing now.
[doublepost=1530890090][/doublepost]

However I can see a future "Siri in the cloud" that ties all the devices together without actually processing on the server

They did this last year. Beginning in iOS 11, Siri syncs its knowledge obtained using on-device processing on each device to the cloud and it’s still only readable by the devices.

It was really important to get that done for HomePod in particular.

 

[Websnapx2]

Is the “community store “ you reference the official gallery or is there a separate place to find useful workflows? I’ve always found the official gallery a bit wanting. I don’t really want to send my playlists to friends or log how much water I’ve consumed today. But I figure people have come up with some really useful ones. Plus, it’s a good way to learn Workflow—by seeing how others created theirs.

The point of the workflows is that you can download them and change them. Maybe instead of logging water, it's something else. Go into the shortcuts app, change the variables and customize it if the workflow you found is not exactly what you need.

 

[gwhizkids]

The point of the workflows is that you can download them and change them. Maybe instead of logging water, it's something else. Go into the shortcuts app, change the variables and customize it if the workflow you found is not exactly what you need.

The creative side of me likes to do things like that. The side of me that has a million other things going, however, would like a somewhat more out of the box type solutions. I was hoping to get access to the new Shortcuts version for the weekend, when I do have some time to indulge my desire to learn/make these.

 

[FunnelDog]

The example you are referring to is much more complex than what you are describing. The Demoed example triggered more than just a text when activated; It's looking at where you are and where you are going next, finding out how long the trip will take and inserting it into the text that gets sent, but you can still layer more than in one command. It can enable a cooling device (AC or fans, which has a benefit over just using geolocation for lights as you will want an AC unit running before you get there) as well as (as shown in the demo) a podcast or playlist playing for the ride home — all triggered by one command you can build yourself. Anything Siri can do can be added in line.

Thanks, I must have missed the demoed example! Inserting variable text would be cool based on location or destination. As for enabling cooling devices, that would be helpful too... except it sounds like this would require a Siri / HomeKit update beyond just adding workflows as I can not currently say anything like "when the humidity is below 40%, turn on humidifier (or even a plug for that matter" or "when the temperature reaches 78 degrees, turn on AC (or a plug for that matter) through HomeKit now... even with HomeKit devices that record that information. So, to include that relatively basic command structure first before I worry about work flows would be cool too.

 

[Websnapx2]

The creative side of me likes to do things like that. The side of me that has a million other things going, however, would like a somewhat more out of the box type solutions. I was hoping to get access to the new Shortcuts version for the weekend, when I do have some time to indulge my desire to learn/make these.

I'd be concerned if that was the only way to make workflows but it won't be. Between Siri learning the things you do and recommending them and shortcuts and developers adding in deep links and recommending those, I think we will see the community made selections of these shortcuts growing exponentially.

 

[gwhizkids]

I'd be concerned if that was the only way to make workflows but it won't be. Between Siri learning the things you do and recommending them and shortcuts and developers adding in deep links and recommending those, I think we will see the community made selections of these shortcuts growing exponentially.

Agree 100%. It really does provide something for everyone. Somewhat of a response to the "Android lovers love to tinker and Apple users love things that just work."

 

[Chazz08]

I for one hope they don't take the only advanced feature set they developed in years for iOS and dumb it down for people who can't be bothered to learn technology in the 21st century.

You have a simple choice:

• Learning how to use it
• Ignoring its existence

Telling Apple "please make this simpler for everyone because I don't get it" isn't fair.

Hahahaha. You're not very savy in regards to business, are you? If it's too complicated, then people won't use it and it will have been a waste of R&D. So yes, simplify it if it needs to be. I used Workflow, and it was, indeed, very complicated. I actually hope they simplify it. One, so it's easier and quicker to get done, and two, so the average user can use it. If it's like workflow, oh well, I'll be able to use it. But when customers come into our store asking me how to use it, I'm just going to say I don't know.
[doublepost=1530895408][/doublepost]

Agree 100%. It really does provide something for everyone. Somewhat of a response to the "Android lovers love to tinker and Apple users love things that just work."

I'd be concerned if that was the only way to make workflows but it won't be. Between Siri learning the things you do and recommending them and shortcuts and developers adding in deep links and recommending those, I think we will see the community made selections of these shortcuts growing exponentially.

Very true. I forgot about the suggestions. This should make it simple and easy enough for the average user, too. I can't wait to get those apps out! It will be nice to be able to tell Siri to find my keys instead of having to unlock my phone and open the Tile app and select which item I'm looking for.