Want a taste of iOS 12's Siri Shortcuts? Download this app

by Preslav Kateliev

Jun 05, 2018, 4:52 AM

Want a taste of iOS 12's Siri Shortcuts? Download this app

Apple introduced iOS 12 yesterday and, among the slew of new features, there was this thing called Siri Shortcuts. Basically, you can set up any sort of phrases to execute a chain of pre-set app actions on your phone. On stage, we saw the presenter speak out "I am headed home" on their iPhone, which triggered the device to send a text to their roommate as well as set the home thermostat to 70 degrees.

The automations are performed via a block-arrangement interface, which allows you to mix and match trigger actions with outputs for different results. And we thought it looked very familiar.

It's actually an evolution of the Workflow app. An automation suite for iOS, which Apple liked so much that it bought the app and the team behind it in March of last year. Since then, Workflow has been available on the App Store for free.

You can download it from the link below and explore the slew of different options that Workflow provides. It's a bit tough to wrap your head around it at first, but there are a bunch of pre-made setups as well as a "gallery" with extra ones that you can download in order to get a general idea of how the app works and what you can do with it.

Go nuts!

► Download Workflow for iOS

Workflow for iOS

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6 Comments

3. ColinW

Posts: 413; Member since: Jun 04, 2014

This will be typical of Apple fans, criticising this feature in Bixby, without having used it, then loving the self-same feature Apple copied from it. Just like larger phones, wireless charging .....

posted on Jun 05, 2018, 5:51 PM 2

5. AnotherAppleFanBoy

Posts: 2; Member since: Aug 06, 2018

Did you read the article at all? This is about an app released in 2015 for iOS, bought by Apple and will be released again as part of iOS 12. They did no copy Bixby, they did not steal it, they bought it. BTW, Bixby is not available on iOS, just like Workflow was never released for Android. Please try to accept that phone size is not a unique aspect, only one company can use. The same for wireless charging...

posted on Aug 06, 2018, 12:48 PM 0

2. Vyshak75

Posts: 83; Member since: Mar 03, 2016

Isn't this the same as quick commands in bixby? But I didn't see any website mentioning the same in any of this news.... Strange....

posted on Jun 05, 2018, 4:41 PM 2

6. AnotherAppleFanBoy

Only the way the automation is triggered is the same.

posted on Aug 06, 2018, 12:52 PM 0

1. nikhil23

Posts: 507; Member since: Dec 07, 2016

I get the same functionality via Bixby

posted on Jun 05, 2018, 8:42 AM 3

4. DolmioMan

Posts: 349; Member since: Jan 08, 2018

Similar, not the same. Bixby has limited third party integration, whereas workflow already has actions for quite a few popular apps which will surely rise when they rebrand it to Shortcuts. This solution is also significantly faster and as shown in the demo they showed off a relatively complex workflow that it got through in a few seconds.