Apple in iOS 12 introduced a new Siri Shortcuts feature that's designed to let users create multi-step automations using first and third-party apps.
Since iOS 12's release, app developers have been adding Siri Shortcuts support to their apps, and today, Apple highlighted several apps that have launched useful Siri Shortcut options.
Tile, for example, has added a Shortcut designed to let you find an item attached to a Tile device, like your keys, by asking Siri. Apps like CARROT and Dark Sky offer up weather details with Siri commands like "rain report" or "UV index," while Citymapper lets you get commute information in seconds.
Evernote lets you get quick access to Shortcuts for sharing notes, creating audio notes, creating camera notes, and printing, while Day One has Shortcuts for creating journal entries and recording audio. Calendar app Fantastical lets you schedule events and preview what's coming next, and Trello, Things, and Omnifocus all have Shortcut options for streamlining projects.
Apple also highlights Waterminder for tracking your water intake, Lose It! for keeping track of what you're eating, MyTherapy for monitoring daily medications, and meditation in Headspace, all features that can be accessed via simple Siri commands without the need to open up the respective apps.
Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1.
Release Date
Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors.
...
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by Juli Clover
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing.
Test Settings
I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below.
Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas.
The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.
iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
The first preview release of the Swift SDK for Android was published this week, allowing developers to build Android apps in Swift with official tooling and making it easier to share code across iOS and Android.
The SDK enables Android apps to be built in Swift using officially supported tooling rather than community workarounds. In June, it was announced that Apple's Swift programming...
Kinda wish it didn't say "App says: ..." and just say the text. Same with "Running your Shortcut." I think it's a waste of time to say running your shortcut. And for me it kind of breaks the experience of Siri doing stuff when it's saying "App says...".
Without those, I think the experience would be much more seamless.
Hopefully one day, Siri won't require a highly specific phrase. Or maybe you can add multiple trigger phrases at least. Don't want to always have to speak the exact same words.
Honestly, I’m still not entirely sure how I should use this. For whatever reason it doesn’t invite me to find out either.
This is how I've felt about 'shortcuts'. I know they are there only because I read sites like this. For what was one of the most anticipated features of the release according to the tech writers, if you didn't know about it you'd never find it and if you did know, you need to download the app, work out what it does and then figure out which bits work with your phone/watch etc.
Set up a shortcut in Overcast called "Techmeme" which plays their "Ride Home" podcast which I listen to on my way home. BTW I highly recommend it.
Me: "Hey Siri, Techmeme"
Siri interpretations:
"Hey Siri Text meme" *tries to send a message* "Hey Siri Tech Meme" *blob of text from Wolfram Alpha* "Hey Siri Techmeme" Tries to play in Overcast, fails every time on the first try, works every time on the second try if I don't end up with her thinking I said something else listed above.
When it's having problems, I've tried "Hey Siri, Play Techmeme" which opens the Podcasts app, which I don't want because it doesn't have the features I use such as speeding up voice pauses.
I tried setting it to "Ride Home" which a lot of times means that maps tries to pull up driving directions to my home.
It really seems half baked at this point. I think I'm just going to have to come up with a completely different phrase like "Hey Siri I like bananas" for her to understand what I want, but even then it will always fail to start playing on the first time and play successfully when I ask a second time. Not sure if that's a glitch with Siri or Overcast.
