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This though is now history.













I genuinely believe hat Shortcuts are revolution in the way we use Siri. People have long attacked Siri for its so-called limitations yet as a regular user of the Assistant, I cannot imagine life without it. Having it on my devices and at home now with the HomePod, it provides a high level of convenience.

The Shortcuts RevolutionWhen Apple announced Shortcuts for Siri at WWDC in 2018, the initial reaction was a realisation of why Apple had bought the Workflow app for iOS.However, one thing I observed once the iOS 12 betas began to be released that year was the explosion online of comments about how linking together a number of commands could be very convenient, exciting and cool.Apple very cleverly has allowed those of us who are not developers to begin to use Shortcuts by accessing regularly used actions via the Settings app on iOS 12 and attaching a Siri phrase to them to activate them.For example, I have a number of people in my Contacts app with the same first name as my Partner. So when I text I have to use the full name as I don't like to use a term like 'partner' when I am texting.Now though, Siri has noticed that I text my Partner often and so included it in the suggestions. Now I have given it a Siri command that just uses my Partner's first name. Much better.Imagine how this is now being extended massively by being able to combine multiple steps together so that you can accomplish so much with just one Siri command. One of the most extensive operations I have seen is a Shortcut of 35 steps. Yet, sometimes the best Shortcut might be only one or two steps.The most I have created is one of five steps; this takes a screenshot of a piece of text I want to send to a student of mine, partly populates an email and then gives me the option to file the text in Trello so I can keep track of the material I send to that particular student.Some people comment that this 'consumer coding' approach to Siri Shortcuts may be a deterrent to anyone who is not a geek or programmer. Yet, the truth is that as the App Store and the iTunes Store can attest, consumers do not need to be particularly tech savvy to download apps, music, films and podcasts.Already, people can download well crafted and helpful Shortcuts from the internet and then apply them to their daily lives. This Sharecuts site already exists.A link to that website is here:In addition, MacStories has published scores of helpful shortcuts. Here is a link:After two years, the revolution is truly upon us.Apple will once again show that with finesse, consideration, design and skill, for which the company is well-known, an idea started by other companies can be combined into a product that extends the experience far beyond the initial application.Viva la Revolution!Brian10th March 2020