iOS Shortcuts - Personalisation becomes Reality

With iOS Shortcuts, users can finally get a personalised experience while using their devices. Whilst Shortcuts isn't a new concept (Apple Workflows in a new avatar essentially), the ease of creating one definitely makes it feel different. The possibilities are exciting as well as endless. And hey, you don't need knowledge of any coding language to create one. All you need is common sense!

For example, let's think of two people A and B are taking a flight. A usually sends a text to his wife before taking off and one more text when he lands. B on the other hand prefers a phone call. In the pre-shortcut days, A needs to type in the text, switch on the Airplane mode, toggle it back to off and send a text again. Same with B, the difference being a phone number she needs to dial. With Shortcuts however, this entire process can happen with a click of a button (or a Siri voice command). This definitely saves time but the real power of shortcuts is the personalisation of the tasks based on a user's way of using a device. Even the commands used to invoke the chain of actions can be customised - for example, A might say 'Hey Siri! Notify Home' and B might use 'Hey Siri! Call Hubby'. This ultimately results in personalisation happening at an individual level.

Shortcuts are still relatively new and users all over the world are creating and sharing useful (ETA to home) and not so useful (Flip a COIN) versions. Here's what really exciting though - Apple's machine learning happens in the individual devices (where shortcuts are also stored). With time, the machine learning will learn how a user is using Shortcuts and future versions of the Shortcut app might start creating tailor made Shortcuts for every individual user's repetitive tasks. That would definitely be the next level of personalisation!

For now, I am enjoying creating my own Shortcuts. Shortcuts hopefully will reduce the time one spends using a mobile phone.

In a way it is a boon for lazy people, but as Bill Gates stated "I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it."