Siri Shortcuts gets more useful: A shortcut guide to animating routines on
your iPhone
By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY, 11:01 a.m. PST Feb. 28, 2019
The Siri Shortcuts feature that Apple launched last fall as part of iOS 12
has always had oodles of potential. And for some of you this feature, which
lets you use your voice to automate a string of tasks or routines, may have
just gotten a whole lot more useful.
On Thursday, Apple announced a fresh set of integrated Siri Shortcuts, which
are just now available or coming soon, and which the company says joins the
thousands of other apps that already take advantage of the feature. American
Airlines and Airbnb join existing app partners such as Marriott's Bonvoy,
Pandora, Waze and The Weather Channel.
The basic idea behind the Shortcuts feature is that Siri can learn your app
preferences and routines over a period of time to suggest shortcuts that can
streamline tasks or commands on your iPhone or iPad, and in more limited
instances on the Apple Watch, HomePod or AirPods. (The feature doesn't work
with Macs or on Apple TV, despite Siri's presence on the hardware.)
Shortcuts work with the apps you already have on your devices. Some
suggested shortcuts will appear automatically on the lock screen of your
device or when you do a search, recommending, right then and there, for
example, to call or message your spouse. You tap the button to activate the
particular shortcut that shows up. You can initiate other shortcuts yourself
by uttering a short designated phrase out loud.
What's more, though fewer of you are likely to do so, you can also fetch the
Apple Shortcuts app for free in the App Store and create your own custom
shortcuts built around a personalized voice phrase you record.
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Apple is seeking ways to make Siri more helpful, especially in light of the
fact that many pundits believe that its digital assistant lags Amazon's
Alexa and the Google Assistant, both of which also let you create customized
routines via voice, often through Echo or Google Home smart speakers.
Samsung has similar designs with the Quick Commands feature associated with
its Bixby assistant.
Among the newly announced Siri Shortcuts is one from American Airlines that
will let you summon flight updates by voice ("Hey Siri, flight update").
Such updates are contextual: Before leaving your house, you can get the
drive time to the airport along with a map. After checking in, you'll
receive an updated flight status with a map of the terminal showing the gate
location, walking time to that gate and boarding time.
Another new shortcut, from Merriam Webster Dictionary, will let you ask Siri
for the word of the day.
A third new shortcut, from the Caviar local food delivery app, responds to
commands such as "Hey Siri, order my usual pizza" or "Hey Siri, Caviar order
status."
Some of the Apple shortcuts integrate with some of your connected smart home
appliances For example, shortcuts tied to the Drop and Smarter apps will
let you control coffee makers by voice.
Others shortcuts are meant to work with health devices you may use in
conjunction with the iPhone. The Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring
System, for example, launched a shortcut that enables diabetics better
manage glucose levels through their app ("Hey Siri, what's my blood
glucose?").
Coming soon is a shortcut for ReSound hearing aids that will enable a person
who is hard of hearing change the device settings, depending on the
environment ("Hey Siri, restaurant mode.")
Building your own shortcuts
To see which of your favorite apps have shortcut integrations, on your
iPhone, visit Settings > Siri & Search > All Shortcuts.
To build your own shortcut, launch the Shortcuts app, and choose actions or
building blocks, which are each of the basic steps that will make up your
app. Apple presents a number of suggestions inside the app. For example, if
you want to add a shortcut called Log Workout in conjunction with the Health
app on your phone, you'd choose the type of activity (running, swimming,
etc.), the duration, the calories burned or distance. You can then record
the personalized phrase that would tell Siri to run the shortcut.
Inside the app you'll also find a Gallery of premade Shortcuts that you
might take advantage of. Among the Morning Routine options, you'll see, are
shortcuts that let you know when to leave home so you won't be late for
work, as well as a brushing teeth timer that will make you sure you're at it
for a full two minutes.
Since shortcuts can be shared, you might want to pass that one along to your
kids.
Original Article at:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/02/28/siri-shortcuts-ho
w-automate-tasks-iphone-via-voice-tap/3013975002/
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