Shortcuts (formerly Workflow) is a visual scripting application developed by

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

and provided on its

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

iPadOS iPadOS is a mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for its iPad line of tablet computers. It is a rebranded variant of iOS, the operating system used by Apple's iPhones, renamed to reflect the diverging features of the two product l ...

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

, and

watchOS watchOS is the operating system of the Apple Watch, developed by Apple Inc. It is based on iOS, the operating system used by the iPhone, and has many similar features. It was released on April 24, 2015, along with the Apple Watch, the only dev ...

operating systems. It allows users to create macros for executing specific tasks on their device(s). These task sequences can be created by the user and shared online through

iCloud iCloud is a Personal cloud, cloud service from Apple Inc. launched on October 12, 2011 as a successor to MobileMe. , the service had an estimated 850 million users, up from 782 million users in 2016. iCloud enables users to sync their data to t ...

. A number of curated shortcuts can also be downloaded from the integrated Gallery. Shortcuts are activated manually through the app, shortcut widgets, the share sheet, and

Siri Siri ( ) is a virtual assistant that is part of Apple Inc.'s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking and a natural-language user interface to answer questio ...

. They can also be automated to trigger after an event, such as the time of day, leaving a set location, or opening an app. Shortcuts was originally created by DeskConnect, Inc. (Ari Weinstein, Conrad Kramer, Veeral Patel, and Nick Frey) for MHacks Winter 2014 competition and was awarded first place for Best iOS App.

History

Workflow originally began as a project at The University of Michigan's MHacks. In 2015, Workflow received an

Apple Design Award The Apple Design Awards (ADAs) is an event hosted by Apple Inc. at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The purpose of the event is to recognize the best and most innovative Macintosh and iOS software and hardware produced by independent d ...

for its integration with iOS

accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

features such as

VoiceOver Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...

. On March 22, 2017,

acquired Workflow for an undisclosed amount. Following the purchase, the software was made available for free. An accompanying update also changed some of the service providers used within the app to those owned or preferred by Apple, such as Apple Maps and

Microsoft Translator Microsoft Translator is a multilingual machine translation cloud service provided by Microsoft. Microsoft Translator is a part of Microsoft Cognitive Services and integrated across multiple consumer, developer, and enterprise products; including B ...

, and closed submissions of workflows to Gallery. On September 17, 2018, the Workflow app became the Shortcuts app, which runs shortcuts with

, along with

iOS 12 iOS 12 is the twelfth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. Aesthetically similar to its predecessor, iOS 11, it focuses more on performance than on new features, quality improvements and security updates. Ann ...

. The app was announced on June 4, 2018, at

WWDC The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is usually held at Apple Park in California. The event is usually used to showcase new software and technologies in t ...

2018. On September 19, 2019, with the public launch of

iOS 13 iOS 13 is the thirteenth major release of the iOS mobile operating system developed by Apple Inc. for their iPhone, iPod Touch, and HomePod lines. The successor to iOS 12 on those devices, it was announced at the company's Worldwide Developer ...

, the Shortcuts app became a default app installed on all iOS 13 devices. On June 7, 2021, at

2021, a desktop version of the Shortcuts app was announced for

References

External links

Workflow
Website & Documentation Automation software Apple Inc. acquisitions IOS software macOS {{software-stub IOS-based software made by Apple Inc.

History

See also

References

External links