Apple shortcuts will reverse the potential of Siri – TechCrunch

At WWDC, Apple launched Shortcuts as a way to "leverage the power of applications" and "expose quick actions to Siri." These will be suggested by the operating system, can be given unique voice commands, and will even be customizable with a dedicated Shortcuts application.

But since this new feature will not let Siri interpret all many complain that Siri is not much better – and still lacks compared to Google Assistant or Amazon Echo.

But ignoring the shortcuts would miss a bigger picture. Apple's strengths have always been the ecosystem of the device and the applications that use them.

With Shortcuts, both play a major role in how Siri will prove to be a really helpful assistant and not just a digital voice. .

Your Apple Devices Are Still Getting Better

For many, voice assistants are cool, but not essential tools.

It's undeniably practical to have facts by talking to the air, turning on the lights without lifting a finger, or trigger a timer or text message – but until now , studies have shown that people do not use much more than these on a regular basis.

People often do not do more than that, the assistants are not yet ready for complex tasks, and when your assistant is limited to tasks inside your home or spoken commands on your phone, the disadvantages prevent you from going further

better reliability and a wide range of skills, but you can not use your phone or tablet with your Echo. If you prefer to have the Google wizard everywhere, you have to be on the Android and Home ecosystem to have the full experience.

In addition, with one or the other option, there are confidentiality issues. work on a fundamental level – on the web.

In the Apple ecosystem, you have Siri on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, CarPlay, and any Mac. Add shortcuts to each of these devices (except Mac, but they still have Automator) and all of a sudden you have a plethora of places to run all these commands entirely by voice.

Every accessory available to Apple users will be improved Siri new ways to fill the 10 billion and count the demands that people make each month (according to the statement of Craig Federighi on stage at the WWDC).

But even more important than all the places where can use your assistant is how – with shortcuts, Siri gets even better with each new app that people download. There is the other key difference: the App Store.

Actions are the most important part of your applications

iOS has always had a dynamic community of developers creating powerful, first-rate applications that push the system to its limits and take advantage of the growing power of these mobile apps.

Shortcuts opens these features to Siri – every action you perform in an application can be shared with Siri, allowing users to interact online or using only their voice, the application running without problems in background.

Moreover, the functional approach that Apple is taking with Siri creates new opportunities for developers who bring usefulness to people instead of demanding their attention. The shortcut suggestions feature rewards "acceleration", showing apps that allow the most time and use for the user more often.

This opens the door to more specialized types of apps that do not necessarily need public and serve them ads – if you can do something that helps people, shortcuts can help them use your app more than ever (and without effort). Developers can make a great experience when people visit the app, but also focus on actually doing something useful too.

This is not a virtual assistant who lives in the cloud, but a digital assistant who can pair with applications leverage Apple's hardware and software capabilities to really enhance your use of the Internet. ;apparatus.

In the most brilliant way possible, "there is an app for that" is back and more important than ever. Applications are not only the centerpiece of Siri's experience, but his capabilities extend those of Siri: the more applications you have, the better Siri is.

It is important to note that Siri gets all these shortcuts while keeping control in everyone's hands.

All information provided to the system is transmitted safely by individual applications – if something does not seem right to you, you can Just delete the corresponding application and the information is part.

Siri will make recommendations based on activities deemed relevant by the applications themselves, so overly active suggestions should not be common (unless you are too active in some apps applications, in which case they have added Screen Time for you too.)

Each of the voice commands is also user-personalized, so people can ignore their application suggestions and set up the phrases as they see fit. This means that nothing is already "taken" because someone first registered with the skill (unless you have already used it, of course).

Moreover, shortcuts do not require the Web to work. work, but the suggestions and the application Shortcuts give you a place to use your assistant without a voice. And most importantly, shortcuts can use all the power of the Web when they need it.

This user-centric approach coupled with the technical aspects of running Shortcuts gives the Apple assistant a head start for all consumers. Essentially, Apple devices only listen to "Hey Siri", then Siri domains available + your own custom trigger phrases.

Without exposing your information to the world or teaching a robot to understand everything, Apple has given Siri a wealth of possibilities. In many ways, this can not be matched. With the shortcuts, it is the applications, the operating system and the variety of hardware that will make Siri exceptionally qualified this fall.

Plus, the Shortcuts app will provide a deeper experience to those who want to chain actions and customize their own shortcuts.

There are many more things to experiment with, but this will allow anyone to modify his Siri commands until they have a small army of assistant tasks. custom.

Siri does not know everything, can not perform any task you entrust to him, and will not make strange phone calls on your behalf.

But instead of spending time conversing with a somewhat "skewed" artificial intelligence, "Shortcuts will help people use Siri as a true digital assistant – a computer to help them do things better than they can."

With Siri's new skills at each of your Apple products (except Apple TV and Mac, but maybe someday?), every new device you get and every new application you download may reveal another way to take advantage of what this technology can offer.

This expansion of Siri may take some time – It will be important to find the right place in your life. [19659005AsyouprogressthroughyourapplicationsyouwillbegintoseeandusesuggestionscreateafewvoicecommandsandthenstartareallyusefulshortcutfromyourAppleWatchwithouthavingtoworryaboutityourphoneisconnectedandyouwillrealizethepotential

This is a real digital assistant, your applications know how to use it, and that is already the case on many of your Apple devices. Now it's time to really make use of it.