Apple Introduces AI-Powered Shortcuts for Creating Automated Workflows

At WWDC 2026, Apple revealed a major update to its Shortcuts app that uses Apple Intelligence to make it significantly easier to create automated workflows in iOS 27.

Traditionally, Shortcuts has been geared toward power users who wanted to automate repetitive tasks, build workflows, or connect actions across multiple apps. With the latest update, users can describe what they want in natural language, and the app will automatically generate the necessary shortcut.

The new capability is powered by Apple Intelligence, which interprets a user’s request and determines the steps required to create the workflow.

“While super powerful, the process of creating these shortcuts can feel, well, complicated,” said Cecilia Dantas, Senior Manager of Home Software Product Marketing, during Apple’s WWDC keynote on Monday.

By introducing AI into the creation process, Apple aims to make Shortcuts more accessible to everyday users. Instead of searching for the correct app actions, triggers, or variables, users can explain the task they want to automate and let the system handle the setup.

Apple provided a practical example during the presentation. A user could create a shortcut that automatically informs their partner when they leave work and includes an estimated arrival time at home.

Rather than manually building the automation, the user would enter the request. Shortcuts would then combine the necessary system functions and app actions, detect when the user leaves work, retrieve a saved address, calculate the ETA using Apple Maps, and send the message through Messages.

Apple also noted that shortcuts can be modified through natural language. In the same example, a user could later update the automation to start playing a favourite podcast after leaving work.

The enhanced Shortcuts experience will be available to users when iOS 27 launches later this fall.