With the release last week of iOS 12 iPhone app developers can integrate an “Add to Siri” button right in their app’s interface for common tasks that their app can perform – like playing a favorite playlist, for instance.
When a user taps this button, they’ll be directed to a screen where they can record their own custom voice command to launch whatever task or action the developer is suggesting.
These are some of the apps that you can try Shortcuts today:
- Pandora: After you “Add to Siri” in the settings for Pandora, you can then choose a specific station, album, or playlist and record a custom phrase to say the next time they want to hear it.
- Streaks: The habit tracker app also added an Add to Siri option that will allow users to record custom phrases to complete their tasks.
- PCalc: will let you record voice commands for any common activity in the app, like converting currencies, setting the clipboard, opening conversions, and more.
Other apps with shortcuts are Sky Guide, Things, Carrot Weather, The Weather Channel, City Mapper, Google News and TripIt.
Jobs to be done… by me?
Even though I was quite disappointed with Apple’s stance on voice during their special event, I’m watching closely their moves. Bringing Brian Roemmele’s thoughts on Shortcuts as powerful kernels for Siri, made by the developers themselves, as a way to have this concept of jobs to be done. What concerns me though with this approach, is that there is so much cognitive load that we can handle in any given moment. The fact that I have to set all of this, and then remember what shortcut I use for the playlist and which to open my cards on Trello put the load on me as the consumer and not in the machine.
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