At WWDC 2025, Apple unveiled its new AI-powered shortcuts app.
The company says the shortcuts will allow developers to directly leverage Apple Intelligence, allowing developers to access Apple’s On-Device Large Language Model (LLM).
Shortcuts allow users to access AI models on devices or private computing and generate responses that feed into the rest of the shortcut. For example, students can use AI to compare audio transcriptions of class lectures with notes and create shortcuts that add missing keypoints. You can also leverage ChatGpt to provide additional responses that feed into the input of the shortcut.
Users can take advantage of a new type of shortcut that is enabled by Apple Intelligence: Intelligent Actions. For example, there are dedicated actions to summarise text using AI (a writing tool in Apple Intelligence) or create images in the image playground.
Apple says the new feature will be available for testing starting Monday.
The AI-ASSISTED Shortcuts app offers more personalized features and support following the company’s announcement last year of an AI-enhanced upgrade to virtual assistant SIRI. However, Apple pushed back the release and said it would take longer to deliver than expected.
At WWDC 2025, we continued to make AI promises, including introducing updated versions of our scripts and automation shortcut apps.
With these AI changes, the shortcuts are likely to avoid using apps that have been part of the power user toolkit so far, making them easier to use for those who are less likely to be inclined to.
For example, today’s popular shortcuts will help you create custom memes and GIFs, create meeting notes, track the time spent on a particular activity, create playlists, save PDFs, find where to take photos, look at location-based reminders, combine screenshots, shorten URLs, download files, and more.
This update could also serve as a kind of stop gap in Apple’s delays to fully upgrade your SIRI with AI-assisted automation, as it could at least feel efficient using your iPhone when leveraging AI-assisted automation. (If you are willing to enter your work centered around creating shortcuts, that’s true.)