Key Takeaways
Why is there nothing as good as iOS Shortcuts on the Mac?
Shortcuts is iOSs built-in systemto automate your iPhone or iPad.
On the Mac, theres nothing as easy, or as well-supported.
Christina @ wocintechchat / Unsplash
Shortcuts
iOS is locked down tight.
Which makes it all the more miraculous that Shortcuts started out as such a third-party app.
Shortcuts lets you string together many actions, for automate pretty much anything on your iPhone or iPad.
Its a form of visual programming, only its way easier.
You just drag pre-made blocks onto a canvas, and they run one after the other.
Many third-party apps include Shortcuts actions in their apps, letting you automate them.
But the majority of actions are built in.
you could pull up the camera, record audio, trim video, and way more.
Thereseven a gallery in the appto browse example shortcuts.
You also can trigger shortcuts automatically.
Its active, exciting, and alive.
Automation on the Mac
Automation on the Mac is way more powerful than on iOS.
And yet automation on the Mac is moribund.
Automator seems to have had very few updates in recent years, if any.
Sounds simple, right?
You have to install tools into the command line, and then write a script to use it.
Shortcuts on the Mac?
It could be the general neglect that the Mac has suffered since iOS came along.
Thats changing, thanks to the new Apple Silicon Macs, and hopefully the software will follow.
One possibility is for Apple to bring Shortcuts to the Mac.
