Shortcuts Gets Natural Language Creation in iOS 27
What You Need to Know
- Shortcuts app gains natural language interface allowing users to describe desired actions in plain text.
- Apple Intelligence builds automations automatically from descriptions, available on iPhone 15 Pro and newer devices.
- Shortcuts can now store data, access new automation triggers, and search web information in real-time.
- Feature remains in beta with manual editing available for users wanting deeper customization without AI.
The Shortcuts app has always been capable. It has also always been the kind of thing most iPhone owners open once, feel vaguely confused by, and never touch again. iOS 27 is a direct attempt to fix that, and the mechanism is simpler than most Apple announcements suggest: you just describe what you want.
Tapping the New Shortcut button in iOS 27 opens a “Describe a Shortcut” interface with a plain text box. Type something like “text my partner an ETA when I leave work, then start playing my podcast,” and Apple Intelligence selects the actions, builds the automation, and produces a finished shortcut. The feature works across iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate, and requires an iPhone 15 Pro or later, an M-series iPad, or an Apple silicon Mac.
Refinement is built into the same interface. After the app outlines what it built, you can test it immediately or use a “Describe a change” prompt to iterate through multiple rounds of adjustments. Manual editing remains available for anyone who wants to go deeper without the AI layer, which matters because Apple acknowledges the feature is in beta and not always accurate.
What else changed under the hood
The update is not only about natural language creation. Several additions expand what shortcuts can actually do:
- Shortcuts can now store and update data, enabling tallies or running lists
- New automation triggers include incoming notifications, screenshots, keyboard connections, and Apple Watch workout starts
- Cloud Pro models can search the web for real-time information inside a shortcut
- Automation is no longer a separate section, folded instead into general shortcut actions
The expanded model access is the part worth sitting with. A shortcut that can pull information from the web on demand is a different category of tool than one that only manipulates local data and system settings. Combined with natural language event handling elsewhere in iOS 27, and the camera’s emerging role as a visual AI interface, Shortcuts starts to look less like a power-user utility and more like a connective layer Apple is building across the whole system.
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