Apple Intelligence turns Shortcuts into a plain-language automation tool in iOS 27

Apple is using Apple Intelligence to let users build multi-step Shortcuts automations by describing what they want, although the feature is limited to newer devices.

Apple’s Shortcuts app has long been one of the iPhone’s most capable tools, but it has also been one of its least approachable. For years, it offered a way to automate repetitive tasks across iPhone, iPad and Mac, yet building anything beyond the simplest routine often meant working through a maze of actions, conditions and triggers. According to CNET, that complexity has been a major reason many users have never moved beyond the app’s surface.

That is beginning to change in iOS 27. The latest version of Shortcuts is now tied into Apple Intelligence, allowing users to create automations by describing what they want in plain language rather than assembling every step manually. MacRumors says Apple’s new “Describe a Shortcut” function is designed to remove much of the friction that previously made the app feel intimidating, and examples include routines such as switching on lights at night or organising actions around notifications and calendar events.

Apple’s own support material shows that the system goes beyond simple one-step commands. It can build multi-part workflows that use intelligent actions to summarise text, generate images, or feed responses from Apple Intelligence models into a shortcut. In practice, that means Shortcuts is shifting from a tool that only experienced users were likely to master into one that can interpret a more conversational request and assemble the automation behind it. The App Store also highlights use cases such as sending meeting summaries by email or messaging an estimated arrival time when leaving work.

The feature is not universal, however. CNET notes that the natural-language shortcut builder requires Apple Intelligence, which limits it to an iPhone 15 Pro or later, or an iPad or Mac with Apple silicon. Apple’s support pages also make clear that some capabilities depend on device, language and region settings. For users on older hardware, the traditional editor remains available, but the easier route is not.

That older editor can still be switched on in Settings under Apps and then Shortcuts, where users can choose Editor instead of the new describe mode. Even so, the direction of travel is clear. Apple appears to be lowering the barrier to automation by letting the software translate intent into actions. For anyone who has ignored Shortcuts because it felt too technical, iOS 27 is meant to make the app far more practical, and far less like a programming exercise.