AppStories

Shortcuts Utility Apps Revisited

Mar 16, 2025

A playful look at music nostalgia leads into a lively discussion about the evolution of shortcut helper apps. The hosts highlight productivity boosts from utilities like Actions and AI Actions, showcasing their impact on iOS and macOS. They explore Shortery’s unique capabilities for managing webpage summaries and dive into innovative tools for automating workflows in Obsidian. They also introduce the Text Workflow app, emphasizing its text formatting features, while hinting at discussions about the iPad's relationship with web applications.

32:26

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Quick takeaways

The podcast highlights how third-party shortcuts utility apps are innovatively addressing the limitations of Apple's native shortcuts on MacOS.

Federico's interview reveals that web applications often provide more superior user experiences than native iPad apps, reflecting broader iPad ecosystem challenges.

Deep dives

The Evolution of Shortcuts Helper Apps

The podcast discusses the growing landscape of shortcuts helper apps, emphasizing the lack of significant updates to Apple's own shortcuts on the Mac platform since its rollout three years ago. Many third-party developers have stepped in to address the shortcomings by creating utilities that enhance user workflows. Examples include the Actions app, which provides a vast array of actions that integrate seamlessly into the shortcuts app, making it invaluable for power users. This evolution highlights a shift where external developers are now filling gaps that Apple has not addressed, showcasing innovation in shortcuts usability on MacOS.

Intro

2min

Maximizing Productivity with Shortcut Utility Apps

10min

Enhancing Productivity with Shortcut Automation

6min

Enhancing macOS Shortcuts with Utility Apps

10min

Exploring Utility Apps and Text Transformations

4min

This week, Federico and John explore a collection of Shortcuts helper utilities that extend functionality beyond the built-in system actions, sharing how these apps address gaps in Apple’s Shortcuts implementation across the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

On AppStories+, John interviews Federico about his recent story that concludes web applications often provide superior experiences to native apps on iPad, examining how this trend reflects broader challenges in the iPad ecosystem.

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This episode is sponsored by:

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