Here are the new Apple Shortcuts app features in iOS 17

iOS 17 is finally available to the public, as are iPadOS 17 and watchOS 10. The updates come with many new features like improvements to iMessage and FaceTime and NameDrop. They also bring a lot of new functionality to Shortcuts – and Apple has just published a detailed document highlighting everything new in the Shortcuts app.

New shortcut app actions are available with iOS 17

Apple describes app shortcuts as “a quick way to accomplish one or more tasks with your apps.” Users have endless possibilities to create automation using native iOS features as well as integration with third-party apps.

With iOS 17, watchOS 10 and macOS Sonoma (which will be available next week), more features are available to users (via Matthew Cassinelli). For example, you can now create shortcuts to transcribe an audio file to text, delete an alarm, scan a document, or create a Time Machine backup.

Here is a list of new commands available with the updates:

• Transcribe Audio generates text from an audio file
• Delete Alarm Removes the specified alarm from the clock
• Edit Sleep Alarm Skips the next sleep alarm or reactivates a skipped sleep alarm
• Open Camera Opens the Camera app in a specific capture mode, such as “Selfie”.
• Open a collection Navigates to a specific section of the Photos app, such as “Locations”
• Show Password Navigates to Passwords in Settings on iOS and System Settings on macOS
• End Workout Ends your current workout session on iOS and watchOS
• Scan captures a document image and saves it to the Files app on iOS
• Get the current timer, pause the timer, resume the timer, and cancel timers are now supported on iOS
• Start Stopwatch, Lap Stopwatch, Stop the Stopwatch and Reset Stopwatch are now supported on iOS
• Set hotspot password and Get hotspot password are now supported on iOS
• Toggle cellular plan, set default line, set data roaming, find cellular plan and reset cellular data statistics are now supported on iOS
• Start Time Machine Backup Starts or stops backing up your data with Time Machine on macOS
• Move Window, Resize Window, Find Windows, Find Display, and Find Apps are now supported on macOS

Update action

With the latest software updates, Apple has improved some of the features that were already present in the Shortcuts app. such as:

• A set timer can now start a new timer even if one is already running
• Search Alarm Location Get all alarms now, retrieving all alarms or only those that match the filter criteria
• Set volume can now adjust media volume or ringtone volume
• Health Patterns now supports more data types such as sleep, mood and appetite changes
• Event Attendees for Calendar now includes a Type attribute to distinguish people, groups, and rooms
• Get Network Details now includes more options like channel number, hardware MAC address and rate information
• Take Photos is now more reliable when taking multiple photos in a row

For more details on what’s new in the Shortcuts app this year, check out the article published by Apple on its official website.