Apple will allegedly revamp the built-in Shortcuts app in iOS 26 this fall with the ability to create actions using Apple Intelligence models.
A revamped version of the Shortcuts app, one of the projects currently underway at Apple, will “let consumers create actions using Apple Intelligence models,” Mark Gurman said in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg.
“This had long been planned for 2025, but delays may push it to 2026,” he added. If the new Shortcuts app isn’t ready in time for iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS 26 this fall, then it will arrive in a future update, likely iOS 26.4 in Spring 2026.
iOS 26 includes an AI-enhanced Shortcuts app
The Shortcuts app is a powerful tool born out of Apple’s acquisition of the popular productivity software Workflow. With it, you can create actions, such as launching certain features within apps or playing a particular playlist, or complex automations spanning dozens of actions across different apps.
Key to that is App Intent, Apple’s software framework, which lets developers make their app’s actions available in the Shortcuts app. App Intents also enable “Siri to understand and perform actions within apps, making them more accessible and usable from anywhere on the device,” as per Apple’s developer documentation.
App Intents are crucial for an AI-enhanced Siri upgrade that Apple delayed over technical and organizational challenges. Apple said AI Siri will be able to chain together and perform a series of actions in and across apps. But as Apple notes, “Siri’s personal context understanding, onscreen awareness and in-app actions are in development and will be available with a future software update.
When will the iOS 26 beta launch?
Apple will preview its renamed operating systems at the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference next week, releasing the first developer-only previews of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 and more after wrapping up its June 9 keynote. In July, the company should permit the general public to test these operating systems ahead of their fall launch. Gurman has learned that Apple has named macOS 26 after California’s Lake Tahoe to signify the upcoming glassy design overhaul.