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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Two new software updates make automating device tasks easier.
- Google announced Create My Widget for its smartwatches.
- Apple unveiled Describe a Shortcut last week.
There are tasks, chores, and activities we do each day that require repeating a certain set of annoying steps. Take going to the gym, for example. When I go to my gym, I have to ride the subway a few stops and pull up a barcode on my phone that the front desk scans to let me in.
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A few months ago, I got sick of fumbling with my phone as I left the subway, so I created a Shortcut on my iPhone to open my gym’s app. This was the first time I used the Shortcuts app, and while creating a custom shortcut for my specific need wasn’t difficult, it wasn’t easy or intuitive for someone unfamiliar with automation either.
First, you have to create a “Do” command. For this purpose, my command was to open my gym app. Then you have to go into the Automation tab, add a new Shortcut, and link a “When” (When I arrive at my gym’s location) to a “Do” (Open my gym’s app). Again, not difficult but not seamless.
Apple has seemingly acknowledged Shortcuts’ stickiness. At its software developer conference last week, the tech giant unveiled a new feature coming to iOS 27 that eliminates some of the tedium of creating Shortcuts. Now, all a person has to do to create a Shortcut is describe it, and Apple’s AI does the bulk of the brunt work. The feature arrives alongside Apple’s revamped, more capable Siri.
Also: iOS 27’s Shortcuts upgrade makes automations easy to build – and will save me so much time
Apple follows Google’s lead with this descriptive feature. Earlier this month, Google unveiled Create My Widget for Android phones, and on Tuesday, it announced that the feature is coming to its lineup of smartwatches, as well. Create My Widget is launching alongside Wear OS 7, the company said.
Creating a widget becomes as simple as describing what you’d like to see on your smartwatch. All of this is powered by Gemini Intelligence.
“With multi-step app automation, Gemini navigates tasks directly from your watch, whether it’s reserving a front-row bike for your spin class or ordering your usual from your favorite restaurant,” Google said in a blog post.
Wear OS 7 also brings live updates to your Pixel Watch from your phone app, improved multi-device functionality to make way for intelligent eyewear and headphones coming soon, and a 10% increase in battery life.
Widgets and Shortcuts are two ways to simplify getting information and accomplishing tasks. I have four widgets on my iPhone with live updates, including one for hourly weather checks, one for subway arrival times, one for easily accessing my Spotify app, and one for checking how many Citi Bikes are available at my nearest dock. I love these Widgets because they make my most important apps even easier to access with as few taps and touches as possible. The same goes for Shortcuts.
Also: How to download the iOS 27 developer beta (and which iPhone models support it)
By reducing the workload on the phone or smartwatch user, both Google and Apple are leaning into the DIY era of automation, marked by vibecoding and agentic AI. I appreciate that these small yet helpful automation features will make the user experience of technology’s biggest device even more useful.
