iOS 18.4: New Shortcuts actions to change settings in apps ahead of Siri’s AI update
Apple has added a bunch of new actions for its Shortcuts app, including ones for changing various settings in the built-in apps.
Apple launched iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, macOS Sequoia 15.4, watchOS 11.4 and visionOS 2.4 on March 31, 2025, but the official changelog lists no improvements for the built-in Shortcuts app on the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Vision Pro.
As it turns out, these updates bring several new Shortcuts actions for your automations, many of which are designed to change various settings in the built-in apps like Apple TV, Books, Calendar, Clock, Maps, Messages, Notes, Reminders, Safari, Voice Memos, Weather and others.
iOS 18.4: New Shortcuts actions to change settings in apps
For example, the Maps app brings dedicated actions to avoid tolls and busy roads, set the volume level for turn-by-turn directions and others. The Messages app gets a new action to open a specific conversation.
Safari settings nations include toggling the built-in popup blocker, switching and closing tabs, changing the private search engine, autofilling contact info or credit cards, toggling the landscape tab bar, opening links, toggling Safari suggestions and search engine suggestions, plus changing tab layout and tab bar configuration.
Many of the new actions provide granular controls. Here are all the new Shortcuts actions in iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, macOS Sequoia 15.4, watchOS 11.4 and visionOS 2.4 listed on Apple’s support page.
- Clock actions
- “Add City” and “Remove City” are now available on all platforms
- Messages actions
- “Open Conversation” is now available on all platforms
- Settings actions: “Get Settings” and “Change Settings” are now available on iOS, iPadOS and visionOS for the following apps:
- Books
- Calendar
- Freeform
- Maps
- News
- Reminders
- Safari
- TV
- Voice Memos
- “Get Settings” and “Change Settings” are also available on macOS for the following apps:
- Maps
- News
Apple will probably leverage these in-app actions for the delayed Siri update, which will support complex queries requiring the assistant to chain together multiple in-app actions. iOS 18.5, iPadOS 18.5, macOS Sequoia 18.5 and other updates are currently in testing, and will arrive for public consumption in a few weeks. The current beta of iOS 18.5 doesn’t include any new Shortcuts actions, but Apple may bring them in subsequent betas. Watch this space as we keep you in the loop.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/04/08/ios-18-4-apple-shortcuts-app-settings-actions/
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