Apple released Siri Shortcuts as part of iOS 12 last month. My bet is you haven’t yet downloaded the Shortcuts app from the Apple App Store. If that’s the case, go get it now! Trust me. It’s one of the neatest and most useful new apps from Apple.

Shortcuts gives you a simple to use tool for creating and running automations that save you time. You trigger these shortcuts with a single click or by simply telling Siri to run a specific shortcut. Think of it as your own personal assistant that never gets tired and can do multiple things from one command.

To give you an idea, here are some examples and ways I use Shortcuts everyday.

Headed Home – this shortcut does 5 things with 1 single click! First, it determines how long it’ll take me to get home (from wherever I am, typically work). It shows me how long it’ll take to get home and the best route to take. It sends my wife a text saying “Headed home! ETA: xx minutes”. It then shows me any events I have on my calendar for the rest of the day. Finally, it loads the podcast I listen to on the way home. All with one, simple click!

Headed to Work – this shortcut shows me today’s weather forecast, estimates my drive time to work, shows me the quickest route based on traffic, shows me my first two calendar events for the morning, and plays my morning news podcast.

Add Blog Idea – throughout the day, I typically have a few business growth ideas or blog ideas. Previously, to capture these, I’d have to locate and launch Evernote, find the proper notebook and locate my Idea note. Then I’d scroll to the end of the note and add my idea to the note. Now, I simply launch the Siri Shortcut with either a click or by saying “Hey Siri, Add Blog Idea”. This automates every step above! I simply type in my idea and click OK. It automatically appends the proper note.

Share Availability – when you launch this shortcut, your iPhone will ask you for what date you’d like to share your availability. When you click OK, it places all of the times during that day that you’re available in a text message. Simply enter a name and click Send.

Here’s a look at my shortcuts:

There’s also a really creative shortcut which someone built called Police-Getting Pulled Over. Hopefully, you won’t need to use this one. However, if you’re getting pulled over, this shortcut pauses any music playing from your phone, sets your phone to Do Not Disturb mode, sets the screen Brightness to low, gets the current street location, sends a text to a person you pre-select letting them know what’s going on and sharing your location. It then activates your phone’s video camera and starts recording. After the incident is over, it stores a copy of the video in iCloud, sends you a text with a copy, and returns your phone to its normal state.

There are over 100 pre-built shortcuts in the Shortcut Gallery (available right in the app). Each one can be saved to your phone and modified to do just what you would like it to do.

There’s an easy to use drag and drop type editor to build or edit shortcuts.

More and more apps are adding Siri Shortcut capability so you can use specific features inside their apps in shortcuts you create. I’m waiting on Starbucks to add Siri Shortcuts capability to its app so I can automate my Friday morning routine which includes a stop for coffee.

Check out Siri Shortcuts and see what you think. I bet you’ll have some fun and find useful ways to make your day more productive.