Is Siri Shortcuts a Breakthrough for Voice UI on Mobile?
Maybe, but it needs work.
Not too long ago, I shared my opinion regarding the challenges of voice assistants, voice technology in general, and the user experience behind it. In the months since, all leading vendors have made significant improvements! Amazon Alexa got smarter, introducing several new devices including the new Echo Dot, Sub, Plus, Show and even its own Smart Plug. I’m really impressed by the new Alexa Guard feature adding some home security enhancements to your Echos. Siri and Google Assistant are also getting regular updates and amazing new features, making them genuinely proactive helpers instead of just assistants on-demand.
Right now, however, I’d like to talk about a new Siri feature that Apple presented in iOS 12, and the opportunities it opens for developers and users of our products:
Siri Shortcuts
If you’re not familiar with Siri Shortcuts, check out the video Apple released for it during their 2018 Worldwide Developers Conference.
Apple describes it simply: “Siri Shortcuts let you quickly do everyday tasks, and with the apps you use the most — all with just a tap or by asking Siri.”
In a nutshell, you can now create a sequence of actions in any application on your iPhone. Then, you just assign a voice command for each sequence, and tell this command to Siri every time you want to activate it. Alternatively, developers can create such sequences for you in their apps. A great example of this is how my friends from Readdle implemented Siri Shortcuts in their email app, Spark 2.0:
On one hand, it sounds like an amazing idea! Control all of your apps with voice commands. You can just assign voice commands for every frequent action in every app, and happily control your smartphone with your voice through Siri. On the other hand, our experiments with Siri Shortcuts in the Reinvently Team indicate that it doesn’t really have broad-based support yet, so it isn’t quite as useful as it sounds.
Shortcut Limitations
The idea of shortcuts to perform frequent app-related tasks much faster is a natural and logical next step. However, the implementation is not without some hiccups. There are basically two ways to create a shortcut now using the Siri Shortcuts App:
- It can be suggested by Siri for repeating actions.
- It can be suggested by an application (donated shortcuts), but it only activates after a user performs that action.
Unfortunately, the UX for creating shortcuts should be updated. It’s too geeky now. If it’s not easy and intuitive to use, people won’t use it. I’ve discussed this at some length, suffice that I can see a lot of people downloading Siri Shortcuts but probably not using it all that much.
Also, the current version of Siri Shortcuts doesn’t support any parameters whatsoever. This precludes commands like “Siri, order Uber to 125 University Avenue in Palo Alto.” The address is a parameter, not a predefined command. For end-users, this means that you cannot call custom parameters from your applications. That’s a significant limitation.
You also have to remember the exact phrase, and can’t change it. From Siri’s perspective, “Show my recent bookings” and “Show my bookings” are two different commands. Creating a shortcut is not a very user-friendly process either. At least not yet. After Apple adds natural language processing to its shortcut requests at the same level as Amazon Alexa works, we will get a much better user experience.
So as a user I’d call it a real breakthrough for voice UI on mobile when we can finally use real parameters and not fixed phrases:
- “Siri, call Uber now [to my current location]”
- “Siri, what is the best sushi restaurant nearby on Yelp”
- “Siri, read my last 5 Chase transactions”
What About Security?
On a side note, I’m curious how Apple will solve some security issues. Will it let developers or users decide if they want to unlock iPhone first before launching data-sensitive commands. And who will decide what is data-sensitive?
Now, I’m getting very frustrated when I’m working out and a call interrupts my listening to a new audiobook on Audible.
Me: “Siri, resume playing.”
Siri: “You need to unlock your iPhone first.”
Me: “It’s in my locker and I’m working out, remember?”
Siri: <crickets>
Conclusions
All major producers in the Voice Assistant market have been busy improving on their product performance, reliability, and features since they hit the market. The next step ahead is a matter of adding parameters so that Siri’s Shortcuts can be customized by end-users on the go.
For additional reading about Siri Shortcuts, I’d recommend:
- Introduction to Siri Shortcuts in iOS 12 on Medium by AppCoda
- Human Interface Guidelines for Siri Shortcuts by Apple
- Siri Shortcuts FAQ by Apple
I’d love to hear about your experience either using Siri Shortcuts or implementing them as a developer! Please connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter!
