Apple WWDC 2025: macOS Tahoe 26 Shortcuts Upgrades

Keeping it short silly

Right, you know Shortcuts, don't you? Used to be a bit fiddly, a bit niche. For the proper nerds, mostly. You'd set up some little chain of commands, and it'd do a thing. Fine. Adequate. Like a mildly competent assistant.

But in macOS Tahoe 26, they've strapped a jet engine to it. No, seriously. This isn't just about chaining commands anymore. Oh no. They've given it a whole new class of what they call "intelligent actions." What does that mean? Well, it means you can now get it to do things that actually require thinking. Need a massive block of text summarized? Boom. Shortcuts can now use those fancy "Writing Tools" powered by Apple Intelligence to do it for you. No more slogging through endless reports. Want to create an image, just by typing a few words? It'll use the Image Playground to whip one up. It's like having a digital intern, but one that actually understands what you want.

And the best bit? It's tapping directly into those clever Apple Intelligence models. Some of it happens on your Mac itself, proper private. But even when it needs a bit more oomph, it uses something called Private Cloud Compute, so your information stays locked down tighter than a drum. So, if you're a student – God help you – you could build a shortcut that listens to a lecture, compares it to your rubbish notes, and then points out all the crucial bits you missed. Because who wants to actually pay attention in class, eh? Oh, and if you want to tap into the wider world, you can even hook it up to ChatGPT. Because sometimes, you need an expert, and ChatGPT knows everything. Don't ask me how, it just does.

And finally, for the ultimate in laziness – I mean, efficiency – Shortcuts can now run automatically on macOS. This is brilliant. Set it to do a thing at a specific time, or when you save a file to a folder, or when you plug in a display. It just happens. No more faffing about. Your Mac just quietly gets on with it, while you're busy... well, doing whatever it is you do.
So, forget the old Shortcuts. This new version is powerful. It's smart. It's automated. It's bloody brilliant.