Apple’s iOS 27 should make compatible iPhones smarter and more capable than ever. With this huge update, there are settings to help keep kids safe when using their devices, give you more control over how Liquid Glass looks, and – iPhone 15 and later – will get an AI-powered Siri. But beyond these software improvements, Apple is also upgrading a hardware feature of the iPhone: the action button.
This nifty button is already a pretty versatile tool as it can perform all kinds of quick actions, the most notable of which is a shortcut of your choice. While this sounds promising in theory, casual users often find the Shortcuts app quite intimidating. In turn, they tend to settle for the predefined shortcuts found within the app and on platforms like Reddit and YouTube. This means that the action button is often underused.
However, that’s about to change with the help of one of Apple Intelligence’s new features: Describe Shortcut. Now you have the power to create a custom shortcut that fits your exact needs, even without knowing the ins and outs of the Shortcuts app.
How does it work?
The AI-powered Describe Shortcut feature on iOS 27 is designed to take the hassle out of creating a shortcut from scratch. Instead of manually adding the sequence of actions for the custom shortcut, you simply type in what you want it to do. Then sit back while Apple Intelligence analyzes your prompt and automatically creates the shortcut.
In iOS 27 Beta, the setup goes like this: launch the Shortcuts app, tap the new New Shortcut button at the bottom, and type your prompt. This can be as simple as “Set an alarm for 9 a.m.” or as complex as “When I set the phone to silent, turn on the color filters, turn on the always-on display, and start a Pomodoro timer with 25 minutes of work and 10 minutes of rest.” »
After that, you will see the result of the generated shortcut. If you realize you need the shortcut to do something else, just enter the changes you want to make. Next, tap the play icon to run the new shortcut and check your changes. To add new steps to the shortcut, tap the hamburger icon in the upper right corner. Once you have generated your shortcut, you can proceed to assign it to the action button. Keep in mind that this feature is not stable yet, so if you decide to download iOS 27 Beta on your iPhone, you may encounter some issues.
