Apple reportedly bringing Screen Time, Siri Shortcuts and other iOS features to Mac

Apple plans to bring the Siri Shortcuts feature (and likely the Shortcuts app itself) to the Mac with macOS 10.15.

(Web Desk) - As we near Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, where the company will unveil its next major versions of iOS, macOS, and other software updates, 9to5Mac’s Guilherme Rambo is getting the jump on some of those announcements.

Today, he’s reporting that Apple plans to bring the Siri Shortcuts feature (and likely the Shortcuts app itself) to the Mac with macOS 10.15.

Shortcuts allow users to create custom Siri voice commands that trigger actions within a particular app. These actions can be chained together — each Shortcut can include multiple apps — which has quickly made the feature a favorite tool for power users.

Now, Apple will apparently bring those same capabilities to the Mac.

9to5Mac notes that Shortcuts would only work for so-called “Marzipan” apps, which are the apps that Apple has ported over from iOS to the Mac such as Home, Apple News, and Voice Memos.

The company is rumored to have more planned, and it’s expected that, this year, developers will be able to start bringing their own iPhone and iPad apps to Mac computers. Since many of those will have offered support for Siri Shortcuts on iOS, it makes sense to replicate that functionality on Apple’s laptops and desktop machines.

9to5Mac says that Screen Time, the iOS feature that shows the amount of time you’ve spent using your device and individual apps each day, is also set to debut on macOS 10.15.

You can set limits for app usage with Screen Time, and if you exceed that time allowance, you’ll have to enter your passcode to keep using whatever app it is. The full report has other tidbits that are reportedly on the way, including a redesigned section for managing your Apple ID. Oh, and iMessage’s visual effects will also be coming to the Mac. That sounds simple, but it’s actually pretty complicated from a technical perspective.

Earlier this week, 9to5Mac reported that macOS 10.15 will allow the iPad to serve as an external display for Macs. Before that, Rambo revealed that iOS 13 will include a dark mode and major productivity enhancements for the iPad.