Shortcuts in iOS 12 help make iOS devices more accessible for disabled users by reducing common points of friction, like excessive tapping and swiping
Since it was announced at WWDC over the summer, the lion's share of conversation around shortcuts has been about getting things done quickly and efficiently.
Context & Ripple Effects
When Apple previewed Siri Shortcuts at WWDC alongside the standalone Shortcuts app, the framing was productivity: getting things done quickly. This MacStories piece reframes the same feature as an accessibility tool — collapsing multi-step tap-and-swipe sequences into single triggers matters most to users for whom those interactions are the barrier.
That reading fits the feature's technical foundation: the iOS 12 beta's ability to hook into system events is what lets a shortcut fire contextually rather than waiting for a user to invoke it. The accessibility angle also foreshadows where Apple took the platform later — running shortcuts straight from the home screen in iOS 14.3 removed yet another layer of navigation.
First-order effects
- Disabled iPhone and iPad users gain a no-code way to replace repetitive tapping and swiping with one-tap or voice-triggered routines, using the Shortcuts app arriving on the App Store this fall.
- Apple gets a new accessibility story for iOS 12 that costs little engineering beyond what the productivity pitch already required — the same feature now serves two audiences.
Second-order effects
- The shortcut-sharing ecosystem becomes an accessibility distribution channel: routines built by power users can be passed to users who could never assemble them, shifting some assistive innovation from Apple itself to the community around the app.
- Accessibility advocates and reviewers gain a concrete yardstick for judging future iOS releases — not just new features, but whether they reduce interaction steps for users with motor impairments.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, automation and accessibility converge into one roadmap at Apple: manual shortcut-building gives way to natural-language AI workflow creation in iOS 27, while input-side work like Eye Tracking for physical disabilities attacks the same friction from the hardware end — lowering both the skill and the physical effort needed to control a device.
The trend: Apple is steadily turning device automation into an accessibility layer, with each Shortcuts generation lowering the expertise and physical interaction required to operate an iPhone.