To extend the idea a bit…iOS shortcuts should be considered “extensions” by the same token.
They’re incredibly easy to make and can create a lot of value, plus they’re shareable.
As an example…I built https://SimplifyRecipe.com/shortcut in a couple hours and it’s been extremely useful for getting rid of the life story on recipe pages. Lots of people connected with that concept, so now I’m working on building a full-fledged app.
Thanks! I’m happy to answer questions if you have any: Stephen at bate-man.com.
It’s a bit of a Wild West right now so there are very few resources. I just started building a couple tools using the shortcuts app (it comes with a builder GUI).
The system is more powerful than it looks. You can pull HTML from pages, grab all the links, do for each loops, if statements, variables, etc.
the biggest drawbacks are (1) the UI in the shortcuts app is targeted at non-developers and (2) not all features are supported on older devices and (3) you can’t issue “updates”, so once you share a shortcut it’s just out there and (4) people don’t usually have context for what a shortcut is.
But in exchange you get instant, one-click install without an approval process. It’s pretty cool!
I just forwarded this off to my wife because we joke about how bad most recipes are with elaborate backstories. This is a product that I really want while also solving a problem that doesn’t quite meet the threshold for me to actually do something about it. Stumbling upon it randomly was a good way for me to adopt it tho so there’s that.
There’s room enough for the both of us. :) but seriously thanks for the question.
The short answer is by being web-first and absurdly fast. SimplifyRecipe is for people who used Pinterest for a couple years but got annoyed by the cruft in that ecosystem.
They’re incredibly easy to make and can create a lot of value, plus they’re shareable.
As an example…I built https://SimplifyRecipe.com/shortcut in a couple hours and it’s been extremely useful for getting rid of the life story on recipe pages. Lots of people connected with that concept, so now I’m working on building a full-fledged app.