That Shortcuts was released first for iOS 13, and updated for iOS 14, and again for iOS 15, before ultimately being released as part of macOS 12 Monterey is significant. That this visual scripting environment runs on watchOS, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS makes it perhaps the most significant application/software environment that Apple has brought to its enduser ecosystem.
-rws
On September 19, 2019, with the public launch of iOS 13, the Shortcuts app became a default app installed on all iOS 13 devices.
On June 7, 2021, at WWDC 2021, a desktop version of the Shortcuts app was announced for macOS, for forthcoming macOS Monterey and was released on October 25, 2021.
Historical Perspective:
HyperCard was originally released in 1987 for $49.95 and was included free with all new Macs sold then.[1] It was withdrawn from sale in March 2004, having received its final update in 1998 upon the return of Steve Jobs to Apple. HyperCard was not ported to Mac OS X, but can run in the Classic Environment on those Mac OS X that support it.
In the late 1980s Apple considered using HyperCard's HyperTalk scripting language as the standard language for end-user development across the company and within its classic Mac OS operating system, and for interprocess communication between Apple and non-Apple products. HyperTalk could be used by novices to program a HyperCard stack. Apple engineers recognized that a similar, but more object-oriented scripting language could be designed to be used with any application, and the AppleScript project was born as a spin-off of a research effort to modernize the Macintosh as a whole and finally became part of System 7.
AppleScript was released in October 1993 as part of System 7.1.1 (System 7 Pro, the first major upgrade to System 7). QuarkXPress (ver. 3.2) was one of the first major software applications that supported AppleScript. This in turn led to AppleScript being widely adopted within the publishing and prepress world, often tying together complex workflows. This was a key factor in retaining the Macintosh's dominant position in publishing and prepress, even after QuarkXpress and other publishing applications were ported to Microsoft Windows.
Automator is an app used to create workflows for automating repetitive tasks into batches for quicker alteration via point-and-click (or drag and drop). This saves time and effort over human intervention to manually change each file separately. Automator enables the repetition of tasks across a wide variety of programs, including Finder, Safari, Calendar, Contacts and others. It can also work with third-party applications such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop or Pixelmator. The icon features a robot holding a pipe, a reference to pipelines, a computer science term for connected data workflows. Automator was first released with Mac OS X Tiger (10.4), which was released to the public on April 29, 2005.
Starting in macOS Monterey, Automator is being replaced by Shortcuts.
