Workflow cofounder and Shortcuts engineering supervisor departs Apple

Shortcuts has develop into one in every of Apple’s most-loved apps, permitting customers to create highly effective automations on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Shortcuts is constructed on the inspiration of Workflow, a third-party automation app that Apple acquired in 2017.

Now, Workflow cofounder Ari Weinstein has introduced that he’s leaving Apple.

Weinstein co-founded Workflow in 2013 and turned it into a robust automation device for iPhone, regardless of the restrictions Apple imposes on third-party apps. When Apple acquired Workflow in 2017, Weinstein joined Apple as a software program engineering supervisor engaged on Shortcuts and different intelligence and “proactive” options for Apple platforms.

Weinstein introduced his departure in a thread on Mastodon yesterday:

I left Apple this month after 6 years (9 together with Workflow!)

Once we made the Workflow app at a hackathon, I by no means dreamed that it might be preinstalled on each iPhone, and energy techniques like Shortcuts and App Intents. I’m so grateful for this journey and for our workforce.

I’ve liked Apple and its merchandise since I used to be a child, and attending to work there, together with so many gifted individuals, has been an actual honor, and lots of enjoyable.

So it’s actually robust to go away, however I’m excited to take a while off, and construct one thing new!

Apple has obtained fairly a little bit of recognition from customers for the way it dealt with the Workflow acquisition. Initially, Apple turned Workflow right into a free app, and it remained out there by way of the App Retailer. It additionally continued to obtain updates and new options, regardless of preliminary considerations on the contrary.

With the launch of iOS 12 the next yr, Apple debuted its all-new Shortcuts app, constructing on the idea of Workflow. Transferring inside Apple allowed a lot of these automations to develop into extra highly effective and superior, eradicating the restrictions that Worfklow needed to construct round as a third-party app.

At a look, Weinstein’s departure from Apple may appear dangerous for the way forward for Shortcuts. However whereas it’s actually a loss for the corporate, my understanding is that Shortcuts has lots of help inside Apple and the corporate is greater than dedicated to the app’s future. Exterior Apple, there’s a large group of Shortcuts followers who’ve created some spectacular libraries of Shortcuts for anybody to attempt.