Kindle for iPad and iPhone is Getting a Siri Shortcut
Amazon released an update for its Kindle iOS app last Tuesday, and it’s a pretty useless one.
According to the changelog, some time in the next few weeks we will be able to enable a Siri shortcut to open our most recently read ebook (iOS 12 only). This shortcut will activated in the Siri menu under settings before we can use it, but once it is you will be able to tell Siri to open the ebook so you can continue reading.
… Is that all?
Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate the value of voice commands. My issue here is that this one command is completely useless without other commands like next/previous page, "open library", "open Kindle title", "add bookmark", etc.
Without enough commands to enable real hands-free use, what Amazon is doing here really only amounts to a gimmick and not a useful feature. They might as not have bothered, and saved their energies for another feature.
Comments
Sharon R. Francisco March 12, 2019 um 8:30 am
On its own, the Siri Shortcut to open the most recently read book might seem underwhelming. But with the Shortcuts app, I can combine multiple Siri Shortcuts. For example, if I like to read for 30 minutes before I go to sleep, I can create a Shortcut called "Bedtime" that dims the lights in my bedroom, turns off all the other lights in the house, sets my alarms for the next morning, opens my book in Kindle, waits for 30 minutes, then turns off the lights in my bedroom, and switches from the Kindle app, and starts playing my sleep track (e.g., white noise) from Apple Music. All I have to say is, "Hey, Siri… Bedtime." I have a similar Shortcut (minus the Kindle shortcut) that I use every night. It’s great!