Siri Shortcuts bring new automation tools to the iPhone and iPad.
Well, it tries.
The very first one we tried, “Go Running,” was simple (we thought):
1. Play music from our Running 2018 playlist
2. Open the Nike+ Run Club app
Two very simple operations.
The music plays just fine, then we get the error: “Shortcuts could not open Nike+ Running. It may not be installed on this device.”
Oh, it’s installed, thanks, but it’s named “Nike Run Club.” When you build the Shortcut, the Open App action lets you choose “Nike Run Club” app, but then fails due to the app being named something different internally, “Nike+ Running.” That’s right, Apple’s Shortcuts app cannot find the app that it just let you choose.
Nike and/or Apple are going to have to get on the same page here. You’d think that Apple and a major partner, with years of branded Apple Watch models, no less, would have such obvious kinks tested and fixed at launch, but… Tim Cook’s Apple.
So, guess what will happen if Joe or Jane Sixpack ever tries such a simple thing and it fails?
They’ll never launch the Shortcuts app again. Yup, it was a miracle they even launched it in the first place – automation has never caught on with the masses – and then Apple blew it straight off on the execution by failing once again to pay pretty much any attention to detail and by NOT TESTING BLATANTLY OBVIOUS USE CASES.
And, by the way, while you’re at it, Apple and Nike, how about getting together and fixing the bug that causes the Nike Run Club app on the Apple Watch Nike+ to crash hard, completely borking the current run if it’s paused and the user switches to the Music app to change volume or songs? That bug – again occurring during a painfully obvious use case that even 10 minutes of testing would encounter – has only been there for multiple years through many, many updates. (This is a common complaint about which Apple should be aware since it’s on their own support pages. Apple should have worked with Nike to fix this long ago.)
If you’re going to partner and sell Nike-branded wares, Apple, it behooves you to at least make sure that the Nike stuff works perfectly.
Again, Apple has been selling Apple Watch Nike+ devices for years and, for years, the Nike Run Club app crashes hard when paused during a run if the user tries to do anything in the Music app (and potentially any other app; we haven’t tested it; that’s Apple’s job – or it used to be, anyway).
Yes, we’re sick and tired of buying Apple Watch Nike+ units and updating the Nike Run Club app, hoping against hope, yet continuing to have our runs obliterated due to sloppy fscking coding and piss-poor quality control.
And – one more thing 😉 – tapping “START” should, you know, START the run pretty much immediately, not, oh 3, or 5, 17, or however many random seconds the app takes to decide to actually start. It’s useless for timing a race, for example, when you’d like to tap the START button along with the starting gun and have it, you know, start. Sheesh.
Again, Apple should not be blaming Nike or shuffling Apple Watch users off to Nike support. Apple is selling the Apple Watch Nike+ and the product should be rock solid perfect with every Nike app, even if Apple has to code the Nike apps themselves. Period.
Listen, we recommend the Apple Watch Nike+ hardware. Just don’t try to use its namesake Nike Run Club app. It’s a poorly-coded bad joke and it has been a buggy mess since its inception. Apple and Nike should be embarrassed. The Nike Run Club app lets down the Apple Watch Nike+ horribly.
Hey, Apple, we liked you better when you cared more about the details that matter to users than about your office door handles.
SEE ALSO:
Apple releases Shortcuts app for iPhone and iPad – September 17, 2018
Most people will never use Apple’s ‘Siri Shortcuts’ – June 5, 2018
Nobody needs Nike to run. Screw Nike. Just do it. Resist Nike. Fsck nike.
Not the point, but thanks for playing.
MDN said it best:
If you’re going to partner and sell Nike-branded wares, Apple, it behooves you to at least make sure that the Nike stuff works perfectly.
Sir’i’s been cut short. Still an idiot.
Well said and much more restrained than the typical progressive psycho. Just screw Nike and don’t buy anti-American crap. Glad to see Cook smartened up and got on good terms with the God Emperor, which will save Apple billions.
The Nike shortcut command will be enabled to coincide with the new Colin Krappernick watch face.
Yep, couldn’t have said it better myself.. If Apple had a brain they’d get rid of Nike and it’s garbage.
Say, “Start a run” and it launches right away after asking which running app I would like to use. I didn’t even need to set up a shortcut.
A little perspective helps too. This is a modern first-world problem.
Not the point, either. Apple is pushing the Shortcuts app and Siri Shortcuts, yet it can’t even do a simple thing like start the Nike Run Club app.
Calling it a “first world problem” is a cop-out. That’s the answer of an apologist. I didn’t spend $500 on a Apple Watch Nike+ in order for its central raison d’être namesake app not to work perfectly or even decently.
Does Apple test anything before they ship? If they do, they certainly don’t test comprehensively or well.
First world prob? Yes, but from a 1st world co that has a jillion in the bank and has tech know-how far above said app that sounds Microsoftian.
Let excellence lead and rule. Compromises are for the wanna-bes and second rates.
Yes, those of us who live in the first world and pay a premium for Apple products have first world problems which we want to be fixed given that we live, er, in the first world.
Time for somebody to get fired.
You mean siri sucks at a basic implementation that was promised?? Shocking!
Unbelievable that Apple can keep adding features to siri while the basic functionality remains horrible. On top of that, I keep having bugs with my series 2 nike watch (including trying to use siri to launch it) and have given up on it for logging runs.
Oh well, at least the hardware and core software remain amazing. Can’t wait for my Max on Friday!
Actually, no.
It’s not a Siri issue.
It’s an issue with Apple’s Shortcuts app, the Nike app, and overall quality control – or lack thereof – at Apple (and Nike, but Apple should take responsibility as they’re selling Apple Watch Nike+).
Siri is the biggest piece of shit going.. We can go on and on with all of Apple’s fails over the past 5 years.. It’s never ending.. Here I type on a shit keyboard 2017 MacBook Pro that isn’t worth a damn.. every type of ‘n’ created 5-10.. This machine is utter garbage. Never thought I’d HATE and Apple product like I do today.. DAMN SHAME
You really mean that Siri sucks with Nike stafff failing to test the use of there own app diligently on Apple Watch?
If Nike is soooo GREAT, how do these glitches get ignored? Too big for their own ‘shorts’ maybe? Executives must exist at Nike that don’t even use their products.
Totally agree, and not just with the Nike issue…most iPhone owners might try this app once or twice but the process is too complex, with little documentation available. I will eventually find some value but most will give up
Thank you for saying what needs to be said. The Nike app is the most frustrating piece of junk on Apple Watch. I relied on the Nike app on my phone for years until they completely ruined it. I’ve often wondered how and why this app could be THIS bad, especially when Apple co-brands their hardware with it. Another complaint…try ending a run with sweaty fingers or rain-soaked screen. Can’t do it, can’t swipe to end the run. Apple’s own workout app can be stopped/paused by pressing the side button and crown together. Why can’t Apple and Nike work together to do the same?????
Siri not recognizing apps unless you say exactly the right words is a problem with many other apps For instance, if you ask Siri to “open Amazon app”, it will return the result that you don’t have an app named “Amazon app” (even if you do), then Siri offers to search for it in the App Store… if you simply say “open Amazon”, then it works. Is it too much to ask that Siri could figure that out?
Siri drives me nuts just as much as the next person, but it does open the amazon app when I say “open the amazon app.” I should say, as long as she understands what I say – which is about 49% of the time.
There are many other simple task that I ask and it gets totally wrong. Such as, when I ask for directions to a school that my daughters at and it’ll find a school 1000 miles away in Colorado. Now that ish drives me mad!
I blame Tim Cook for everything wrong with Apple today.
MDN: “Yes, we’re sick and tired of buying Apple Watch Nike+ units and updating the Nike Run Club app, hoping against hope, yet continuing to have our runs obliterated due to sloppy fscking coding and piss-poor quality control.”
I think a key problem here is that you’re still buying things that you know don’t work, based on hope.
No, our hope is based on copious past experience with a company once renowned for attention to detail that may no longer exist in that way.
Sure, but once a product is shown to be ineffective, and with no evidence that they’ve corrected the problem, why would you put dollar one into another one?
I believe strongly in assessing products on a case-by-case basis, with Apple’s *recent* history being a guide in setting expectations. Recent history is a mess, so expectations are low. When they make claims that seem too good to be true, I presume they are. When they release a new product, I presume it will be critically flawed and/or fail to deliver on the hype.
If they can right the ship and outperform lowered expectations for a few cycles, my presumptions will change, but every product still needs to be looked at individually.
At the moment, I’m about to try iOS 12 with a particular eye on whether they remembered that they have a badly broken podcast app. New features like shortcuts aren’t even on my radar. They will almost certainly fail to work as advertised.
@MDN: Email Tim?
tcook@apple.com
Shortcuts is not an intuitive app. Pretty confusing. Apple needs more guidance on how to set things up properly, or it will just become another ‘hobby’ IMO.
Until recent years even within the walled garden, it would have been beyond belief that Apple would be so overtly pushing to squeeze every penny/cent out of their loyal fan base by making physical/financial obstacles to simple iOS tasks like moving pics and files around to other devices and in the same breath not bother to at least provide a superior (hell an acceptable) experience within those set limitations we have long tolerated. Such brazen exploitation especially when presented by such a superficial double dealing ‘do gooder’ like Cook is seriously testing ones loyalty and love for a company that once for all its faults made owning its products a privilege well worth the outlay.
That is what happens when you become a content company, see Sony, Apple getting into video content isn’t going to end well, the nickel and dime mind set for video is going to kill Apple from within.
And Nike is responsible for the workings of their program not Apple.
This is a Nike problem “Exclusively”, they have a name for their app you see, and a name for the App you don’t see. if they had written their app correctly, there would be no issue and this guy would not be whining..
Boohoo, I can’t get my Nike Siri shortcut to work.. Just report the issue, wait for it to fixed and grow up..
> Boohoo, I can’t get my Nike Siri shortcut to work.. Just report the issue, wait for it to fixed and grow up..
You’re such a tit.
Apple is pushing a crap product and it knows it. And we have waited for it to be fixed. And waited. And waited.