On this week's episode of the HomeKit Insider podcast, guest Matthew Cassinelli joins to talk about Shortcuts and home automations.

Co-hosting this week is Matthew Cassinelli. He previously worked at the app Workflow, prior to Apple's acquisition.

He joined the Apple team as the Workflow app was converted into Shortcuts, before eventually setting out on his own. He's now known as one of the biggest proponents of Shortcuts in the tech space.

Before getting into Shortcuts, we start — as always — with the news. It was another light week with only a few relevant topics to talk about.

Sonos has announced its first new product in over a year, the Sonos Amp Multi. This 8-channel amp is designed for professional installation and uses GaN technology for a smaller footprint and supports Apple AirPlay.

Apple also had a new product drop since the last episode — AirTag 2. We go into all the changes of the updated model.

The Aqara U400 smart lock has now launched as an exclusive Deluxe Kit at Apple Stores. This version comes bundled with a second battery pack.

After the news, Matthew helps guide the conversation the Shortcuts app. We talk about the basics of home automations, how to convert home automations into shortcuts, and the differences between those and true shortcuts.

We also talk through the intricacies and limitations of the different automation types and triggers and where they run. For example, what automations can run on a Home Hub versus what requires your device to be present.

It's a far-reaching conversation and even gets into working with conditionals and integrating Apple Intelligence into automated shortcuts.

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