Taking the Apple Agents Concept Even Further with Shortcuts, a Store, and Access Anywhere

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 23:15:02 -0400

The reception to my Apple Agents concept the other day was tremendously positive and I had to expand on it. Imagine being able to build agents with Shortcuts and natural language, browsing an Agent Store for more advanced automation tools, and even the ability to chat with your agents from anywhere on your iPhone from the Dynamic Island.

Apple News+ Food and Designing Concepts While Trying to Think Like Apple

Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:27:41 -0400

Apparently, I’m on a roll with predicting new Apple services. Last year, when Apple introduced the Sports app I was tremendously excited. Two years earlier I had nailed the logo, the name, the color scheme, and the overall concept. While my imagined Apple Sports app was much more ambitious, we still got the bones of it. It always feels good when an idea of mine ends up coming to fruition, particularly when it comes to an Apple concept. It’s happened a few times, both in more obvious cases and in some edge ones. Obviously, I can’t take any credit for them making these products. After all it’s possible they had already begun working on things like Sports well before I posted my concept. That being said, it looks like I nailed another Apple service.

Yesterday the company unveiled Apple News+ Food. It’s a new section inside of the News app that lets you read food publications, get nutrition stories, find new recipes, and organize those recipes into your own little collection. Four years ago, I created a concept for 9to5Mac imagining “Apple Kitchen.” Apple Kitchen was envisioned as a new app that would be built-in to your iPhone that surfaced recipes from popular providers, allowed you to organize recipes, provided an optional paid service for videos from professional chefs, and helped you keep a grocery list. It felt like a natural extension of the company’s health initiatives. Now despite Apple News+ Food being a new section of an existing app and not a dedicated one, it is very much what I imagined they would create sans the instructional videos. Apple News+ Food features a dedicated new UI for getting new recipes from providers like Bon Appetite, Good Housekeeping, and Southern Living. There’s a beautifully designed catalogue system and a way to create your own library of the recipes you find. It even provides you with detailed ingredients lists. And of course, it’s a new premium service rather than a free one. Another feather in my cap.

As you might imagine, I was pretty excited to see this surprise announcement yesterday. When creating concepts, my goal has always been to be as realistic and pragmatic as possible. In other words, to think like Apple would. Too many concept designers often go far out of the realm of possibility. But I’ve always tried to stay true to what I think Apple would actually do. I guess I have been on the right track.

Side note: Apple News+ Food is almost certainly a service intended for Apple’s upcoming smart display. The new user interface for actually walking through a recipe feels like the clearest hint.

Concepts on Parker Ortolani

Taking the Apple Agents Concept Even Further with Shortcuts, a Store, and Access Anywhere

Apple News+ Food and Designing Concepts While Trying to Think Like Apple