what is intents
Asked on 06/17/2025
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Intents, in the context of Apple's App Intents framework, are essentially actions that your app can perform. They are a way to expose your app's core features to the system, allowing them to be accessed and utilized outside of the app itself. This can include actions like opening a note, starting a workout, or adding an item to a grocery list. Intents are the verbs of your app, describing the actions it can perform.
When you create an intent, you provide the system with additional information to properly perform the action. Intents can take parameters and return values, which can be native Swift types or types you define in your app. The App Intents framework allows these actions to be surfaced in various system features like Siri, Spotlight, and Shortcuts, making them more accessible and discoverable to users.
For more detailed information, you can refer to the session Get to know App Intents (00:01:00) which provides an overview of how App Intents can expand your app's functionality across the system.
Bring your app’s core features to users with App Intents
Learn the principles of the App Intents framework, like intents, entities, and queries, and how you can harness them to expose your app’s most important functionality right where people need it most. Find out how to build deep integration between your app and the many system features built on top of App Intents, including Siri, controls and widgets, Apple Pencil, Shortcuts, the Action button, and more. Get tips on how to build your App Intents integrations efficiently to create the best experiences in every surface while still sharing code and core functionality.
Get to know App Intents
Learn about the App Intents framework and its increasingly critical role within Apple’s developer platforms. We’ll take you through a ground-up introduction of the core concepts: intents, entities, queries, and much more. You’ll learn how these pieces fit together and let you integrate your app through Apple’s devices, from software features like Spotlight and Shortcuts to hardware features like the Action button. We’ll also walk through how App Intents is your app’s gateway to integrating with Apple Intelligence going forward.
Design App Intents for system experiences
App Intents power system experiences in controls, Spotlight, Siri, and more. Find out how to identify the functionality that’s best for App Intents, and how to use parameters to make these intents flexible. Learn how to use App Intents to allow people to take action outside your app, and see examples of when to navigate into your app to show contextual information.