Hey Siri, what's my account balance?
Apple’s digital virtual assistant Siri can do a whole host of things, like find information and make calls. But did you know you can now also use Siri to check your bank account balance? Of course this isn't one of the default things Siri knows how to do as an out-of-the-box feature, however you can teach Siri to do this with Apple's iOS Shortcuts app and Nordigen’s free open banking API that connects to your bank account.
To make the integration just follow the steps listed below and you’ll be able to ask Siri to tell you your account balance without lifting a finger. And the best part is that both Siri and Nordigen's API are completely free.
The whole setup takes a good 30-45 minutes, but it's totally worth it. The integration with Nordigen will allow you to connect your European bank account to Siri (1,000+ European banks supported), but a similar approach can be used to connect almost any payment account that has an API.
Shorcuts is available a default app to all users of iOS 13 (and above) circa 2019. In 2017 Apple acquired Workflow, an app that automated manual tasks on iOS, and renamed it to Shortcuts. Shortcuts can handle various different tasks based on triggers like sending a text message, making screenshots, adding new contacts or even checking contents of a website. One of the best features of Shortcuts is that it can be activated with Siri. This is also how you can make Siri smarter and do exciting things, like ask “What's my account balance”.
