A few days ago, I finally had the opportunity to dive into Workflow. It’s an application that I’ve had installed on my iPhone for months, but just haven’t had the opportunity to give it a shot. I’ve been aware of it for much longer, though. And if you follows he writing of Federico Viticci on MacStories, like I do, you’re also aware of how powerful the application is.

Workflow is reminiscent of Quicksilver to me. When I bought my first Mac in 2006, Quicksilver was the one power user, productivity app that I just had to have. Anyone who read 43 Folders or listened to MacBreak Weekly during that time probably felt the same way — Merlin Mann was a huge advocate for Quicksilver.

While Workflow is more akin to Automator than Quicksilver, I feel it does a lot of the same things for power users on iOS as Quicksilver did for Mac users. When I sit down at another person’s Mac, I will inevitably hit control+space and am thoroughly confused when an app launcher doesn’t appear — I don’t know how to function on a stock OS X install anymore.

I’ve only built a couple of workflows with the Workflow — I plan on sharing them once I do some more testing — but I can already tell that, just like with Quicksilver on the Mac, I’ll soon find it difficult to use an iOS device without Workflow installed.

And just as Quicksilver will be forever associated with Merlin Mann in my brain, Federico Viticci will be to Workflow. He’s written extensively about the application since its introduction in 2014 and has shared countless tips for getting the most out of the app. I plan on reading all of the articles from MacStories’ Workflow tag as I continue to familiarize myself with all of its features. And I encourage you to do the same. Especially if you still feel like iOS is a lesser operating system that isn’t capable of “real work.”