Apple Acquires Automation App ‘Workflow’ and Its Creators

Apple this week finalized its most recent acquisition — the equally powerful and popular automation app, Workflow, which has been used and adorned by millions of iPhone and iPad users around the globe.

First released on the App Store back in 2014, Workflow by DeskConnect, Inc., is a multi-faceted, multi-use automation tool that can help users accomplish — well — just about anything they set their minds to. With the app, users can create individual “workflows” to help them accomplish tasks, such as creating a GIF image from multiple still photos, for example, or translating an article into a different language, calculating the tip amount at a restaurant, or posting photos to multiple social networks at the same time — just to name a few.

In addition to boasting a gallery-style list of popular tasks, including a meme maker, a video to GIF converter, a QR code scanner, and more, Workflow also allows users to create their own automations, as well.

Apple has announced that, per the terms of the acquisition, the company will be acquiring the app, as well as its three co-creators — Ari Weinstein, Conrad Kramer, and Nick Frey — who will be joining the team up in Cupertino full-time.

“We are thrilled to be joining Apple,” Weinstein said in a statement. “We’ve worked closely with Apple from the very beginning, from kickstarting our company as students attending WWDC to developing and launching Workflow and seeing its amazing success on the App Store. We can’t wait to take our work to the next level at Apple and contribute to products that touch people across the world.”

It’s not entirely clear what Apple plans to do with the app, or how much it was acquired for. But it’s possible that the software could be built into future versions of iOS and/or macOS, so it will definitely be interesting to see what the future holds for Workflow. Fortunately, as of Thursday afternoon, users can still download Workflow absolutely free from the Apple App Store.