Using Sleep Sine with Siri, Shortcuts, and Personal Automations

You're already in bed. You don't want to open the app to skip a scene, pause for a phone call, or change the timer. Sleep Sine ships native iOS integrations — Siri voice, an interactive Home Screen widget, and full Shortcuts compatibility — so the app responds without you reaching for it. This guide is the complete tour: every voice phrase that works, every widget button, and a walkthrough of the Personal Automation worth setting up once.

Voice — say it to Siri

Sleep Sine surfaces five App Intents via Apple's AppShortcutsProvider, which means the voice phrases below work the moment you launch the app once after install. No Shortcuts wiring, no setup screen, no permission dance.

The five canonical phrases

Play / pause

"Hey Siri, play Sleep Sine"
"Hey Siri, pause Sleep Sine"
"Hey Siri, toggle Sleep Sine"
All three run silently — the app doesn't pop open or take focus. Pure audio control.

Next scene

"Hey Siri, next Sleep Sine scene"
"Hey Siri, switch Sleep Sine scene"
Cycles forward through the five scenes (Thunderstorm → Fireplace → Ocean Night → Aurora Night → Deep Space → loop).

Play a specific scene by name

"Hey Siri, play Thunderstorm on Sleep Sine"
"Hey Siri, play Aurora Night in Sleep Sine"
"Hey Siri, start Fireplace on Sleep Sine"
Three prepositions (on / in / start) work for each scene. Use any scene name from the scenes catalog.

Sleep timer

"Hey Siri, set Sleep Sine sleep timer"
"Hey Siri, start Sleep Sine sleep timer"
Siri prompts for the number of minutes. See the timer length guide for picking the right value.

Load a sine code

"Hey Siri, load Sleep Sine sine"
"Hey Siri, open Sleep Sine sine code"
Siri prompts for the 12-character code. Useful when a friend texts you a sine without a link, or when you're working off a printed bedside card in a hotel and don't want to scan a QR.

What's NOT a voice phrase: "previous scene." The Previous Scene action exists as a building block in the Shortcuts app, but isn't surfaced to Siri voice — it's a less natural request in practice, and the Home Screen widget (below) covers it for the cases where you actually need it.

Where the phrases also appear

The same five intents show up in:

• Spotlight search. Swipe down on the Home Screen, type "Sleep Sine," and the actions appear as tap-to-run shortcuts.
• The Shortcuts app. Open Shortcuts → Gallery or search "Sleep Sine" — all five appear as building blocks plus the Previous Scene action.
• Apple Watch Siri. Same phrases work from the wrist if the watch is paired and Siri is enabled.
• CarPlay and HomePod. Anywhere Siri runs, these phrases run.

The Now Playing widget

Sleep Sine's Now Playing widget (small + medium sizes on the Home Screen) is interactive in iOS 17 and later. Three live buttons fire AppIntents directly without opening the app:

◀ Previous

Cycle backward through the five scenes.

⏯ Play / pause

Toggles the audio. Runs silently via the audio background mode — no app foreground bounce.

▶ Next

Cycle forward through the five scenes.

The widget also displays the current scene name, emoji, and the 12-character code of whatever's loaded — useful for jotting down a sine you've ended up with after tweaking sliders.

Add it to your Home Screen

1. Long-press an empty area of your Home Screen until icons jiggle.
2. Tap the + in the corner.
3. Search for Sleep Sine.
4. Pick Now Playing (small or medium).
5. Tap Add Widget, then place it where you want.

What about Lock Screen and StandBy widgets?

Sleep Sine ships Lock Screen and StandBy widget families too. Those are display-only — they show current scene + emoji + 12-character code, but no controls. The widget families are intentionally smaller (Lock Screen is a single tile; StandBy is a single circle), and cramming three buttons in produces poor accessibility and hit-target sizing. The Home Screen widget is the right surface for live control.

The bedtime Personal Automation

The most-leverage hands-free move is wiring Sleep Sine into your Sleep Focus via the Shortcuts app's Personal Automations. Once set up, your evening scene starts the moment Sleep Focus activates — no voice, no tap, just happens.

Step-by-step walkthrough

1. Open the Shortcuts app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap the Automation tab at the bottom.
3. Tap + in the top right to create a new automation.
4. Pick Focus from the trigger list, then Sleep.
5. Choose When Turning On. (Optional: also set up a separate automation for "When Turning Off" to pause Sleep Sine on wake.)
6. Tap Next.
7. Tap New Blank Automation.
8. Tap Add Action.
9. Search for Sleep Sine and pick Play Scene.
10. Tap the scene parameter and pick your bedtime scene (Aurora Night, Ocean Night, etc.).
11. Optional: tap Add Action again, search Sleep Sine, pick Set Sleep Timer, choose the timer length.
12. Tap Done.

By default, Personal Automations ask for permission before running. To make this fully hands-free, toggle off "Ask Before Running" in the automation's settings — Apple shows a confirmation dialog once, then it runs silently every time Sleep Focus activates.

Other triggers worth combining

• Time of day. "Every weekday at 10:30 PM, play Aurora Night on Sleep Sine + set a 60-minute timer."
• Arrive home. "When I arrive home after 9 PM, play Fireplace on Sleep Sine." (Geofence-based; useful for evening wind-down.)
• CarPlay disconnects. Trigger when CarPlay disconnects in the evening — assumes you've just walked into the house.
• Charging starts at night. Plug your iPhone in after 10 PM → scene starts.
• Specific Focus mode. Not just Sleep — try your "Wind Down" or "Personal" Focus if you use those.

Loading shared sines via voice and Shortcuts

The Load Sine intent works for any 12-character sine code. Practical patterns:

• Friend texts you a sine: tap and hold the code in iMessage → "Copy" → "Hey Siri, load Sleep Sine sine" → paste when Siri prompts.
• Hotel bedside card without a QR: say "Hey Siri, open Sleep Sine sine code" and read the printed code aloud.
• Wire a specific sine into an automation: in Shortcuts, add Load Sine as an action and type the code directly. Useful for "play my custom Thunderstorm tweak at 11 PM" workflows.

The web fallback (scanning a QR card directly with iOS Camera) opens the Universal Link to sleepsine.com/s/[CODE] — which routes straight to the app when installed. So scanning a QR is the fastest way; voice is the eyes-closed-already-in-bed alternative.

Hands-free on Apple TV

Most of the above is iPhone/iPad-specific. On tvOS, the natural hands-free surface is the Siri Remote: say "Hey Siri, open Sleep Sine" to launch the app. The Top Shelf integration shows your current scene art when you focus the app on the home screen. For all-night Apple TV use cases, see the dedicated Apple TV sleep display guide.

For developers / power users: the canonical AppShortcuts declarations are in SleepSine/Shared/Intents/SleepSineShortcuts.swift in the app source. If a phrase listed above doesn't work after launching the app, it usually means the AppShortcutsProvider hasn't been re-indexed by the OS yet — restart the device or wait an hour and try again.