Automating with Apple Shortcuts
Every control in the app is also a Shortcuts action and a Siri phrase on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The daily schedule covers most spaces in two taps — reach for Shortcuts when you want the music to follow your day exactly.
What you can automate
Search SoftWork Beats in the Shortcuts action list and you'll find:
- Play a Genre — start any genre by name. The list comes from the app, so new genres show up on their own.
- Play — pick up the last genre where it left off.
- Pause.
- Skip to Next Track and Play Previous Track.
- What's Playing — the current track, album, and genre.
They all run in the background: the music starts without the app opening or taking over the screen.
Just say it
The phrases work the moment the app is installed — there's nothing to set up:
- "Hey Siri, play Deep Focus on SoftWork Beats"
- "Hey Siri, pause SoftWork Beats"
- "Hey Siri, skip on SoftWork Beats"
- "Hey Siri, what's playing on SoftWork Beats"
A different genre for every part of the day
This is what the built-in schedule can't do. In the Shortcuts app on your iPhone or iPad:
- Open the Automation tab and tap +.
- Choose Time of Day, set the time, and pick the days it repeats — weekdays only, for example.
- Choose Run Immediately rather than Run After Confirmation, and turn off Notify When Run, so the music simply starts. Tap Next.
- When it asks what the automation should do, search for Play a Genre and choose your genre.
- Tap Done — then repeat for each change you want during the day.
A clinic's day might run like this:
- 7:55 a.m. — Play a Genre: Acoustic Mornings, a gentle open
- 11:00 a.m. — Play a Genre: Deep Focus
- 2:00 p.m. — Play a Genre: Lo-Fi Jazz for the afternoon lull
- 5:30 p.m. — Pause
Weekends can keep their own hours, or none at all.
Keep it running on a locked device
The device that plays all day is usually sitting locked on a counter:
- If an automation ever asks you to unlock first, open the shortcut's details (the ⓘ button) and turn on Allow Running When Locked under Privacy.
- For the spoken phrases, turn on Allow Siri When Locked in Settings → Siri.
- Keep the device plugged in. A time-of-day automation runs on a sleeping device, but not on one that's switched off or out of battery.
Triggers that aren't a clock
The same actions work with any Shortcuts trigger:
- Arrive or Leave — the music starts when you get to the shop and stops when you lock up.
- Wi-Fi — joining your business network in the morning.
- NFC — a tag by the door on iPhone: tap the phone to it on your way in.
- Open App or Focus — music that follows how you're working.
- Home Screen, Control Center, or the Action Button — one press to play.
Schedule or Shortcuts?
Use one or the other on a given device — two systems pressing play and pause on the same player will fight each other.
- The daily schedule is built into the player and works on the web, iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. One play time, one pause time, no thinking.
- Shortcuts is iPhone, iPad, and Mac only, but it can do anything: a genre per hour, weekday-only hours, or triggers that have nothing to do with the clock.