Siri, Spotlight and Shortcuts
Sunset Beach, NC adds ten App Shortcuts that work with Siri, Spotlight and the
Shortcuts app as soon as the app is installed — say “Tide times in Sunset
Beach”, “Rip current risk in Sunset Beach” or “Alerts in Sunset Beach” and
the app opens on that screen. Behind them are three actions you can use in
your own shortcuts: Open Beach Screen (pick any of 64 screens and sections),
Search the Beach (opens the app’s search with your words typed in) and
Open Beach Alerts. Every one of them works by opening a sunsetbeach://
link, and you can open those links yourself. Nothing here speaks an answer —
every phrase and action opens the app on the right screen rather than
reading a tide time aloud.
The ten phrases
Section titled “The ten phrases”Every phrase must contain the app’s name, so say it as written. Each tile below has more than one phrasing; any of them works.
| Say | Opens |
|---|---|
| ”Tide times in Sunset Beach” · “When is high tide in Sunset Beach” · “When is low tide in Sunset Beach” · “Show me the tides in Sunset Beach” | Water › Highs & lows |
| ”Water quality in Sunset Beach” · “Is the water safe in Sunset Beach” · “Swim advisories in Sunset Beach” | Today › Water quality |
| ”Conditions in Sunset Beach” · “How warm is the water in Sunset Beach” · “Water temperature in Sunset Beach” | Today › Right now |
| ”Rip current risk in Sunset Beach” · “Surf forecast in Sunset Beach” · “Is it rough in Sunset Beach” | Water › Surf zone forecast |
| ”Sunset time in Sunset Beach” · “When is sunset in Sunset Beach” | Today › Sunrise & sunset |
| ”Beach rules in Sunset Beach” · “Dog rules in Sunset Beach” · “Can I bring my dog in Sunset Beach” | Beach info › Rules on the beach |
| ”Parking in Sunset Beach” · “Where do I park in Sunset Beach” | Beach info › Paid parking |
| ”Sea turtles in Sunset Beach” · “Turtle nests in Sunset Beach” | Nature › Sea turtles |
| ”Search Sunset Beach” · “Find something in Sunset Beach” | The search sheet — Siri asks “What are you looking for?" |
| "Alerts in Sunset Beach” · “Open Sunset Beach alerts” | The Alerts screen |
In the Shortcuts app these appear as a Sunset Beach group of ten tiles (short titles: Tide times, Water quality, Conditions, Surf zone, Sunset, Beach rules, Parking, Sea turtles, Search, Alerts). Ten is Apple’s limit for ready-made App Shortcuts, which is why the other places are reached through the Open Beach Screen action instead.
The three Shortcuts actions
Section titled “The three Shortcuts actions”| Action | What it does | Parameter |
|---|---|---|
| Open Beach Screen | ”Opens any section or screen in Sunset Beach — the same places the app’s own search reaches, including the ones several taps inside a tab.” Summary reads Open <Screen> in Sunset Beach. | Screen — a Beach Screen (see below) |
| Search the Beach | ”Opens Sunset Beach’s search with a query already in it.” Summary reads Search Sunset Beach for <text>. | Search for — free text (“Anything the app might know — tides, dogs, UV, parking.”) |
| Open Beach Alerts | ”Opens Sunset Beach’s alert settings, and what is currently queued.” | none |
All three open the app in the foreground; none returns a value to the shortcut.
The Beach Screen picker
Section titled “The Beach Screen picker”Beach Screen is the list of places the app can open: 64 entries — the 15 screens (Today, Water, Events, Nature, Beach info, Nature map, When to go, The year, This week, Sightings, Birds, Migration radar, Fishing, Sources, Alerts), followed by 49 sections, each shown with its title and where it lives (“Water”, “Nature › Fishing”). The four sections of the Alerts screen are deliberately not listed separately, because all of them open the same sheet; pick Alerts.
Typing into the picker searches with the app’s own search index, including
its synonyms, so “uv” offers Air & sun, “dog” offers Rules on the
beach, and “size limit” offers Before you keep one (three screens deep
under Nature › Fishing). A saved shortcut stores the place’s sunsetbeach://
link; if a future version of the app stops recognising it, the Shortcuts editor
shows the parameter as broken rather than silently opening a different screen.
Spotlight
Section titled “Spotlight”The ten App Shortcuts are what iOS lists for Sunset Beach in Spotlight and in Siri suggestions. The app does not add its own Spotlight index of tides, species or events — for that, use the in-app search (see Search).
Deep links: the sunsetbeach:// scheme
Section titled “Deep links: the sunsetbeach:// scheme”Every shortcut, widget tap and notification tap opens the app through one of these links, and you can use them yourself (from a Shortcuts Open URL action, for example). A link the app does not recognise is ignored — the app opens where you left it rather than on an arbitrary screen.
| Link | Opens |
|---|---|
sunsetbeach://today, sunsetbeach://tides, sunsetbeach://events, sunsetbeach://nature, sunsetbeach://info | The five tabs (tides is the Water tab, info is Beach info) |
sunsetbeach://launches, sunsetbeach://sources | Older names still honoured: Events, and the Beach info tab |
sunsetbeach://nature/map · /almanac · /year · /planner · /sightings · /birds · /migration · /fishing | Nature map, When to go, The year, This week, Sightings, Birds, Migration radar, Fishing |
sunsetbeach://info/sources | The Sources screen inside Beach info |
sunsetbeach://launch/<id> | One launch’s detail screen on Events; a bare sunsetbeach://launch opens the Events tab |
sunsetbeach://section/<sectionId> | Switches to the right tab, pushes any screens needed, and scrolls to that section |
sunsetbeach://alerts | The Alerts screen (from any tab, without changing tab) |
sunsetbeach://search and sunsetbeach://search?q=uv | The search sheet, empty or with a query typed in |
Section ids
Section titled “Section ids”Use these after sunsetbeach://section/. Sections filed under Alerts open the
Alerts screen.
| Screen | Section ids (title) |
|---|---|
| Today | todayRightNow (Right now) · todayActivities (What it’s good for) · todayWhenToGo (Next window) · todaySunset (Sunrise & sunset) · todayAirAndSun (Air & sun) · todayUpcoming (Upcoming) · todayPractical (Practical) · todayWaterQuality (Water quality) · todaySkyAhead (Weather ahead) · todayBestDays (Best days this week) |
| Water | waterSurfZone (Surf zone forecast) · waterOffshore (Offshore) · waterInland (Inland water) · waterSurge (Against the prediction) · waterChart (Tide chart) · waterExtremes (Highs & lows) |
| Events | eventsNextLaunch (Next visible launch) |
| Nature | natureWhenToGo (Times & seasons) · natureRightWhales (Right whales) · natureSightings (Seen near here lately) · natureBirds (Birds) · natureMigration (Migration radar) · natureTurtles (Sea turtles) · natureFishing (Fishing) · natureMarineLife (What you might see) |
| Nature › Fishing | fishingBiting (What’s biting) · fishingPeaking (Peaking this month) · fishingNext (Starting next month) · fishingAll (Everything worth casting at) · fishingRules (Before you keep one) |
| Nature › When to go | almanacNext (Next) · almanacSunMoon (Sun & moon) |
| Nature › This week | plannerBest (Best days) |
| Nature › Sightings, Birds | sightingsList (Whales, turtles and sharks) · birdsNotable (Notable) |
| Beach info | infoGettingThere (Getting there) · infoRules (Rules on the beach) · infoWhereFrom (Where this comes from) · infoTropical (The tropics) · infoShellfish (Shellfish) · infoParking (Paid parking) · infoRates (Rates) · infoGoodToKnow (Good to know) · infoPaying (Paying) · infoCams (Beach cams) · infoShips (Ships offshore) |
| Beach info › Sources | sourcesUpstreams (Every upstream) · sourcesGaps (What this doesn’t know) · sourcesBackend (Backend) |
| Alerts | alertsTides (Tides) · alertsSpecial (Worth a special trip) · alertsPush (When conditions change) · alertsQueued (Queued) |