Widgets and Live Activity

Gurbani Soul reaches a little way out of the app, onto your Home Screen and Lock Screen, so the parts you return to are a glance away. Everything here runs on the device, from the same bundled data as the rest of the app.

Home Screen widgets

The widgets show the parts of the day you check most: the current watch of the Raag Clock, the Hukam of the day, and today’s Nitnem with your progress. They update quietly in place and never ask for a connection.

The Hukam of the day is one complete Hukam for the whole day, chosen on your device by the date. Its widget shows the opening verse, verbatim, with its Ang; the app and Siri open the same Hukam in full. It is not the Hukamnama issued from Sri Harmandir Sahib. You can still draw a fresh Hukam in the app at any time; the widget keeps the Hukam of the day.

The reading Live Activity

While you read a bani, an optional Live Activity (off until you turn it on in More) is a live indicator on the Lock Screen and, on supported devices, the Dynamic Island. It shows the bani’s name and how far you have read, and lets you return to your place.

By deliberate design, the Live Activity never shows a line of scripture. The Lock Screen and Dynamic Island are shared, glanceable surfaces, and it would not be fitting for Gurbani to appear there out of context. The Live Activity carries only your progress and a way back into the app, where the verbatim text is read in full.

Siri and Shortcuts

Gurbani Soul offers a small set of Siri phrases and a Shortcuts action so you can open the app to a place without tapping through: today’s Hukam or a fresh one, the raag of this watch, a bani, a Vaar, a search, the constellation, a theme, a voice of the Granth, or any Ang. These are ordinary system features; they run on the device and add nothing that watches you.

There is a principle underneath all of it: the further a surface is from your full attention, the less scripture belongs on it. The Hukam of the day widget, which you place yourself, carries one verse, verbatim and cited; the Live Activity, which shows while you read, carries none. Nothing here notifies you unless you ask it to, and nothing runs in the background collecting anything.

All of this is optional. If you would rather just open the app and read, nothing here gets in the way. The complete Granth is always a tap away in the reader, and the same verified text is on the web in the Knowledge Base.