Live Activities: What They Are + How to Add Them (2026)
A guide for app makers to Apple's Live Activities and the Dynamic Island: where they appear, how long they last, design rules, examples, and how to start and update them with ActivityKit and push notifications.
Live Activities: The Short Answer
Live Activities are live-updating cards that show your app's current data on the iPhone Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, such as a delivery's progress, a game score or a workout timer, without the user opening the app. They are built for things with a clear start and end, can stay active for up to eight hours, and are updated from the app or from your server through Apple's push service. They require a native iOS app.
Quick answer: what are Live Activities? Live Activities display an app's current data on the Lock Screen, in the Dynamic Island, in CarPlay, and on a paired Mac or Apple Watch, so people can follow an ongoing event at a glance. Apple added them in iOS 16.1 in 2022. An app starts one while it is open and updates it locally or with ActivityKit push notifications. A Live Activity can be active for up to 8 hours and stays on the Lock Screen for at most 12. Its data is limited to 4 KB, and Apple's design rules forbid using it for ads or promotions.
What are Live Activities?
Apple's definition: "Live Activities display your app's current data on the Lock Screen, in the Dynamic Island, in CarPlay, and on a paired Mac or Apple Watch, giving people access to information at a glance and allowing them to perform quick actions that are related to the displayed information" (Apple Developer).
They arrived with iOS 16.1 in October 2022. As Macworld noted at the time, "While Live Activities are enabled in iOS 16.1, apps will need to be updated to make use of them" (Macworld). That is still true: an app only gets Live Activities if its developer builds them.
| Where it appears | What people see |
|---|---|
| Lock Screen (iPhone and iPad) | A banner-style card at the bottom of the Lock Screen |
| Dynamic Island | Compact, minimal or expanded views around the camera cutout |
| StandBy | The minimal view at the top of the screen |
| CarPlay | The Live Activity, without working buttons or toggles |
| Paired Mac or Apple Watch | Live Activities started on iPhone may appear here too |
What is the Dynamic Island?
The Dynamic Island is the pill-shaped area around the front camera on newer iPhones that expands to show alerts and live activities. For app makers, it is the most visible place a Live Activity can live.
According to Apple's iPhone User Guide, these models have a Dynamic Island: iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max; iPhone 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max; iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max; iPhone 17, 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max; and iPhone Air (Apple Support). On other iPhones, Live Activities still appear on the Lock Screen.
A Live Activity in the Dynamic Island has three presentations (Apple HIG):
| Presentation | When the system uses it |
|---|---|
| Compact | Only one Live Activity is active; two small elements sit either side of the camera |
| Minimal | Several are active; the system shows up to three in the Dynamic Island |
| Expanded | When someone touches and holds the compact or minimal view, and briefly for updates |
Live Activities vs push notifications vs widgets
They solve different problems, and Apple warns against doubling up: "don't use push notifications alongside Live Activities for the same updates" (Apple HIG).
| Feature | Best for | How long it stays |
|---|---|---|
| Live Activity | One ongoing event that changes, such as a delivery or a match | Up to 8 hours active, up to 12 on the Lock Screen |
| Push notification | A single moment worth telling someone about | Until dismissed |
| Widget | Information people want to see any time, such as weather or a to-do list | Permanent, until removed |
A useful rule: if the user would otherwise reopen your app every few minutes to check progress, that is a Live Activity. If it is one piece of news, it is a push notification. See our guide to Apple push notifications.
When should your app use a Live Activity?
Use one for something that starts, changes and ends, and that people want to follow. Apple's guidance: "Offer Live Activities for tasks and events that have a defined beginning and end," and they "work best for tracking short to medium duration activities that don't exceed eight hours" (Apple HIG).
| App type | Good Live Activity | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Food delivery | Order from kitchen to door | Stage and estimated arrival |
| Ride-hailing | Driver on the way | Car, plate and minutes away |
| Sports | A live match | Score and time remaining |
| Fitness | An active workout | Time, distance, heart zone |
| Travel | Flight or train day | Gate, boarding time, delays |
| Cooking or timers | A recipe step or countdown | Time left, next step |
| Parking or charging | A paid session | Time remaining, cost so far |
What not to use them for: "Don't use a Live Activity to display ads or promotions." And "Avoid displaying sensitive information," because Lock Screens are visible to anyone nearby.
How long do Live Activities last, and what are the limits?
Live Activities are deliberately short-lived and small (Apple Developer).
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Maximum active time | 8 hours, unless the app or the user ends it sooner |
| Extra time on the Lock Screen after it ends | Up to 4 hours; 12 hours total at most |
| Data size | Static and dynamic data, including push updates, "can't exceed a combined size of 4 KB" |
| Network and location | "unlike a widget, a Live Activity can't access the network or receive location updates" |
| Starting from the app | Only while the app is in the foreground (push can start one remotely) |
After eight hours, the system ends the Live Activity and removes it from the Dynamic Island right away; it can linger on the Lock Screen for up to four more hours.
How do you add a Live Activity to an iPhone app?
Live Activities are built with Apple's ActivityKit and displayed with a widget extension in a native app. The flow, based on Apple's documentation:
- Decide the one event to track and the few pieces of data that change (for example, stage and arrival time).
- Add a widget extension to your Xcode project and design the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island views (compact, minimal and expanded).
- Define the activity's fixed attributes and its changing "content state."
- Start it from your app while it is in the foreground with ActivityKit's request function, for example right after an order is placed.
- Update it as things change, either from the app or with ActivityKit push notifications from your server.
- End it when the event ends. Apple is direct: "Always end a Live Activity after the associated task or live event ends."
- Let people turn it off in your app, and respect their settings.
Because Live Activities rely on ActivityKit and a widget extension, they are not available to apps that are just websites in a wrapper.
How do you update Live Activities with push notifications?
For anything your server knows first, such as a courier's location or a match score, you update the Live Activity with an ActivityKit push notification through APNs (Apple Developer).
| Field | Value or purpose |
|---|---|
apns-push-type header |
liveactivity |
apns-topic header |
<your bundleID>.push-type.liveactivity |
event |
start, update or end |
content-state |
The new data, matching your app's content state exactly |
timestamp |
Current time, so the system always shows the latest update |
stale-date |
Optional; marks the data as outdated after a time |
dismissal-date |
Optional; when to remove it from the Lock Screen after it ends |
alert |
Optional; lights up the device and shows the expanded view for critical updates |
Mind the budget. "The system allows for a certain budget of ActivityKit push notifications per hour," and high-priority updates count against it. Apple suggests sending routine updates at apns-priority 5, which "doesn't count toward the budget," and saving priority 10 for updates that matter right now. Apps that genuinely need many updates, like sports scores, can request frequent updates with the NSSupportsLiveActivitiesFrequentUpdates setting, which people can switch off.
Live Activities can even be started remotely: a push-to-start token lets your server start a new one, and "You don't have to start a Live Activity from your app to receive the push-to-start token."
Live Activity design best practices
Apple's Human Interface Guidelines boil down to a few rules (Apple HIG):
- "Focus on important information that people need to see at a glance." It does not need to show everything.
- Use large, heavier-weight text so key details are readable instantly.
- Keep interactivity simple, ideally one control, to avoid accidental taps.
- "Update a Live Activity only when new content is available."
- Alert people only for essential updates.
- End it as soon as the event ends; a custom dismissal time of "15 to 30 minutes is adequate" in most cases.
- Design compact and minimal views to work in tight spaces; Apple suggests fitting them inside a 28pt-diameter circle for limited-width contexts.
- No ads, no promotions, no sensitive details.
Can people turn Live Activities off?
Yes. People can switch Live Activities off per app in Settings, and Apple's guidance tells developers to "make it easy for people to turn them off in your app." Treat that as a signal: a Live Activity people keep switching off is probably too frequent, too noisy or not useful enough.
Live Activities in a Superapp app
As a disclosure, Superapp is our product, so weigh this accordingly. Superapp generates native Swift apps for iPhone, iPad, Watch and Mac, and its website-to-app page says the native output includes "push notifications, offline support, and native performance" (Superapp). Live Activities build on exactly those foundations: a native app, a widget extension and ActivityKit push notifications. Superapp's site does not list Live Activities as a built-in feature, so for now the practical route is its Mac version, which people use alongside Xcode and Claude Code, where you can add a widget extension and ActivityKit to the generated project. See how to vibe code with Claude for that workflow.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Live Activities on iPhone?
Live-updating cards that show an app's current data on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, such as a delivery's progress or a game score, without opening the app.
What is the Dynamic Island?
The pill-shaped area around the front camera on iPhone 14 Pro and later models (including all iPhone 15, 16 and 17 models and iPhone Air) that expands to show alerts and Live Activities.
How long do Live Activities last?
Up to 8 hours of active updates. After that, or after the app ends it, it can stay on the Lock Screen for up to 4 more hours, 12 hours at most.
Which iOS version added Live Activities?
iOS 16.1, released in October 2022.
Can any app use Live Activities?
Only native apps whose developers add them with ActivityKit and a widget extension. Website wrappers cannot use them.
How do apps update Live Activities?
From the app itself, or from a server with ActivityKit push notifications through Apple's push service, using the liveactivity push type.
Can Live Activities show ads?
No. Apple's design guidelines say not to use a Live Activity to display ads or promotions.
Do Live Activities work without a Dynamic Island?
Yes. On iPhones without one, Live Activities appear on the Lock Screen.
What is the size limit for a Live Activity?
Its static and dynamic data, including push updates, cannot exceed a combined 4 KB.
How do I turn off Live Activities?
People can switch them off per app in Settings, and apps should offer an in-app way to turn them off.
References
- Apple Developer: Displaying live data with Live Activities
- Apple Developer: Starting and updating Live Activities with ActivityKit push notifications
- Apple Human Interface Guidelines: Live Activities
- Apple Support: Models with a Dynamic Island
- Macworld: iOS 16.1 Live Activities
- Superapp: Website to app
- Superapp: Apple push notifications guide
- Superapp: How to vibe code with Claude