Live Activities
An iOS feature that shows real-time, glanceable updates from an app on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, such as a delivery's progress or a game score.
Definition
Live Activities are persistent, updating cards that iOS shows on the Lock Screen and, on iPhones that have it, in the Dynamic Island. Apple introduced them in iOS 16.1 through the ActivityKit framework. A Live Activity tracks one ongoing event with a clear end, such as a food delivery, a ride, a flight, a sports match or a timer, and changes in place as the event progresses instead of sending a new notification for each step.
Why It Matters
Live Activities replace a stream of push notifications with one card that users glance at, which is less annoying and more useful. Updates do not need notification permission once the activity is running, and an activity can stay visible for hours. For apps whose value is a process users wait on, deliveries, travel, bookings, auctions, Live Activities often become the most viewed surface of the app.
How It Works
The app defines the activity's layout in a widget extension using SwiftUI. An activity starts either from the app or, from iOS 17.2, remotely through a push-to-start notification. Each running activity gets its own push token, and the backend sends updates through APNs with the liveactivity push type and a content-state payload. Combined static attributes and dynamic content must fit within 4 KB. An activity can stay active for up to 8 hours, after which iOS ends it; the final state can remain on the Lock Screen for a while longer. The backend sends an end event when the real-world event finishes.
Example
A food delivery app starts a Live Activity when an order is accepted:
- "Order confirmed, preparing your food" with a progress bar at 20%.
- "Courier picked up your order, arriving 7:42 pm" at 60%.
- "Courier is 2 minutes away" at 90%.
- "Delivered. Enjoy your meal!" and the activity ends.
The user sees all of this on the Lock Screen without receiving four separate notifications.
Best Practices
- 1Use Live Activities only for events with a clear start and end that users actively wait on
- 2Show the one number or status users care about most, readable at a glance
- 3Send updates when the state actually changes, not on a fixed timer
- 4End the activity promptly when the event finishes
- 5Use low-priority updates for minor changes so iOS does not throttle you
Start, update and end Live Activities from your backend
Sequenzy uses your existing APNs key to start (including push-to-start on iOS 17.2+), update and end Live Activities through its API, CLI and MCP server.
Learn MoreLive Activity Lifecycle
| Stage | How it happens | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Start | From the app, or push-to-start on iOS 17.2+ | Token-based remote updates use a per-activity push token, which can rotate |
| Update | APNs push with the liveactivity push type | Combined static attributes and dynamic content must fit within 4 KB |
| End | End event from the backend or app | Active for at most 8 hours; may remain on the Lock Screen for up to 4 more hours |