Use Live Activities on Your iPhone to Track Scores, Rides, Pets, Chats, Tasks, Workouts, and More at a Glance - Gadget Hacks

Live Activities is Apple's hottest caller diagnostic for iPhone, but it's not ever straightforward. Sometimes you'll trigger 1 without realizing it, but it whitethorn look frustratingly intolerable to commencement 1 erstwhile you truly privation it.

What Are Live Activities?

First appearing connected iOS 16.1, Live Activities amusement real-time accusation oregon the astir existent information disposable from an app connected your Lock Screen. When your iPhone is unlocked, Live Activities look connected your Home Screen and successful apps via the Dynamic Island connected the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. On different iPhone models, they'll amusement up arsenic periodic banner notifications.

Any developer tin adhd Live Activities to their apps utilizing the ActivityKit framework, but Live Activities enactment champion erstwhile up-to-date accusation tin assistance you support way of unrecorded events and tasks successful existent time. For example, you'll person casual entree to playback controls erstwhile listening to a opus successful the Music app, and you'll spot a unrecorded countdown for a timer you acceptable successful the Clock app.

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A Live Activity tin besides assistance you way oregon get updates connected flights, sports crippled scores, nutrient deliveries, approaching rides, postulation congestion, bundle deliveries, predetermination results, and more. How you presumption and interact with activities varies:

• On the Lock Screen oregon Notification Center, you tin interact with a Live Activity's subordinate controls oregon pat a Live Activity to unfastened its app for much info.
• On the Dynamic Island, you'll spot a tiny persistent preview astir the TrueDepth camera of what's going on. You tin long-press it to spot a bigger model with much information and controls, similar connected the Lock Screen and Notification Center.
• On devices without Dynamic Island, you'll spot a banner notification look concisely connected the Home Screen and successful apps, but lone if the app acknowledgment the update is important capable to interrupt you. Tapping the notification volition unfastened its app for much info.

You tin person aggregate Live Activities moving simultaneously. Still, a Live Activity tin lone beryllium progressive for up to 8 hours earlier iOS automatically ends it — unless you oregon the app ends it first. However, immoderate activities volition amusement the effect of the enactment for up to 4 much hours connected the Lock Screen and Notification Center, bringing the max clip to 12 hours. When you oregon the strategy extremity an activity, it disappears instantly from the Dynamic Island, and you'll person nary much banner updates.

Which Devices Support Live Activities?

Live Activities are lone disposable connected iPhones, and your instrumentality needs to beryllium moving iOS 16.1 oregon later.

The Lock Screen and Notification Center presumption of Live Activities appears connected each supported iPhone models. However, the Dynamic Island presumption is lone disposable for the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. You'll spot banner notifications if you don't person an iPhone 14 Pro oregon 14 Pro Max.

How Do You Enable/Disable Live Activities?

Live Activities is apt already enabled for your Lock Screen, but you tin spell to "Face ID & Passcode" oregon "Touch ID & Passcode" successful the Settings app to check. The "Live Activities" power should beryllium toggled connected nether the "Allow Access When Locked" section.

If you privation to alteration oregon disable Live Activities for circumstantial apps system-wide, unfastened the Settings app and unfastened the app's preferences. If you spot "Live Activities" nether the "Allow [App] to Access" section, toggle it arsenic desired. (Not each apps person Live Activities.)

Also, the archetypal clip you tally a Live Activity from an app, you'll get options connected the Live Activity itself to "Allow" oregon "Don't Allow," which you tin alteration astatine immoderate clip via the Settings app.

How Do You Start and End a Live Activity?

How you commencement a Live Activity depends connected the app you're using. Some whitethorn commencement automatically, similar erstwhile you acceptable a timer oregon play a song. In different cases, you'll person to initiate them manually. Some examples:

To travel sports scores successful the Apple TV app, sojourn the Live Sports section, unfastened a crippled successful progress, and pat the "Follow" button. You tin pat it again to halt the Live Activity. If you don't spot one, it's not disposable for that game. You tin besides left-swipe the Live Activity from the Lock Screen oregon Notification Center to extremity it.

On iOS 16.2 and later, you tin besides commencement a Live Activity successful the TV app from Spotlight Search. Search for a team, pat the people of their unrecorded game, and deed "Follow." You tin pat it again to halt the Live Activity.

In the Bookly app, the Live Activity automatically appears whenever you commencement speechmaking a book, showing you the clip elapsed. You tin pat it to spell to the presumption successful the app. Hitting "Pause" oregon "Stop" for the publication stops the activity. You tin besides swipe near connected the Live Activity to adjacent it but support the clip going successful the app.

Every app is different. In Flighty (left representation below), you tin pat "Live Activity" connected the formation view. In Pestle (middle representation below), 1 volition commencement automatically erstwhile you statesman a timer. In Apollo for Reddit (right representation below), you tin pat the ellipsis (•••) paper successful immoderate thread and take "Start Live Activity."

Which Apps Support Live Activities?

• Clock: Starts a Live Activity erstwhile you statesman a timer.
• Music: Shows the Now Playing enactment erstwhile playing euphony and different audio.
• Podcasts: Shows the Now Playing enactment erstwhile playing podcasts.
• TV: Lets you travel your favourite sports matchups, showing the updated scores and play-by-play. For now, the availability for these Live Activities is constricted to circumstantial sports and countries. Live Activities for the National Basketball Association (NBA) and English Premier League are disposable successful the U.S. and Canada. Live Activities for Major League Baseball (MLB) are disposable successful the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., Brazil, Mexico, Japan, and South Korea.

Those are a fewer of the Apple apps that enactment Live Activities. As for third-party apps, determination are already a ton, and here's conscionable a sensation of what's retired there:

• Apollo for Reddit: Show unrecorded updates connected immoderate thread.
• Booby Track: Shows your progressive breastfeeding timer.
• Bookly: TBR & Book Tracker: Shows timed advancement erstwhile speechmaking a book.
• Calzy: Tracks your calculations. ($4.99)
• CardPointers for Credit Cards: Tracks recognition paper rewards.
• Carrot Weather: Shows approaching storms erstwhile rainfall is expected.
• Coachy: AR Calisthenics & HIIT: Shows your workout progress.
• Coffee Book: Shows timers and brewing usher steps.
• Cowboy - Electric Bikes: See your thrust advancement successful existent time.
• Crouton: Cooking Companion: Shows look steps and timers.
• Dark Noise: Start and halt sounds. ($9.99)
• Fat Burn Tracker: Shows your workouts.
• FITIV Pulse Heart Rate Monitor: Shows your workout progress.
• Flighty – Fast Flight Tracker: Keep way of your upcoming flights.
• Focus - Time Management: Track your existent absorption session.
• Forest: Focus for Productivity: Shows your real-time absorption stats. ($3.99)
• FotMob: Displays unrecorded shot scores.
• GoodTask - To Do List, Tasks: See your upcoming tasks successful the existent absorption session.
• GPS Tracks: Shows your existent route.
• Grocery - Smart Shopping List: Show your market database oregon a timer for recipes.
• Just Press Record: Shows audio signaling progress. ($4.99)
• Landscape: Mountaineering: Shows stats and rolling elevation guide.
• Liftin' Workout Tracker: Shows your existent workout progress.
• Lock Launcher: Launch apps from the Lock Screen.
• LookUp: English dictionary: Shows caller searches and immoderate functions.($9.99)
• Lumy: Shows prima lawsuit progress. ($6.99)
• Mango Baby - Newborn Tracker: Shows logs for moving timers.
• Marvis Pro: Shows present playing controls for Apple Music. ($7.99)
• MD Clock - Clock Widget: Shows your timers.
• MoneyCoach Budget & Spendings: Shows your existent spending connected a fund category.
• OffScreen - Less Screen Time: Shows your existent absorption progress.
• OneWidget - Lock Screen Widget: Adopt a favored oregon amusement wellness data, app launchers, oregon quotes.
• Paddle Logger for Watersports: Shows your paddle status.
• Passcodes – Password Manager: Shows you 2FA codes.
• Pestle: Recipe Organizer: Show look timers.
• Pixel Pals - Widget & Activity: Watch your pets successful action.
• Plantry Meal Planner: See timers for recipes.
• Posture Pal - Improve & Alert: Shows your existent posture session.
• Reality Tasks: Kanban & To-Do: Shows your adjacent task.
• Slopes: Ski & Snowboard: Track your existent stats.
• SmartGym: Gym & Home Workouts: Shows the advancement of your existent workout.
• Soor: Displays opus lyrics and different euphony insights for Apple Music. ($6.99)
• Sports Alerts: Track sports games scores.
• Sticky Timers and Countdowns: Keep way of aggregate timers simultaneously.
• Structured - Daily Planner: Shows a countdown for your existent focus.
• Subjects — pupil planner: Shows your existent people and clip remaining.
• Tide Guide: Charts & Tables: Shows existent tide height, star altitudes, oregon lunar altitudes.
• Time's Up! — Visual Timer: Shows your timers.
• TV Remote - Universal Remote: Access distant controls.
• Workout Planner by Bolt: View and negociate your remainder timer.

Apple showed disconnected Live Activity examples successful Uber, Lyft, and Starbucks, but those apps person not yet been updated to enactment the feature.

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Cover photograph and screenshots by Brenda Ramirez/Gadget Hacks