I'm building a Live Activity using ActivityKit in iOS, and I'm trying to understand how apps like Uber or Lyft manage to keep the Dynamic Island always in its expanded state, without transitioning through the compact phase. In my implementation, the Live Activity always starts in the compact state, and only expands temporarily when I interact with it. I've tried the following: Updating the ContentState frequently using activity.update(using:) I tried updating the activity every 1 second, but it didn’t make a difference. Leaving the compactLeading, compactTrailing, and minimal regions empty using EmptyView() — also didn’t change the behavior. Delaying the initial update by 1 second — no effect. What I'm trying to figure out: Is there any way to programmatically force or request the Dynamic Island to stay in the expanded state? Could this behavior be achieved through push updates, using apns-push-type: liveactivity and a high priority (apns-priority)? What I’m trying to achieve is similar to the behavior shown in the images below — the apps do not transition to the compact island, but instead displays the expanded view immediately. Example:

Hi everyone, I'm working with Live Activities using the ActivityKit(Activity), and I'm trying to find a way to detect when a user manually dismisses a Live Activity by swiping it away — either from the Lock Screen or the Dynamic Island. Currently, when a Live Activity ends, the activityState changes to .dismissed, which is defined as: /// The Live Activity ended and is no longer visible because a person or the system removed it. case dismissed This doesn’t allow me to determine whether the dismissal was triggered by the user or by the system. Is there any way — either through ActivityState, notifications, or another approach — to distinguish if a Live Activity was manually dismissed by the user vs. ended by the system? Thanks in advance!

Is it actually possible to display animation (even a simple one) on Live Activity? But on these cases: The main app is terminated - of course, I know I can use the main app to keep updating the Live Activity to make simple animations work, but in this case, the main app is killed. Live Activity data is not updating - I also understand that the Live Activity can perform animations when its data is being update via push notification or other means, but the current case is the data is not being updated. I’ve tried several ways to achieve this, but nothing seems to work. Just when I was about to give up, I found this video from Apple’s official channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6WMwSj_EbA At 4:14 in this video, you can see the text "Locating Driver" with the breathing animation. Could someone please help me understand how to implement that kind of animation in a Live Activity when: The main app is not running, and The Live Activity data is not updating?

I've noticed that the when starting live activities via a remote push-to-start notification, the live activity widget consistently succeeds in displaying on the lock screen. However push-to-update token is not always received by the task observing the pushTokenUpdates async-sequence. Task { print("listening for pushTokenUpdates") for await pushToken in activity.pushTokenUpdates { let token = pushToken.map {String(format: "%02x", $0)}.joined() print("Push token: \(token)") } } The log will print "listening for pushTokenUpdates" however occasionally the "Push token: ___" line will not be present even when the widget has displayed on screen. This happens even if the "allow" button has been selected on live activities for that app. The inconsistent behavior leads me to believe there is an issue at the ActivityKit level. Would appreciate any feedback in debugging this!

I have a ContentView in my app which includes the line of code FileUploadProgressAttributes. this struct is defined in a file included in the target FileUploadProgressExtension. and it is an ActivityAttributes. in ContentView I imported FileUploadProgressExtension, and the xcode is able to find the FileUploadProgressAttributes during prebuild. but during build, it gives me Undefined symbols for architecture arm64: "FileUploadProgressExtension.FileUploadProgressAttributes.init(filename: Swift.String) -> FileUploadProgressExtension.FileUploadProgressAttributes the workaround i found is to add the file with the FileUploadProgressAttributes to my app's target, but I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do. When Xcode created the extension for me, it added the extension target as a target dependency of my app. so obviously if i added this file to my app target it makes the extension target pointless. First time working with widgets so I'm not sure if I'm missing something.

I have an ongoing activity in progress. Think of: a delivery in progress house internet reboot in progress some water / electricity / internet / tv outage. (food) order processing I want to show a persistent toast message above the tab bar, across all tabs and screens across the app. It could take 15 minutes until the activity is finished. Obviously there's a challenge of: accessibility content overlaying with each other extra engineering effort. What we've thought of doing is: Option1: show a toast message, but when a modal is presented then it presents on top of the toast message. The toast message no longer updates itself. Once the modal is finished, then the toast message re-appears and continues to update. Option2: keep the toast message across all tabs and modals and work through the challenges mentioned Question: What are some other design approaches that could be taken to persist an ongoing activity (much like 'Live Activity', but just across the app when it's in foreground) or what are some design reasons that the two options considered are bad?

I am using live activity in my app. Functionality is start, update & end events are started from the server. There is one interaction button added using app intent in live activity widget. That button needs to update widget ui locally using activity kit. Issue is when os receives first start event push then update ui works fine and reflecting on live activity widget but when update notification receives by os after 1 mins then action button stops updating the ui locally. Can anyone please add some suggestions to fix this.

Hi, I've watched the WWDC video "Discover streamlined location updates" As detailed here: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10180/?time=364 In order for my app to receive location updates in the background, the video states that I can either use a live activity or a CLBackgroundActivitySession My app has a live activity, however the location updates stop shortly (10 seconds, this is the normal "grace period" described) after backgrounding the app, even when the live activity is visible. If I acquire a CLBackgroundActivitySession, location updates continue in the background. I have reproduced this behavior in the Simulator in a barebones app for testing and confirmed that it's not working as described. My question is: Should I hold a CLBackgroundActivitySession even when I already have a Live Activity?

I am developing Live Activities using Swift. The same code can display the lock screen view and Dynamic Island on most devices, but on one specific iPhone 16 Pro Max, the Dynamic Island is not shown. The system version is iOS 18.0. However, other apps on this phone can display the Dynamic Island normally. How should I troubleshoot the issue? Can anyone help me? Thank you.

We are adding a live activity to our app that is started by a push to start live activity token that we supply to our server backend. In the app I have a Task that is retrieving pushToStartTokens from the asynchronous stream provided by the Apple API It looks similar to: // Iterate the async stream from the system for await tokenData in try await Activity<MyActivityAttributes>.pushToStartTokenUpdates { let tokenString = tokenData.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined() logger.log("Received push start token: \(tokenString, privacy: .public)") } } catch { logger.error("Failed to monitor push start tokens: \(error.localizedDescription, privacy: .public)") } When my app is launched from Xcode and connected via the debugger this code vends a pushToStartToken reliably. However if I run this same code by directly launching the app by tapping the icon on the phone, it almost never vends a pushToStartToken. It only occasionally works. I've tried a variation on the code where instead of always executing the asynchronous stream to obtain the token it first checks for the existence of a pushToStartToken using the this synchronous check prior to entering the for await if let pushStartTokenSync = Activity<AttributeType>.pushToStartToken { let tokenStr = pushStartToekSync.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined() nextPushToStartToken = pushStartTokenSync logger..log("**** Queried PushToStart Token: \(tokenStr, privacy: .public) ***") } else { logger..log("**** Queried PushToStart Token is nil! ***") } This works more reliably than just falling directly into the stream but I still see many instances where the result is nil. I'm trying to understand what is the correct way to obtain and manage the pushToStartTokens so that getting one is as reliable as possible especially in production builds. When I do get a token, should I persist it somewhere and use that (even across different app executions) until a new one is vended? Appreciate hearing ideas, thoughts and any code samples that illustrate a good management scheme Thank, You. Rob S.

Background I'm developing an iOS app with Live Activities that allows users to select custom background images. While these custom images display correctly in widgets, they fail to appear in Live Activities on both Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, despite successful image loading and data transfer. Technical Details iOS Version: Testing on iOS 17.2+ Image Storage: Using App Group shared container for image sharing between main app and widget extension Image Loading: Successfully confirmed via logs - images load correctly with proper dimensions UI Framework: SwiftUI with ActivityKit What Works ✅ Custom images display correctly in Home Screen widgets ✅ Built-in bundled images work in Live Activities ✅ Image data successfully transfers via App Group shared container ✅ Image loading logs show successful UIImage creation with correct dimensions What Doesn't Work ❌ Custom user images don't display in Live Activities (Lock Screen) ❌ Custom user images don't display in Dynamic Island ❌ Images appear as black/gray background despite successful loading Code Implementation I've tried multiple approaches: 1. SwiftUI Image approach: Image(uiImage: customImage) .resizable() .aspectRatio(contentMode: .fill) 2. containerBackground API approach: .containerBackground(for: .widget) { Image(uiImage: customImage) .resizable() .aspectRatio(contentMode: .fill) } 3. UIKit wrapper approach: struct UIImageViewWrapper: UIViewRepresentable { let image: UIImage func makeUIView(context: Context) -> UIImageView { let imageView = UIImageView(image: image) imageView.contentMode = .scaleAspectFill return imageView } func updateUIView(_ uiView: UIImageView, context: Context) { uiView.image = image } } Observations Images load successfully (confirmed via console logs) File paths are correct and accessible Same image loading code works perfectly in widgets When testing with UIKit approach, a red prohibition icon appears, suggesting system restrictions Questions Is there a technical limitation preventing user-provided images from displaying in Live Activities? Are there specific security restrictions for Live Activity backgrounds that don't apply to widgets? Is this behavior intentional based on Apple's design guidelines for Live Activities? What's the recommended approach for custom backgrounds in Live Activities? Apple Documentation Reference I found this guidance in "10 questions with the Live Activities team": "The Dynamic Island is most immersive when you don't provide background color or imagery — think of it purely as a canvas of foreground view elements." However, this seems to be design guidance rather than a technical restriction, and it doesn't specifically address Lock Screen Live Activities. Expected Behavior Custom user images should display as backgrounds in Live Activities, similar to how they work in widgets. Current Workaround I've implemented a color extraction system that generates gradients based on the dominant colors of user images, but users specifically want to see their actual images. Has anyone successfully implemented custom user images as Live Activity backgrounds, or can Apple clarify the intended behavior and limitations? Thank you for any insights!

A Live Activity relies on its app being in the background , but contrary to a widget it does not have a timeline. Our app "in the making" is sandboxed and does not need to receive ActivityKit push notifications How is the app "maintained in life" and not entirely killed for the duration of the activity - Apple documentation says up to 8 hours ? Is it necessary for us to do something to maintain it, like to trick the system , play a white noise audio background ...?

Regular apns will give you a willPresent callback and there you can decide to suppress showing the notification or suppress its sound etc. I know the iOS app will give you callbacks for when there's a contentUpdate, yet that doesn't give the option to change the sound. Is there a way to suppress sound of a received Live Activity when app is in foreground?

We are currently using Live Activities in our app and supporting both of the following use cases: Starting a Live Activity directly from the app using ActivityKit APIs. Starting a Live Activity from the backend using the start token. In the first case (initiated from the app), the OS generates an update token, and we are able to continuously update the Live Activity via our backend—even if the user has not explicitly provided "Allow" or "Always Allow" consent from the lock screen. This works as expected. In the second case (initiated from the backend), if the user does provide consent ("Allow" or "Always Allow") from the lock screen, we receive the update token and can continue updating the Live Activity. However, if the user does not provide consent, the OS does not provide the update token, and we are unable to send further updates. Question: Is it possible to receive the update token from the OS when the Live Activity is started from the backend, without the user explicitly providing "Allow" or "Always Allow" consent from the lock screen? We would appreciate any clarification or official documentation related to this behavior. Thank you!

Description When starting Live Activities via ActivityKit push notifications, the “start” notification is received correctly on iPhone 16 Pro Max, but subsequent update or end push notifications are not. The same implementation on iPhone 16 Pro behaves as expected (both start and update/end notifications are delivered and processed). Environment Property Value Device (failing) iPhone 16 Pro Max Device (working) iPhone 16 Pro iOS Version 18.5 Xcode / SDK 16.2/ActivityKit / Push Notifications Network Wi-Fi / Cellular (both tested) Data Collection Method Devices connected via USB. Logs captured using Console.app. Log filtering applied for the liveactivitiesd daemon to isolate Live Activity behavior. Initial Triage/Observations Payload format confirmed compatible; no incompatible fields. APNs token remains the same across messages (no refresh). Identical ActivityKit subscriptions/participants on both devices. Server-side delivery is confirmed: iPhone 16 Pro receives all messages (start, update, end). Only iPhone 16 Pro Max fails to receive update or end push notifications. Log Analysis iPhone 16 Pro (Working) Push-to-Start successfully received: 13:45:20 - APSXPCDeliverMessageEvent: Created APSIncomingMessage 13:45:20 - Received message: eventType: start(SessionPushNotifications.IncomingMessage.EventType.StartParameters(attributesType: "AchToLSUpgradeAttributes", attributesData: 125 bytes, inputs: [])) 13:45:20 - Created activity: 1C081AC5-01AE-4EC0-8B67-5F2A9FAE2D60 13:45:45 - APSXPCDeliverMessageEvent: Created APSIncomingMessage 13:45:45 - Received message: eventType: end(dismissDate: Optional(2025-07-21 21:00:44 +0000)) 13:45:20 - Activity updated: 1C081AC5-01AE-4EC0-8B67-5F2A9FAE2D60 13:45:20 - Local activity did update: 1C081AC5-01AE-4EC0-8B67-5F2A9FAE2D60 iPhone 16 Pro Max (Failing) 13:56:39 - APSXPCDeliverMessageEvent: Created APSIncomingMessage 13:56:39 - Received message: eventType: start(SessionPushNotifications.IncomingMessage.EventType.StartParameters(attributesType: "AchToLSUpgradeAttributes", attributesData: 125 bytes, inputs: [])) 13:56:39 - Created activity: E6BBF691-0C7A-4791-98D2-6F1440D9932E **No subsequent APNs push-to-update or push-to-end messages received.** 13:56:39 - No destinations for event E6BBF691... of type start 13:56:40 - No destinations for event E6BBF691... of type update Questions for Apple Engineering Are there known issues with ActivityKit push notifications specifically on iPhone 16 Pro Max devices? What additional diagnostic logs (system, APNs, liveactivitiesd) would be most helpful to collect? Could device-specific power management, notification settings, or OS-level changes on Pro Max models affect Live Activity updates? Are there differences in how Live Activity push subscriptions or routing are handled on iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Pro that could lead to this issue?

Watching WWDC video: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10185/?time=481 It says: So when encoding your content state, do not set any custom encoding strategies. Otherwise, your JSON will be mismatched, and the system will fail to update your Live Activity So I'm just wondering if using JSONDecoder is allowed for decoding apps payloads for the UI of a Live Activity? Or is there a performance hit for this?

Hi, We need Wallet Boarding Pass Live Activity style countdown inside Live Activity. Requirements Show only hours+minutes (no seconds ever). Format examples (Turkish locale concept): T > 60 min: "1sa 14d" (HHh MMm) T < 60 min: "58d" At exactly zero show a single final zero value (e.g. "0d"). Do NOT show seconds or any upward (elapsed) counting after zero. When remaining time < 0 immediately replace display with status text (e.g. "ON TIME"). Never display negative or increasing elapsed time. Discovered Current Timer Methods (Observed) Method 1 (Text(date, style: .relative)): After reaching target it continues counting UP (should stop). Seconds appear automatically once remaining < 1 hour. Method 2 (Text(date, style: .timer)): After reaching target it continues counting UP (should stop). Seconds are always visible from start. Method 3 (Text(timerInterval: Date.now ... targetDate, countsDown: true)): Stops at target (no upward counting) but seconds are always visible; cannot limit to single zero then freeze before status swap. Requested Enhancement Provide a behavior where the countdown displays hours+minutes, renders a single zero-minute value at the boundary (no seconds), then transitions to supplied status text. Request Public API or configuration to: Select displayed units (hours, minutes only). Stop automatic updating after rendering the zero frame (prevent upward counting). Prevent post-target elapsed counting (no positive re-growth). Allow immediate swap-to-text after zero (remaining < 0) while permitting a single zero display at the boundary. Why Align UX with Wallet; need predictable single zero then status, no seconds, no elapsed confusion. Thank you.

Q1. Can you place a sound on an end event? That doesn't seem to work for us Additionally: Q2. Is there any way that after you send the end event, still have the Live Activity remain on the Dynamic Island until the dismissal-date? Currently when an end event is sent, it's abruptly ended from the Dynamic Island without any sound. Users are confused until minutes/hours later they see their Lock Screen.

Hello, I would like to inquire about a specific behavior I've observed with Live Activities to determine if it is a bug. When our application is closed but the device is in use, an alarm triggers a Live Activity to appear at the top of the screen. However, it seems that tapping the background area of this Live Activity does not trigger the .widgetURL and .onOpenURL Could you please confirm if this is the intended behavior? or should I config another setting for desired action like trigger .onOpenURL? Thank you for your time and assistance. Best regards,

I have developed a LiveActivity on my product that supports DynamicIsland. Recently, two users encountered this situation while updating the app: LiveActivity was created with a status of. active, but after 100ms, it immediately started displaying as. dimiss. This process was repeated many times until the user restarted their iPhone and the display became normal A user's LiveActivity was successfully created with a status of. active, and the data was updated using the. update method normally; But this user's interface keeps showing a gray component empty state I am unable to obtain useful information regarding the bug encountered in processing. I would like to know how to obtain the reason why the user's LiveActivity has been modified to. dimiss by the iOS system in the face of these situations; How can I obtain useful information to determine the cause of the error when the user interface cannot display data without debugging. Thank you~