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!

Hello, We are using the Firebase Admin SDK (firebase-admin framework) to send push notifications via Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for Live Activity updates in our iOS app. With the introduction of iOS 18, a new key "input-push-token": 1 has been added to the Live Activities push payload structure. 1) Can this new key ("input-push-token": 1) be used when sending payloads via FCM? We noticed that FCM is still using the push update format introduced in iOS 17.2. Will FCM be updated to support the new push structure introduced with iOS 18? Or is the "input-push-token" feature only available when sending notifications via direct APNs? 2) We are concerned about the expiration of the Live Activity start push token. If a user doesn't open the app for a long time, the token may expire, and this could result in failed updates. That’s why we are looking into the new "input-push-token" behavior in iOS 18. Do you have any recommendations on how to manage or prevent token expiration? Is there any official guidance on the lifespan of the Live Activity push tokens? Will FCM support the delivery of start/update/end Live Activity actions even when the app is completely terminated? We would highly appreciate any official clarification or roadmap regarding this. It would help us determine whether we should wait for FCM support or switch to sending notifications directly via APNs. Thank you for your help!

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:

In iOS 18 (beta 1-4) when you set openAppWhenRun = false in your AppIntent of your live activity the perform function never gets called. In iOS 16 and 17 my live activities work. I have downloaded other apps and in their live activities any button tab which doesn´t open the app is also doing nothing in iOS 18. Has anyone got this working? Any comments from an Apple engineer on this?

I have been watching the following moment from wwdc (Design dynamic Live Activities): https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10194/?time=728 It suggest that you should 'tick' between multiple live activities of your app: When you want to show multiple sessions for your app going on at once, consider ticking between the display of them to continue to give users an eye on everything that’s going on. How can I tick between them? More specifically how can I do that when my app is in the background?

I'm unable to get live activity to show up in my app so I started to play with the demo app Emoji Rangers. The demo project initially only created a live activity in-app and then you're able to update it via the demo buttons. I added the following code to have it be able to start a live activity from the backend: func observePushToStartToken() { Task { for await data in Activity.pushToStartTokenUpdates { let token = data.map {String(format: "%02x", $0)}.joined() // Send token to the server print("got PUSHTOSTART TOKEN: (token)") } } } I get the token and then I use it to send this payload that should start the activity: { "aps":{ "timestamp":1743719911, "event":"start", "content-state":{ "currentHealthLevel":100, "eventDescription":"Adventure has begun!", "supercharged":true }, "input-push-token":1, "attributes-type":"AdventureAttributes", "attributes":{ "currentHealthLevel":100, "eventDescription":"Adventure has begun!", "supercharged":true }, "alert":{ "title":{ "loc-key":"%@ is on an adventure!", "loc-args":[ "Power Panda" ] }, "body":{ "loc-key":"%@ found a sword!", "loc-args":[ "Power Panda" ] }, "sound":"chime.aiff" } } } But unfortunately I get an error when I send it: [AdventureAttributes] Error creating activity: NSCocoaErrorDomain (4865) The data couldn't be read because it is missing. First step is to get this working, so I want to get your help in figuring out what I'm missing.

I would like to add a Live Activity to my app, but unfortunately I always get an error message. When I go into the Identifiers via the Developer Portal and look at my app, there is no Activity Kit or Live Activity in the Capabilites that I could activate. In XCode I don't see the option for Signing & Capabilities either... Can anyone help me how to add this correctly? Thanks in advance!

Live Activity Start Token not generating after certain days of usage. We have implemented Live Activity feature where the initial activity is launched by our backend. But to start that first live activity I need push to start token which is generating for few days but all of sudden after certain days it stops generating. Currently we are in development phase so we test it on multiple devices and multiple time we are doing install and uninstall. STEPS TO REPRODUCE Install the app Start token gets generated which is sent to our server After certain duration server sends the first live activity using that token user opens the app then we receive the updated token and send that token to server server uses that updated token to further update the live activity. All this works fine. But after a week of usage we are observing that we stop getting start token from APNS. Not sure where exactly the thing is breaking. We have tried with different devices and different bundle identifiers but behaviour is same for all. func generateStartToken() { Task.detached { [weak self] in guard let self else { return } await self.observeActivityPushTokenAndState() for await data in ActivityKit.Activity<LiveActivityAttribute>.pushToStartTokenUpdates { let token = data.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined() print("Activity Start token: ", token) } } } func observeActivityPushTokenAndState() { Task.detached { for await activity in ActivityKit.Activity<LiveActivityAttribute>.activityUpdates { Task { for await tokenData in activity.pushTokenUpdates { let updatedToken = tokenData.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined() print("Activity Update token: ", updatedToken) } } Task { for await content in activity.contentUpdates { let updatedContent = content.state print("Activity Updated: ", updatedContent) } } } } }

Hi Apple team and community, We’re encountering a strange issue with Live Activity that seems related to memory management or background lifecycle. ❓ Issue: Our app updates a Live Activity regularly (every 3 minutes) using .update(...). However, after the app remains in the background for around 8 hours, the Live Activity reverts to the initial state that was passed into .request(...). Even though the app continues sending updates in the background, the UI on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island resets to the original state.

I am trying to issue the "start" APNs push notification to start a live activity for my iOS app. The notification appears to send correctly, there is no error message, but the live activity never appears for any of my users (users are in TestFlight). In addition to issuing the APNs commands from my server, I have also tried using the CloudKit Push Notification Console to manually generate a "start" notification. It submits correctly but the live activity never starts. I have also checked the Console app to watch the device logs and see if iOS is rejecting/throttling the live activity but I don't see any activity related to the start message at all. Here are some details: App bundle ID: `com.penzu.moodmoji` APNs topic: `com.penzu.moodmoji.push-type.liveactivity` APNs push type: `liveactivity` Recent apns-id: `7b633309-b7fd-4163-b620-776efa04f315` APNs payload: { "aps": { "timestamp": 1742651625, "event": "start", "content-state": { "totalDays": 7, "currentDay": 2, "progress": 0.29, "status": "ACTIVE", "reportReady": false }, "attributes-type": "GoalActivityAttributes", "attributes": { "totalDays": 7, "currentDay": 2, "progress": 0.29, "status": "ACTIVE", "reportReady": false }, "alert": { "title": "It's day 2!", "body": "Don't forget to record every time you feel anxious today." } } } I can confirm that LiveActivities started by the iOS app with ActivityKit work correctly, and the app does appear to be receiving pushToStartTokenUpdates: struct GoalActivityAttributes: ActivityAttributes, Sendable { struct ContentState: Codable & Hashable, Sendable { let totalDays: Int let currentDay: Int let progress: Double let status: String let reportReady: Bool } let goal: SimpleGoal } for await nextStartToken in Activity<GoalActivityAttributes>.pushToStartTokenUpdates { // send nextStartToken to server... } The app I'm testing with is in TestFlight, using the production APNs environment.

This is in an iOS Simulator running iOS 18.2 I send a start live activity push notification from the Push Notifications Console on icloud.developer.apple.com. When checking the console.log output it seems to receive the message, yet the activity does not appear in the dynamic island. (the app is backgrounded when I test this) Can anyone tell me why it's not showing? Starting the same activity from within the app using Swift code works fine. Here is the console.app output: default 11:01:59.060954+0100 apsd <APSConnectionServer: 0x104207b80; development/com.apple.aps.sessioncore.PushNotifications.dev/liveactivitiesd 0>: Sending push to client. UUID: (null) default 11:01:59.061012+0100 apsd Dispatching high priority message on server: <APSConnectionServer: 0x104207b80; development/com.apple.aps.sessioncore.PushNotifications.dev/liveactivitiesd 0> default 11:01:59.061770+0100 apsd Looking up connection on peer: 4304b50 found <APSConnectionServer: 0x104207b80; development/com.apple.aps.sessioncore.PushNotifications.dev/liveactivitiesd 0> default 11:01:59.062283+0100 liveactivitiesd APSXPCDeliverMessageEvent: Created APSIncomingMessage. UUID: (null) default 11:01:59.062642+0100 liveactivitiesd <APSConnection: 0x600003d18000> Delivering message from apsd: <APSIncomingMessage: 0x600000c2e9a0> 2897852514 com.****.****.push-type.liveactivity default 11:01:59.062763+0100 liveactivitiesd <APSConnection: 0x600003d18000> Delivering message from apsd. UUID: (null) default 11:01:59.063374+0100 liveactivitiesd <APSConnection: 0x600003d18000> making delegate (<SessionPushNotifications.APSPushConnection: 0x600000227460>) calls to deliver message 2897852514 { aps = { alert = { "loc-key" = "recording_started_message"; "title-loc-key" = "recording_started_title"; }; attributes = { isRecording = 1; }; "attributes-type" = SWAutomaticTripRecorderActivityAttributes; "content-state" = { distance = 0; }; event = start; timestamp = 1742374701; }; } for topic com.****.****test.push-type.liveactivity default 11:01:59.063440+0100 liveactivitiesd <APSConnection: 0x600003d18000> calling <SessionPushNotifications.APSPushConnection: 0x600000227460> connection:didReceiveIncomingMessage: default 11:01:59.063740+0100 liveactivitiesd Acquiring keep-alive with reason: Received message default 11:01:59.063785+0100 liveactivitiesd Keep-alive reasons: ["Received message": 1] default 11:01:59.063803+0100 liveactivitiesd <APSConnection: 0x600003d18000> returned from <SessionPushNotifications.APSPushConnection: 0x600000227460> connection:didReceiveIncomingMessage: default 11:01:59.063883+0100 liveactivitiesd <APSConnection: 0x600003d18000> responding with an ack for message with guid E19D7D04-12A0-4F1B-B33C-F6BF57EE2EFF default 11:01:59.063921+0100 liveactivitiesd <APSConnection: 0x600003d18000> responding with an ack. UUID: (null) default 11:01:59.063996+0100 apsd Looking up connection on peer: 4304b50 found <APSConnectionServer: 0x104207b80; development/com.apple.aps.sessioncore.PushNotifications.dev/liveactivitiesd 0> default 11:01:59.064019+0100 apsd <APSUserCourier 0x100f052a0 development 0> informed that <APSConnectionServer: 0x104207b80; development/com.apple.aps.sessioncore.PushNotifications.dev/liveactivitiesd 0> acknowledges incoming message with guid E19D7D04-12A0-4F1B-B33C-F6BF57EE2EFF tracingUUID (null) default 11:01:59.064063+0100 liveactivitiesd Received message: topic: Topic(unsuffixed: "com.****.****test"); channelID: nil; token: Optional(128 bytes); eventType: start(SessionPushNotifications.IncomingMessage.EventType.StartParameters(attributesType: "SWAutomaticTripRecorderActivityAttributes", attributesData: 20 bytes, inputs: [])) for environment: development default 11:01:59.064198+0100 liveactivitiesd Received push event for com.****.****test::pushToStart default 11:01:59.064232+0100 liveactivitiesd Adding push-to-start budget for com.****.****test::pushToStart default 11:01:59.064273+0100 liveactivitiesd Acquiring keep-alive with reason: Database default 11:01:59.064296+0100 liveactivitiesd Keep-alive reasons: ["Database": 1, "Received message": 1] default 11:01:59.064313+0100 liveactivitiesd Acquiring keep-alive with reason: Database default 11:01:59.064330+0100 liveactivitiesd Keep-alive reasons: ["Database": 2, "Received message": 1] default 11:01:59.064342+0100 liveactivitiesd Reduced budget for com.****.****test::pushToStart to: 9 default 11:01:59.064358+0100 liveactivitiesd Topic com.****.****test.push-type.liveactivity has remaining budget for pushToStart of 9 default 11:01:59.064369+0100 liveactivitiesd Topic com.****.****test.push-type.liveactivity has not used any budget for activity default 11:01:59.064436+0100 liveactivitiesd Scheduling wake to re-evaluate push subscription budgets at 2025-03-19 11:01:59 +0000 default 11:01:59.064547+0100 liveactivitiesd Earliest nonwaking date from task "Push server budget timeout expiration": 2025-03-19T12:01:59+01:00, finalWakeTarget: 2025-03-19T12:01:59+01:00 3599.999696 default 11:01:59.064593+0100 liveactivitiesd Earliest waking date from task "Push server budget timeout expiration": 2025-03-19T12:01:59+01:00, finalWakeTarget: 2025-03-19T12:01:59+01:00 3599.999651 default 11:01:59.064620+0100 liveactivitiesd Scheduling nonwaking task for: 2025-03-19T12:01:59+01:00 in 3599.999622s default 11:01:59.064659+0100 liveactivitiesd Scheduling waking task for: 2025-03-19T12:01:59+01:00 in 3599.999584s default 11:01:59.064671+0100 liveactivitiesd Acquiring keep-alive with reason: wake scheduling default 11:01:59.064692+0100 liveactivitiesd Keep-alive reasons: ["Database": 2, "Received message": 1, "wake scheduling": 1] default 11:01:59.064734+0100 liveactivitiesd Scheduling waking task for adjusted date: 2025-03-19T12:01:59+01:00 in 3599.999508s default 11:01:59.064768+0100 liveactivitiesd xpc_activity_register: com.apple.sessionkit.wake, criteria: dictionary default 11:01:59.064843+0100 liveactivitiesd Received pushToStart notification for com.****.****test::pushToStart default 11:01:59.064955+0100 liveactivitiesd Keep-alive reasons: ["Database": 2, "Received message": 1] default 11:01:59.064979+0100 liveactivitiesd Publishing event: timestamp: 2025-03-19 08:58:21 +0000; activityIdentifier: F432AB2F-1799-4437-B54B-6D9D70A0B260; eventType: start(SessionPushNotifications.PushEvent.EventType.ActivityStartParameters(attributesType: "SWAutomaticTripRecorderActivityAttributes", attributesData: 20 bytes, contentSourceRequests: [ActivityKit.ActivityContentSource.Request.push(request: ActivityKit.PushActivityContentSource.Request.push, target: ProcessDescriptor.Request("com.****.****test")), ActivityKit.ActivityContentSource.Request.process(target: ProcessDescriptor.Request("com.****.****test"))]))

The app I'm working on has iOS 16.0 as target. Recently Live Activities support was added, but then it started crashing when running on iOS 16.0 devices. After some investigation, I've found that the culprit was the presence of NSUserActivityTypeLiveActivity and WidgetCenter.UserInfoKey.activityID, even though they were inside an @available(iOS 17.2, *) block. If I comment these two variables, the app work as expected. I've also tried adding #if canImport(ActivityKit) around the code, but without success. But if the @available isn't working, how can I prevent this? It looks like a bug, since the documentation says that NSUserActivityTypeLiveActivity is supported but iOS 14.0+, but I'm pretty sure it was introduced on 16.1. This is the only output I get with the crash: dyld[66888]: Symbol not found: _$s9WidgetKit0A6CenterC11UserInfoKeyV10activityIDSSvgZ Referenced from: <D6EFF120-2681-34C1-B261-8F3F7B388238> /Users/<redacted>/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/8B5B4DC9-3D54-4C91-8C88-E705E851CA0F/data/Containers/Bundle/Application/DB6671FF-CB07-4570-BD63-C851D94FAF29/<redacted>.app/<redacted>.debug.dylib Expected in: <C5E72BB5-533F-3658-A987-E849888F4DFC> /Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Volumes/iOS_20A360/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Profiles/Runtimes/iOS 16.0.simruntime/Contents/Resources/RuntimeRoot/System/Library/Frameworks/WidgetKit.framework/WidgetKit

I've been reading this question: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/701945 and watching the videos on background tasks But can't arrive to a concrete solution. Q1: Are there any tips (or sample app) on how to handle a launch in background in a streamlined way? How to have a shared code that is ran for both 'launch in background' & 'launch in foreground'? Specifically the case I'm talking about is: You set up some observance of some OS callback at a Foo screen of your app. Example app should request and then send push-to-start live activity tokens to server. Or setup location tracking. App is then suspended and then later terminated but is eligible for relaunch App is then launched in background because it has requested a push-to-start live activity token or an update for location tracking. User DOES NOT go back to screen Foo. So at this point app is no longer tracking / listening to updates for token update or location changes. How should I architecture my code for this? I'm trying to see if there's a an approach where I can avoid having multiple places in code where I do the same thing. Currently what I'm doing is as such: Q2: Is it then correct to say that anytime you've launched your app, whether it's in foreground or background then you must immediately match 'all observations done by the previous app launch'? Like store items in UserDefaults and upon launch retrieve them and do: handleGeneralAppLaunchFlow() // ALSO if defaults.contains("didLastLaunchSetupLiveActivtiyTokenObservance") { for await ptsToken in Activity<EmojiRangers> .pushToStartTokenUpdates { ... } } if defaults.contains("didLastLaunchSetupLocationTracking") { locationManager = CLLocationManager() locationManager?.delegate = itsDelegate locationManager?.allowsBackgroundLocationUpdates = true locationManager?.showsBackgroundLocationIndicator = true locationManager?.startUpdatingLocation() } // Other checks for prior observance setup Q3: Actually I think even if app is launched in foreground then because you may not end up at screen Foo again, then you must setup things regardless of app state and just based on prior observations set. Right? Q4: And then later if the user ever made it again to screen Foo, then we just skip the re-do of the observance, or maybe to just keep things simple, we'd just redo without over-engineering things? I tried to mark my questions with Q1- Q4.

In the main app, is there a way to distinguish whether the application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions: method is triggered by the user manually clicking the app icon, or whether it is automatically triggered by the system after Live Activities receives a remote message notification?

In my case, when two functions that start each Live Activity(not connected each other) are performed in LiveActivityIntent's perform(), it seems that only one will start. (It's the same to start independently with two Task{}) And, set one to 'opensIntent' and separate it by opening another LiveActivityIntent, the result is same. Also, every time I tap the Intent directly in the shortcut app, one activity will end within a matter of seconds, even if there are two for a while. But, If openAppWhenRun to true, it seem to works without any problems. I would appreciate it if you could give me a tip to fix this problem.

I tried dragging an apns file for a live activity into my simulator to begin a Live Activity. It didn't do anything. I didn't see it mentioned in the wwdc videos either. So I'm wondering if this experience is not yet developed, or maybe I'm doing something incorrectly?

Hello, the LocalizedStringKey does not work in the live activity. What do you suggest me to use in order to get localization in the live activity?

I want to update my lockscreen LiveActivity via Broadcast Push Notification, but updating always fails - but ending always works. Payload with "update" is completely ignored: {"aps":{"timestamp":1685952000,"event":"update","content-state":{"currentSlotName":"Debug1","nextSlotName":"Debug2"}}} Same payload with "end" works, the view is refreshed with the new content-state: {"aps":{"timestamp":1685952000,"event":"end","content-state":{"currentSlotName":"Debug1","nextSlotName":"Debug2"}}} Via the MacOS Console I am able to see that both events happen to end up on the device. I am sending these Broadcast Push Notifications via Apple's Push Notifications Console.

I have followed this video on implementing a custom view for the watchOS 11 Smart Stack Live Activities. However, the UI of my iOS app keeps showing up on the watchOS. `struct widgetLiveActivity: Widget { @Environment(.activityFamily) var activityFamily var body: some WidgetConfiguration { ActivityConfiguration(for: widgetAttributes.self) { context in switch activityFamily { case .small, _: Text("WatchOS UI") case .medium: Text("iOS UI") .activitySystemActionForegroundColor(Color.black) } dynamicIsland: { context in ... } .supplementalActivityFamilies([.small, .medium]) } }`

I have an App Clip that uses SKOverlay.AppClipConfiguration to install the full app. Before I added a Live Activity call (Activity.request), the user could see “Install,” then “Open.” Now, once “Get” is tapped, the Clip immediately closes—no “Open” button appears. If I remove the Live Activity code, it works again. I’ve confirmed that parent/child entitlements match, and tested via TestFlight. Is there a known issue or recommended workaround for combining SKOverlay + Live Activities in an App Clip so it doesn’t dismiss prematurely? Any insights are appreciated! Note live activity is for App Clip only.