Can LiveActivityIntent open the app when tapping a Live Activity button on Lock Screen & Dynamic Island expanded view?

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Created 3h

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I’m implementing a Live Activity that shows some text and a button. When the user taps the button, I want to open the host app. What I’ve done so far:

Implemented a LiveActivityIntent to handle the button tap.
The intent is triggered successfully. However, the app does not open by using deep link/universal app link.

From what I can tell, LiveActivityIntent seems limited to system/background execution and doesn’t bring the app to the foreground. Questions:

Is it possible for a LiveActivityIntent to open the app?
Is this behavior a documented/intentional limitation?
If not supported, is using a Universal Link or deep link the recommended solution for opening the app from a Live Activity button?

Any official clarification or recommended best practice would be helpful.

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Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

1h

Thank you for your post. You have accurately observed the behavior of Live Activities!

It is not possible to open an app using a LiveActivity. A LiveActivityIntent is designed for background execution. Its purpose is to perform a specific action within your app’s process without necessarily bringing the app to the foreground or displaying its UI. This is why push notifications are driven. In my opinion, this is an intentional design. A LiveActivityIntent focuses on providing quick, actionable interactions. If every tap on a LiveActivity button brought the app to the foreground, it could lead to a disruptive user experience.

For the url parameter in your activityButton action, use a Universal Link. Universal Links open directly in your app if installed. If your app is not installed, they can gracefully fall back to a web page for installation.

I hope this information is helpful. But looking for other developers ideas and recommendations as well.

Albert Pascual   Worldwide Developer Relations.

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