Live Activities is a feature introduced in iOS 16 that allows compatible applications to display real-time, updating information directly on your iPhone Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island on iPhone 14 Pro and later models. Instead of relying on a constant stream of push notifications, Live Activities present a single, persistent widget that updates in place—showing live sports scores, food delivery progress, flight boarding status, or ride-sharing driver locations without requiring you to unlock your phone or open the app.
How Live Activities Differ from Standard Notifications
A traditional push notification is a one-time message that lands in your Notification Centre. If a delivery app sends you five status updates (“Order confirmed,” “Preparing,” “Driver assigned,” “On the way,” “Arriving”), you receive five separate notifications that clutter your Lock Screen. A Live Activity replaces all of those with a single, persistent card that dynamically updates its content in real time. When the event concludes (your food arrives, the match ends), the Live Activity automatically dismisses itself.
Enabling Live Activities on Your iPhone
Live Activities are enabled by default on iPhones running iOS 16 or later, but the feature can be toggled off. To ensure it is active:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap Face ID & Passcode (or Touch ID & Passcode on older models).
- Enter your passcode when prompted.
- Scroll down to the Allow Access When Locked section.
- Ensure the toggle next to Live Activities is turned on (green).
This setting controls whether Live Activities are visible on your Lock Screen without unlocking the device. Turning it off hides them from the Lock Screen but they will still appear in the Dynamic Island if your iPhone model supports it.
Enabling Live Activities for Individual Apps
Each app that supports Live Activities has its own individual toggle, giving you granular control over which apps can use the feature.
- Open Settings.
- Scroll down and tap the specific app you want to configure (for example, Uber Eats or Sports Alerts).
- Look for the Live Activities toggle within that app’s settings page.
- Toggle it on to allow the app to display Live Activities, or off to prevent it.
Not all installed apps support Live Activities. Only apps whose developers have adopted Apple’s ActivityKit framework will show this toggle. Popular apps that currently support Live Activities include Uber, Lyft, Flighty, FotMob, and the Apple TV app for live sports events.
Interacting with Live Activities on the Lock Screen
When a Live Activity is active, it appears as a compact card at the bottom of your Lock Screen, below your notifications. Tapping the card opens the associated app directly to the relevant screen (for example, tapping a delivery tracker opens the delivery map). On iPhones with the Dynamic Island (iPhone 14 Pro and later), the Live Activity also appears as an animated element around the front-facing camera cutout. You can tap or long-press the Dynamic Island to expand it into a larger, more detailed view without leaving your current app.
Ending a Live Activity Manually
Most Live Activities dismiss themselves automatically when their associated event concludes. However, if an app’s Live Activity becomes stuck or you simply want to remove it early:
- On the Lock Screen, swipe left on the Live Activity card.
- Tap the Clear button that appears.
Alternatively, you can open the associated app and end the tracked activity from within the app itself (for example, cancelling a food order). The Live Activity will disappear from both the Lock Screen and the Dynamic Island within a few seconds.