Apple first announced Live Activities, a lock screen notification for your iPhone that gives you real-time information like sports scores and flight status, during its Worldwide Developers Conference this year. The feature didn’t initially debut alongside the public release of iOS 16 in September, but now it’s finally here, thanks to iOS 16.1.
And if you’re wondering what live activities are all about, we’ve got you covered.
In this story we’ll dive into what the lock screen feature does, how it works, which third-party apps support it, and whether you should turn it off. Here’s everything you need to know about live activities.
To learn more about iOS 16.1, see What’s new and improved in iOS 16.1. And if you haven’t updated yet, here’s how to download and install iOS 16.1 on your iPhone.
What exactly is Live Activities for iOS 16.1?
Live Activities is one of the few major new changes to the lock screen in iOS 16.1, giving users a real-time view of their favorite apps, whether they want to know the score of the Lakers game, for example, or if they want to see where their Uber is. currently it is The notification appears at the bottom of the lock screen and only appears when the information you need is running.
Although it’s presented as a lock screen notification, Live Activities also lives on the new dynamic island on the home screen, but that’s assuming you have an iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Live Activities works on both the lock screen and dynamic island.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET
How do live activities work?
Live Activity notifications automatically appear on the lock screen, but only when there’s relevant real-time information to show you. However, each app works differently with the new feature.
For example, if you’re tracking a flight using Flighty, the Live Activity notification will only appear on your lock screen for the duration of the flight.
If you use Slopes to track your skiing or snowboarding performance, Live Activities will appear as you track your performance in the background.
And for Uber (not currently available), the lock screen notification will appear from the moment you request a ride and close when you reach your destination.
What apps currently work with Live Activities?
Uber and other major third-party apps will eventually support Live Activities, but for now the number of apps is limited. Current apps that work with Live Activities include:
While most apps are free, some require you to pay a subscription/in-app fee to work with Live Activities.
You can check out more apps in this Reddit thread.
What if I don’t want live activities?
Not everyone will be a fan of Live Activities because they may not be interested in constantly tracking certain information. Or maybe you’re low on battery and want to turn off the feature because Live Activities forces third-party apps to constantly update in the background. Whatever the reason, there’s an easy way to turn off live activities.
The easiest way to stop live activities is to go to the lock screen notification and tap Disable. The Live Activities notification will disappear from both the lock screen and dynamic island and will permanently disable Live Activities for the associated app.
If the Live Activities notification doesn’t have a Turn Off option, you can also go to the Settings app, find the app you want to turn off Live Activities for, and turn it off.
And finally, you can go into the third-party app and find a button or setting that will prevent Live Activities from working, but that will vary by app.
If the notification doesn’t have the Disable option, go to Settings to disable Live Activities for the app.
Nelson Aguilar/CNET
If you want to learn more about iOS 16, check out 7 hidden features we were surprised to find in iOS 16 and 4 annoying features in iOS 16 (that you can fix).