Learn how to enable more frequent Live Activity updates to receive even more timely updates from your favorite food, cab, sports, and other apps on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island of your iPhone or iPad.
With the Live Activities feature, you can receive glanceable updates from apps right on the Lock Screen and inside the Dynamic Island area. These snippets of information are very convenient, especially for those times when you’d like to keep tabs on the current activity in progress without having to even unlock your phone or launch an app.
A food delivery app might display the time remaining until your order arrives, updated in real-time without having to ever launch an app. A sports app could display the score for an ongoing game, and so on. You get the idea…
Live Activities update at regular intervals as the event in question (like your food order or live game score) progresses. But you can optionally turn on more frequent updates for specific Live Activities to see more real-time information.
Enable more frequent Live Activity updates
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad, scroll to the bottom, and tap Apps.
- Select the app from which you want to get more frequent updates.
- Tap the Live Activities option.
- Turn on More Frequent Updates under the “Update Rate” section.
Apple says turning on this option will impact battery life — “Allowing more frequent updates lets you see more real-time information, but can drain your battery further.”
How do Live Activities work
A Live Activity provides updates only when new content is available, but it can’t be active for more than eight hours. After that, iOS kills the Live Activity but keeps it on the Lock Screen for four additional hours or until removed with a swipe. In other words, a Live Activity remains on the Lock Screen for a maximum of twelve hours.
This lets, say, a ride-sharing app display a summary on the Lock Screen for some time after your ride has ended so you can view the final fare.
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