Live Activities Come to 3rd-Party Apps

With the latest iOS update, Apple will now allow third-party apps to take advantage of the new Live Activities and Dynamic Island features.

What are Live Activities?

Live Activities are a feature in iOS 16 that allows you to see information from your apps right on your lock screen. This can include things like the current song playing in the Music app, or the time and date from the Clock app.

With iOS 16.1, developers can now create their own Live Activities for their apps, which will also show up on the new Dynamic Island feature on iPhone 14 Pro models.

What is Dynamic Island?

Dynamic Island is a new feature in iOS 16.1 that allows certain apps to show their information on the always-on display of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max. This means that you can see things like the current song playing or the time and date without having to wake up your phones.

Only a few apps have Dynamic Island support at the moment, but more are expected to add it in the future.

What are some of the first apps to support Live Activities and Dynamic Island?

TV Remote – TV Remote is an iOS app that lets users control their Smart TVs directly from an iPhone or iPad. TV Remote works with Live Activities by showing quick access to some remote control buttons right on the iPhone lock screen or Dynamic Island. 

Pestle – Pestle is an app that helps users cook recipes by automatically turning them into a step-by-step process. The app shows the current step of a recipe with a timer right from the lock screen or Dynamic Island for those with an iPhone 14 Pro.

Carrot Weather – Carrot Weather is a weather forecast app for iOS and macOS that shows the weather forecast in a fun way.

Flighty – Flighty is an app that helps users keep track of their upcoming flights.

Soor – Soor is an app that allows users to see song lyrics in real time with Live Activities and Dynamic Island.

Aviary – Aviary is a third-party Twitter client for iOS, macOS, and watchOS that has been updated with support for edited tweets as well as a Live Activity and a button on Dynamic Island to “Undo Tweet.”

SmartGym – SmartGym helps users track their workouts with details about weightlifting, bodyweight workouts, and more.

SmartGym helps users track their workouts with details about weightlifting, bodyweight workouts, and more. The new update supports Live Activities to show details of a workout in progress right on the iPhone lock screen or Dynamic Island.

These are just some of the first apps to support Live Activities and Dynamic Island. We expect many more to add support in the future as these features become more widely used.