What Is “Live Activities” On iOS 16?

iOS 16 has brought numerous features that are WOW and really make our lives easy.

Many features were showcased at the launch of iOS 16 at WWDC 2022, but among the bundle of new feature, one special thing that caught my attention was “Live Activities” on the lock screen.

Honestly, I am a guy who runs daily and I listen to songs while running (like everybody does). It is easy to change songs while running, but when I want to check how many kilometers I have run, I have to unlock my iPhone while running and open the “Nike Run Club” app.

However, with iOS 16, Apple has allowed us to put live activities that are happening in real-time on the lock screen.

For instance, the Nike Run Club’s running screen, which is a real-time activity, is unable to be displayed on the lock screen on the iOS 15.5 running iPhone.

Let’s dig deep into our title topic to find more.

What Exactly Are “Live Activities” in iOS 16?

In the past few years, Apple has introduced new features like Widgets, and I think you might have used them as well.

So, in simple words, Live Activities are somewhat similar to those widgets that are set on the home screen. However, with this new feature, we will be able to put them at the bottom of our lock screen.

Here’s what Apple says about this feature:

“Live Activities is a new feature that helps users stay on top of things that are happening in real time, such as a sports game, workout, ride-share, or food delivery order, right from the Lock Screen.”

Let’s say you have called an Uber and you are still packing to go to the airport. Now, it is annoying to unlock your phone and launch the app to frequently check where your Uber ride is.

But with the Live Activities placed on the lock screen of your iPhone, you can check the status of your Uber ride hassle-free.

So, now it is also possible for sports apps to leverage the Live Activities API and allow us to check the live score directly on the lock screen.

It’s awesome, isn’t it? Well, I don’t call Uber all the time, but I am happy to see Nike Run Club on the Live Activities because I like to check how far I have come frequently while I am running.

In a nutshell, we can say that Live Activities are like a widget that we can place at the bottom of the lock screen of our iPhone.

How to Use Live Activities on iOS 16?

Since the launch of iOS 16, many users have been wondering how Live Activities will work. However, since the “Live Activities API” is not yet available for developers, it is not possible to play around with this new feature.

However, it would be possible to control which apps we would like to see on the lock screen for Live Activities.

Furthermore, it would be possible to customize it in the same way that lock screen widgets are.

These are all guesses until Apple brings this feature out of the hat.

Can I Use Live Activities on iOS 15?

The answer is No. Live Activities will only be available with iOS 16.So, you will have to wait till iOS 16 rolls out for all.

Will Live Activities Be Available with the Release of iOS 16 in the Fall?

The chances are zero to none. It has happened with Apple many times before that it didn’t roll out several features with the release of the new iOS update because those certain features could be in the beta.

Thus, according to rumors, the Live Activities widget will not be available with the release of iOS 16 in September. We will have to wait for a couple of weeks, maybe.

How Can I Try Live Activities on My iPhone?

If you are like me, who wants to taste everything before everyone gets their hands on it, then you should install the iOS 16 beta.

The public beta of iOS 16 is now available, and you can install it to see how cool new iOS features would look on your iPhone.

However, since the Live Activities API is not available till later this year, developers will not be able to try new things using this feature, so you will not find much use for it now.