Widgets & Live Activities

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Discuss how to manage and implement Widgets & Live Activities.

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Dynamic island on a ios app
I want to make a app that indicates that the app is recording in the background using a indicator on the dynamic island or on the top of the phone screen but i can't figure it out on Xcode. Saw a guy do it by making live activities true but can't seem to find that option in background mode in capabilities. any ideas?
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156
Dec ’25
Please allow the "Back to App" breadcrumb to coexist with Live Activities in Compact Mode
Subject: Request to maintain the "Status Bar Breadcrumb" visibility while Dynamic Island is active Hi, I am developing an app using ActivityKit and Dynamic Island. I've noticed a significant UX regression regarding the system status bar behavior. Current Behavior: When a Live Activity is active in the Dynamic Island (specifically in the compactLeading and compactTrailing presentation), the system automatically hides the "Back to [Previous App]" breadcrumb button (the small arrow and app name) in the top-left corner of the status bar. This breadcrumb only reappears when the Live Activity switches to the minimal presentation or is dismissed. The Issue: This behavior makes multitasking cumbersome for users. For example, if a user navigates from Safari to my app and then locks the screen or goes to Home, they expect the "Back to Safari" button to remain accessible. However, because my app's Live Activity is running in the Dynamic Island, the OS removes this navigation shortcut, forcing users to use the app switcher instead. Why this should be changed: Screen Real Estate: On larger devices (e.g., iPhone 15/16 Pro Max), there is significant whitespace in the top-left corner between the time and the Dynamic Island's leading edge. The breadcrumb could easily fit there without overlapping the Live Activity content. Inconsistent UX: Users are confused why the navigation button disappears solely because a background activity is running. Request: Please consider updating the status bar layout logic to allow the "Back to App" breadcrumb to remain visible if there is no physical overlap with the compactLeading view of the Dynamic Island. Thank you.
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112
Jan ’26
Watch Face sharing stopped working on watchOS 26 (CLKWatchFaceLibrary)
Since watchOS 26, watch face sharing has stopped working completely. I tested the following: Sharing via CLKWatchFaceLibrary Other public APIs Sharing via iMessage In all cases, the watch face cannot be reinstalled after being shared. This issue is not limited to my app. Large third-party apps such as Facer and other major watch face platforms are also affected, which suggests this is a system-level change or bug. Everything worked correctly before watchOS 26. Has Apple officially acknowledged this issue? Is there a recommended place to report or track this bug?
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147
3w
Widget - App may push the list view twice when launched from widget
Issue Description: Tapping the app widget sometimes triggers the Universal Link twice, causing duplicate navigation or actions within the app Steps to Reproduce: Add the app widget to the home screen Tap the widget to open the app via the Universal Link Observe that the Universal Link is sometimes fired twice Expected Behavior: Tapping the widget should trigger the Universal Link only once. Actual Behavior: Universal Link is triggered twice, causing duplicate navigation or actions.
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86
2w
Widget & Snapshot Blank on iOS 26
Some of the users of my app reported that, the widgets cannot be loaded, event after restarts and re-installs. It seems that it is not rare, I have tens of reports on this (and probably much more who didn't report). It seems the widget is blank even on the gallery screen while you are first adding it: struct SingleWidgetProvider: AppIntentTimelineProvider { @Environment(\.widgetFamily) var family private let viewModel: WidgetViewModel = WidgetViewModel() func placeholder(in context: Context) -> SingleEntry { SingleEntry(date: Date(), habit: .singleSample) } func snapshot(for configuration: SingleWidgetConfigurationIntent, in context: Context) async -> SingleEntry { guard let habit = Array(PersistenceManager.shared.retrieveHabitList().habits).first else { return SingleEntry(date: Date(), habit: .singleSample) } let displayable = viewModel.displayableFromHabit(habit, separateComponents: true, secondOffset: 0) return SingleEntry(date: Date(), habit: displayable) } func timeline(for configuration: SingleWidgetConfigurationIntent, in context: Context) async -> Timeline<SingleEntry> { var entries: [SingleEntry] = [] guard let counter = configuration.currentCounter else { return Timeline(entries: [SingleEntry(date: Date(), habit: .singleSample)], policy: .atEnd) } guard let habit = PersistenceManager.shared.retrieveHabit(habitKey: counter.id) else { return Timeline(entries: [SingleEntry(date: Date(), habit: .singleSample)], policy: .atEnd) } let currentDate = Date() for secondOffset in 0 ..< 100 { let displayable = viewModel.displayableFromHabit( habit, separateComponents: true, secondOffset: secondOffset, symbolName: habit.habitSymbol?.name ?? "", overrideColor: configuration.currentColor.color, overrideButtonVisibility: configuration.currentButtonVisibility, overrideDisplayOption: configuration.currentDisplayOption ) let entryDate = Calendar.current.date(byAdding: .second, value: secondOffset, to: currentDate)! let entry = SingleEntry(date: entryDate, habit: displayable) entries.append(entry) } return Timeline(entries: entries, policy: .atEnd) } } struct SingleEntry: TimelineEntry { let date: Date let habit: HabitDisplayable } static var singleSample: HabitDisplayable { return HabitDisplayable(habitKey: nil, title: LS("sampleWidgetHabitTitle"), dates: [Date(timeIntervalSince1970: 1507158360)], displayOption: .dayMonthYear, secondOffset: 0, separateComponents: true) } func displayableFromHabit( _ habit: Habit, separateComponents: Bool, secondOffset: Int, symbolName: String = "", overrideColor: Color? = nil, overrideButtonVisibility: WidgetButtonVisibility? = nil, overrideDisplayOption: WidgetDisplayOption? = nil ) -> HabitDisplayable { let latestDates: [HabitDate] let displayOption: DisplayOption if let overrideDisplayOption { if overrideDisplayOption == .sameAsCounter { displayOption = habit.settings?.toValue.displayOption ?? .dayMonthYear } else { displayOption = DisplayOption(rawValue: overrideDisplayOption.rawValue - 1) ?? .dayMonthYear } } else { displayOption = habit.settings?.toValue.displayOption ?? .dayMonthYear } let displayMode = displayOption.mode switch displayMode { case .timePassed, .date: latestDates = PersistenceManager.shared.latestDate(habit: habit).map { [$0] } ?? [] case .activity: latestDates = PersistenceManager.shared.retrieveHabitDates(habit: habit, limitDate: displayOption.limitDate()) } let displayButton: Bool if let overrideButtonVisibility { if overrideButtonVisibility == .sameAsCounter { displayButton = habit.settings?.toValue.buttonType == .onRow } else { displayButton = overrideButtonVisibility == .show } } else { displayButton = false } return HabitDisplayable( habitKey: habit.habitKey, title: habit.title, dates: latestDates.map { $0.date }, displayOption: displayOption, secondOffset: secondOffset, separateComponents: separateComponents, color: overrideColor ?? habit.habitColor?.color ?? .appPrimary, symbolName: symbolName, displayButton: displayButton ) } I provided a large portion of my code, let me know if you need more. The strange thing here is, even if the DB connection is broken somehow, it should have shown the default option (singleSample). I am not able to reproduce/fix this for months now, so any help is very appreciated.
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40
2d
Optional Parameter using WidgetConfigurationIntent
Hi there, I'm adding a new widget using the new WidgetConfigurationIntent which takes a number of parameters, including one which conforms to AppEntity. It is defined as an optional. When the user is configuring the widget, after one of the suggested entities is chosen, there is no way to return to a state where this value is nil. Is this possible? I'd like the user to be able to select "None" for this parameter. For now, I'm using a bool to determine whether the AppEntity parameter is used. Thanks!
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1.2k
Oct ’25
Adding a custom widget to the Capture group in Control Center
I noticed that with iOS 18, when adding a widget to the Control Center, there is now some "grouping system". I'm interested in the Capture group, which contains native widgets from Apple as well as third party apps like Instagram and Blackmagic cam, widgets in this group open the camera. My widget also opens the camera in my app, how can I add it to this group?
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390
Oct ’25
Live Activity Start Token not generating after certain days of usage for non Production builds
Live Activity Start Token not generating after certain days of usage. We have implemented Live Activity feature where the initial activity is launched by our backend. But to start that first live activity I need push to start token which is generating for few days but all of sudden after certain days it stops generating. Currently we are in development phase so we test it on multiple devices and multiple time we are doing install and uninstall. STEPS TO REPRODUCE Install the app Start token gets generated which is sent to our server After certain duration server sends the first live activity using that token user opens the app then we receive the updated token and send that token to server server uses that updated token to further update the live activity. All this works fine. But after a week of usage we are observing that we stop getting start token from APNS. Not sure where exactly the thing is breaking. We have tried with different devices and different bundle identifiers but behaviour is same for all. func generateStartToken() { Task.detached { [weak self] in guard let self else { return } await self.observeActivityPushTokenAndState() for await data in ActivityKit.Activity<LiveActivityAttribute>.pushToStartTokenUpdates { let token = data.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined() print("Activity Start token: ", token) } } } func observeActivityPushTokenAndState() { Task.detached { for await activity in ActivityKit.Activity<LiveActivityAttribute>.activityUpdates { Task { for await tokenData in activity.pushTokenUpdates { let updatedToken = tokenData.map { String(format: "%02x", $0) }.joined() print("Activity Update token: ", updatedToken) } } Task { for await content in activity.contentUpdates { let updatedContent = content.state print("Activity Updated: ", updatedContent) } } } } }
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180
Apr ’25
AccessibilityNode not working in Unity?
Hi, I have a class project I am working on (with a due date tomorrow, unfortunately RIP to me). But I have made my project about adding accessibility to a Unity game. I've successfully added apple unity core and accessibility plugins to my project, and my project builds. But I have simple text nodes and buttons and they aren't accessible with voiceover once I build/export my game and test. I am only building for MacOS right now (for the assignment). I don't have too much experience with Unity, but I am relatively experienced with accessibility (even formerly an intern and contractor at Apple for accessibility). So I wonder if I am just using Unity incorrectly? Perhaps I've done something to my build process (or haven't done something I should)? I've attached a photo of what my dev environment looks like in Unity, I've focused a text node (on the left) and on the right are my AccessibilityNode settings. Any help would be awesome, even if I don't make my deadline tomorrow... :*( Project repo is here, if it is helpful: https://github.com/frankelavsky/PGD_final_project Thanks!
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194
Apr ’25
Strange Live Activity Occurrence Behavior
I am seeing a really weird behavior with Live Activities. The Live Activity is always appearing on the simulator. However the Live Activity is only appearing on my physical device when there is no other widget in the widget bundle shown below. @main struct HoerspielWidgetsBundle: WidgetBundle { var body: some Widget { // Uncomment the line below and the Live Activity will no longer appear // UpNextWidget() PlaybackLiveActivity() } } Annotating that var with @WidgetBundle has no effect. There are no logs indicating an error, the function to request a Live Activity does not throw and the status of the activity is active. Both the widget and the Live Activity are working fine otherwise. NSSupportsLiveActivities is set to true in the correct Info.plist file. I am not running any beta software and the physical iPhone is on the newest version (iOS 18.5). Using the template when adding a new target in Xcode, I was able to set up a similar app where the Live Activity works as expected. I am really at a loss here which additional information I should provide or how this issue can be resolved. Thank you for your help.
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150
May ’25
Location streaming onto Live Activity
Hello forum, I want to keep my app running in the background after user swaps up, for the purpose of workout tracking. start up the task and continuously receipt GPS updates process the location data show the data on a live activity Two examples Strava paddlelogger Question: Does this mean, these two apps would just pause when the .backgroundTimeRemaining becomes 0? How does a workout app "work" in background mode, do I need to handle budget running out?
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123
Jun ’25
SwiftData changes made in widget via AppIntent are not reflected in main app until full relaunch
Hi, I’m using SwiftData with an @Observable DatabaseManager class that is shared between my app and a widget. This class is located inside a Swift package and looks roughly like this: public final class DatabaseManager { public static let shared = DatabaseManager() private init() { let groupID = "group.com.yourcompany.myApp" let config = ModelConfiguration(groupContainer: .identifier(groupID)) let c = try! ModelContainer(for: MyModel.self, configurations: config) self.container = c self.modelContext = c.mainContext } public private(set) var container: ModelContainer public private(set) var modelContext: ModelContext } In the main app, I inject the container and context like this: struct MyApp: App { var body: some Scene { WindowGroup { ContentView() .modelContainer(DatabaseManager.shared.container) .modelContext(DatabaseManager.shared.modelContext) } } } Both the widget and the main app import the same package, and both use DatabaseManager.shared for reading and writing objects. The problem: When the widget updates an object using an AppIntent, the change is not reflected in the main app unless I fully terminate and relaunch it. If I just bring the app back to the foreground, it still shows stale data. Is there a recommended way to make the main app observe or reload SwiftData changes that were made in the widget (via the same shared app group and container)? I’m already using .modelContainer(...) and .modelContext(...) in the app, and everything else works fine — it’s just the syncing that doesn’t happen unless I force-relaunch the app. Thanks!
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300
Jul ’25
Can We Display Screen Time Data in WidgetKit?
Hello, I am trying to create a Home Screen widget for iOS that displays device usage statistics — similar to the built-in Screen Time widget Apple provides. The goal is to show the average device usage for a specified period (daily, weekly, or monthly) and optionally include a comparison with the previous period. I noticed that Apple’s own Screen Time widget presents such information. However, after reviewing the public documentation, I could not find any available API that allows a developer to create a similar experience. To explore possible alternatives, I implemented a SwiftUI view inside a com.apple.deviceactivityui.report-extension using the Family Controls and Device Activity frameworks. The view works fine within the main app and the report extension context, but when I attempted to use the same view in a WidgetKit extension, I received an error at runtime. This suggests that views from com.apple.deviceactivityui.report-extension are not usable inside widgets, which I understand may be due to sandboxing or limitations of how the extension points are designed. So far, I’ve found no way to access cumulative or average usage data (screen time, app usage, etc.) from system APIs that can be shown in a widget context. My understanding is that Family Controls and Device Activity frameworks allow observing ongoing activity and building usage reports inside the app, but do not provide access to the same historical or summarized data that Apple’s own widgets display. Could you please confirm: Whether there is any supported way to access average device usage (screen time) data for use in a widget? If not, is this an intentional limitation due to privacy concerns, or is there a roadmap for exposing such APIs in the future? Are there any APIs or entitlements that could allow similar functionality via WidgetKit? Thank you for your time and support. Best regards,
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211
Jul ’25
Unable perform AppIntent in interactive Widget
I am currently developing an interactive widget, but an AppIntent issue blocked me for 2 days. I have an AppIntent named TimerActionIntent, which has two parameters: TimerType and TimerAction. Here is the code: import AppIntents enum TimerType: Int, CaseIterable, AppEnum, AppEntity { case sleep case feeding static let typeDisplayRepresentation: TypeDisplayRepresentation = "Timer Type" static let caseDisplayRepresentations: [TimerType : DisplayRepresentation] = [ .sleep: "Sleep", .feeding: "Feeding" ] } enum TimerAction: Int, CaseIterable, AppEnum, AppEntity { case start case pause case stop static let typeDisplayRepresentation: TypeDisplayRepresentation = "Timer Action" static let caseDisplayRepresentations: [TimerAction : DisplayRepresentation] = [ .start: "Start", .pause: "Pause", .stop: "Stop" ] } struct TimerActionIntent: AppIntent { static let title: LocalizedStringResource = "Operate a Log Timer" @Parameter(title: "Timer", default: .sleep) var timerType: TimerType @Parameter(title: "Action", default: .start) var action: TimerAction static var isDiscoverable: Bool = false static var openAppWhenRun: Bool = false init() {} init(timerType: TimerType, action: TimerAction) { self.timerType = timerType self.action = action } func perform() async throws -> some IntentResult { // perform the action Self.openAppWhenRun = state == .stopped } return .result() } } I can't execute the AppIntent if using the following code: Button(intent: TimerActionIntent(timerType: .sleep, action: .start)) { // button view } // or let intent = TimerActionIntent() intent.timerType = timerType intent.action = .start Button(intent: intent) { // button view } and only execute when initialize TimerActionIntent without any parameters and @Parameter has the default value. e.g. Button(intent: TimerActionIntent()) { // button view } I have some logs in the Console app: default 17:51:27.626382+0800 linkd Accepting XPC connection from PID 39255 for service "com.apple.linkd.registry" default 17:51:27.637511+0800 WidgetsExtension Beginning PerformAction <<SB:788D850BBBC5>> default 17:51:27.637540+0800 WidgetsExtension Beginning InitializeAction <<SB:ACBC7A27CCBF>> default 17:51:27.637556+0800 WidgetsExtension [InitializeAction <<N:ACBC7A27CCBF>>] Found TimerActionIntent matching TimerActionIntent registered with AppManager default 17:51:27.637725+0800 WidgetsExtension Prepared timerType to TimerType(TimerType/0)) default 17:51:27.637744+0800 WidgetsExtension Prepared action to TimerAction(TimerAction/0)) default 17:51:27.637772+0800 WidgetsExtension Ending InitializeAction <<SE:ACBC7A27CCBF>> default 17:51:27.637795+0800 WidgetsExtension Beginning ResolveParameters <<SB:6C7CA02308AD>> default 17:51:27.639807+0800 WidgetsExtension Building resolver for parameter timerType<TimerType> = TimerType/0 default 17:51:27.640160+0800 WidgetsExtension Building resolver: EntityIdentifier → TimerType:TimerActionIntent:timerType default 17:51:27.640202+0800 WidgetsExtension Ending ResolveParameters <<SE:6C7CA02308AD>> default 17:51:27.640221+0800 WidgetsExtension Beginning NeedsDisambiguation <<SB:8E482F9CCCB0>> default 17:51:27.641328+0800 WidgetsExtension Ending NeedsDisambiguation <<SE:8E482F9CCCB0>> default 17:51:27.641344+0800 WidgetsExtension Ending PerformAction <<SE:788D850BBBC5>> error 17:51:27.642316+0800 chronod Perform action connection operation completed with error: Error Domain=LNActionExecutorErrorDomain Code=2010 "(null)" error 17:51:27.642774+0800 chronod Operation `<LNPerformActionConnectionOperation: 0x600002c4a180, identifier: F8FB77C5-7F8A-4670-BB8C-465DE4EAB6B8>` error Error Domain=LNActionExecutorErrorDomain Code=2010 "(null)" default 17:51:27.643358+0800 linkd Invalidated XPC connection from PID 39255 for service "com.apple.linkd.registry" I can't find any details about the error " Error Domain=LNActionExecutorErrorDomain Code=2010 "(null)"" The environment: Xcode: 16.4/26 beta 5 iOS: iOS Simulator 18.5, iOS Simulator 26, iPhone 16 Pro Max 18.6 macOS 15.6 Can anyone help me, please!
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82
Aug ’25
What's the max duration for a live activity?
The docs are conflicting. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/activitykit/starting-and-updating-live-activities-with-activitykit-push-notifications#End-the-Live-Activity-with-a-custom-dismissal-date says: When you end a Live Activity, by default the Live Activity appears on the Lock Screen for up to four hours after it ends to allow people to glance at their phone to refer to the latest information. However here it says: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/activitykit/displaying-live-data-with-live-activities#Understand-constraints A Live Activity can be active for up to eight hours unless its app or a person ends it before this limit. After the eight-hour limit, the system automatically ends the Live Activity, and immediately removes it from the Dynamic Island. However, the Live Activity remains on the Lock Screen until a person removes it or for up to four additional hours before the system removes it — whichever comes first. As a result, a Live Activity remains on the Lock Screen for a maximum of 12 hours. So is it 4 hrs OR '8 for Dynamic Island vs 12 for Lock Screen'?
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224
Aug ’25
Should `input-push-token` be added to all live-activity based payloads?
I'm struggling to understand what the impact of this flag is. Docs only say: For devices running iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 or later, you can add input-push-token: 1 to your payload to start a Live Activity and receive a new push token. After you receive a new push token, you can use it to send updates to a Live Activity. But things were working fine for iOS 17. Right? Does it somehow make the OS emit update tokens faster/more successfully? Should I include in all start, update, end events?
2
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284
Nov ’25
Title and Subtitle in Control Widget on macOS Tahoe?
Hi 🙋 Has anybody gotten subtitles in macOS Tahoe Control Widgets to show up in their custom control widgets? Seems macOS is able to do it (see attached screenshot of the Bluetooth control widget), but my widget, which shows a title and subtitle on iOS, will only show the title on macOS. I tried all the different ControlWidgetButton init methods to no avail. I tried a VStack for my title and subtitle Texts, I tried just two Texts without a VStack, I tried the controlWidgetStatus and controlWidgetActionHint modifiers out of desperation... nothing worked. Any pointers much appreciated! Thank you, – Matthias
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182
Sep ’25
Push notifcation-driven live activity not starting
Hi, I'm having this issue that I have have not been able to figure out as I've gone through a checklist and it seems I have everything in place, but im sending my pushToStartTokenUpdates token to a server and im able to test starting a live activity via CURL where it shows my push token going through and even my test payload but after a while I get this issue in my logs where it fails to find a live activity Push notifications are set up, im sending my token to APN and im even able to start live activities locally.
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184
Sep ’25
Live Activity budget exceeded
When sending multiple push to start notifications to start a live activities in a short time frame, after around 10 pushes live activities are no longer being started. Device logs show the following entry: Push-to-start budget exceeded for com.att.tlv.myatt::pushToStart; not starting activity What can be done to be able to open more live activities via push-to-start in a short time frame (increase the push-to-start budget)? Can this be related to the development environment and it will not happen on production? NSSupportsLiveActivitiesFrequentUpdates is already set to YES
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190
Sep ’25